Patent ID: 7130870

Claim:
A method of operating a network device, wherein the network device comprises a first printed circuit board including a first processor component and a second printed circuit board including a second processor component, and wherein said first and said second printed circuit boards are coupled to an internal communications bus configured to enable communication between said first and said second printed circuit boards, said method comprising: providing a first configuration database containing data for configuring and operating the network device; operating the network device with the first configuration database as a primary configuration database; providing a second configuration database containing backup data corresponding to the data contained in the first configuration database; operating the network device with the second configuration database as a backup configuration database; replicating modifications made to the first configuration database to the second configuration database; detecting a configuration database upgrade operation; stopping replication of data from the first configuration database to the second configuration database; upgrading the second configuration database while said first configuration database continues to provide configuration data to said network device; maintaining the first configuration database through the first processor component; and operating the network device with the first printed circuit board as a primary printed circuit board and the first processor component as a primary processor component; maintaining the second configuration database through the second processor component; operating the network device with the second printed circuit board as a backup printed circuit board and the second processor component as a backup processor component; switching over to use the second configuration database as the primary configuration database; and switching over to use the second printed circuit board and second processor component as the primary printed circuit board and the primary processor component.