Patent ID: 8149691

Claim:
A multi-chassis network device comprising: a routing engine for a first chassis configured to manage state information for the multi-chassis network device, wherein the routing engine for the first chassis is further configured to generate a state update indicating a change to the state information and send the state update to a second chassis; a standby routing engine on the first chassis, wherein the routing engine of the first chassis sends the state update to the standby routing engine of the first chassis before sending the state update to the second chassis; a routing engine for the second chassis configured to manage local state information for the second chassis, wherein the routing engine of the second chassis operates as an intermediate consumer of the state update from the routing engine of the first chassis; and a consumer within the second chassis, wherein the routing engine of the second chassis receives the state update from the routing engine of the first chassis and, in response, updates the local state information in accordance with the state update to synchronize the local state information with the state information of the first chassis and provides the state update to the consumer, and wherein, in the event of failure of the routing engine of the first chassis, the standby routing engine of the first chassis continues to send state updates to the second chassis on behalf of the failed routing engine of the first chassis.