Patent ID: 7042876

Claim:
A method for implementing redundancy of stateful network address translation information in at least one network device of a data network, the method comprising: receiving, at a first network device, a first packet, said first packet including a header portion comprising address information relating to a source device and a destination device associated with the first packet; generating a first network address translation (NAT) entry relating to the source device of the first packet, wherein the source device is associated with a globally unique network address; storing the first NAT entry in a first NAT data structure residing at the first network device; generating a first network address translation (NAT) transaction message which includes information relating to updates or modifications performed on the first NAT data structure; transmitting the first NAT transaction message to at least one other network device to thereby cause the at least one other network device to update a respective NAT data structure associated with the at least one other network device using information from said first NAT transaction message; wherein the first NAT entry includes a NAT ID field relating to an identity of a specific network device which is responsible for controlling modification of that particular NAT entry.