Patent ID: 8369323

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving, by a network device within a cluster of multiple network devices, information associated with a previously established voice-based data communication between a first user device and a second user device, wherein the information from the first user device or the second user device comprises one or more data packets associated with the voice-based data communication, wherein the cluster provides load-balancing functionality in which the multiple network devices within the cluster may handle different data packets associated with the voice-based data communication, and wherein the received information from the first user device or the second user device is addressed to the cluster and routed to the network device according to the load-balancing functionality; analyzing, by the network device, the received information using application-layer functionality to identify a primary network device within the cluster that is currently managing all data for the voice-based data communication between the first user device and the second user device; maintaining state information on the network device that provides information related to a state of the voice-based data communication, the state information including at least one of session information and pinhole information for the voice-based data communication; when the network device is not currently the primary network device, forwarding the received information from the network device to the primary network device, and subsequently receiving, by the network device and from the primary network device, updated state information that provides updated information related to the state of the voice-based data communication based on the received information, the updated state information including at least one of updated session information and updated pinhole information for the voice-based data communication; and when the primary network device experiences a failure, managing, by the network device, subsequent data packets associated with the voice-based data communication using the updated state information, such that the network device becomes a new primary device.