Patent ID: 8681645

Claim:
A system for discovery of a status of a network route by a host comprising: one or more egress devices, wherein each egress device provides a connection to an external network; and a plurality of host devices each connected to a common egress device, wherein the plurality of host devices forms a cluster group corresponding to the common egress device to which they are connected; and wherein the cluster group comprises a master node selected from the members of the cluster group, and wherein the master node comprises a first processor configured with software executable instructions to cause the master node to perform operations comprising: coordinating issuance of probe messages from itself and other members of the cluster group to the common egress device; determining whether a response to a probe message issued at a time T is received from the common egress device within a time interval measured from time T; determining a status of the network route to and through the common egress device based on the determination; and making available to the members of the cluster group the status of the network route to and through the common egress device.