Patent ID: 8498200

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving, by a first device and via a first network path or a second network path, a plurality of packets from a second device, the second network path being different from the first network path, the second device being different from the first device, the second device including a master first node and a backup first node, the master first node being connected to the first network path, and the backup first node being connected to the second network path; obtaining, by the first device, node status information from the plurality of packets, the node status information including source node information and hop count information; determining, by the first device and based on the source node information, whether each packet of the plurality of packets was sent by the master first node or by the backup first node; and providing, by the first device and based on the hop count information, an indication of whether a cross-cabling condition exists, the cross-cabling condition existing when: one or more packets, of the plurality of packets, sent by the master first node, are received with a non-incremented hop count via the second network path, or one or more packets, of the plurality of packets, sent by the backup first node, are received with an incremented hop count via the second network path.