Patent ID: 7549078

Claim:
A method of providing redundancy between an active component and a standby component in a network router, comprising: maintaining a first route input information base associated with the active component; synchronizing with the first route input information base a second route input information base associated with the standby component; maintaining a first route output information base associated with the active component; synchronizing with the first route output information base, a synchronized route output information base associated with the standby component; generating a route output information base associated with the standby component using the second route input information base associated with the standby component; and comparing the generated route output information base associated with the standby component in the event of switchover of the standby component to an active mode, to the synchronized route output information base associated with the standby component, which synchronized route output information base reflects routes known to have been shared with one or more peers by the active component prior to the switchover, and sharing and/or withdrawing routes as necessary to reflect any differences between the generated route output information base and the synchronized route output information base.