Patent ID: 7453865

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving, by a first application, a message from a second application, wherein both the first application and the second application execute on a node of a network that comprises a plurality of nodes, wherein the plurality of nodes are included in a plurality of storage facilities, wherein the plurality of storage facilities include primary and alternate image servers that comprise the plurality of nodes, and wherein the node on which the first application and the second application execute is included in a first storage facility of the plurality of storage facilities; receiving, by the first application, an identifier corresponding to a channel over which at least one other application can communicate with the second application, wherein the channel is a logical connection at an application level; storing the identifier corresponding to the channel with an identity of the second application; and accessing the stored identifier to allow the at least one other application to communicate with the second application over the channel, wherein a second storage facility of the plurality of storage facilities comprises a primary image server and an alternate image server that are in a same domain group indicated by the second storage facility, wherein the alternate image server stores backup data of the primary image server, and wherein the received message is sent to the alternate image server of the second storage facility in response to determining by the first application executing in the node of the first storage facility that that the primary image server is offline, the method further comprising: (A) sending by software components a registration request for an event; (B) generating, by the first application, a non-persistent event registration record based on input received from the software components, and verifying, by the first application, that the non-persistent event registration record is uniquely identified by one event type and one channel identifier; (C) storing, by the first application, the non-persistent event registration record in an event registry, and notifying, by the first application, corresponding software components on whether the registration request has succeeded; and (D) matching by the first application, failed events against event registration records in the event registry, and notifying, by the first application, the software components of occurrence or failure of events.