Patent ID: 7894335

Claim:
A routing component located on a first network device in a cluster of network devices, the routing component comprising: a dynamic routing module; a configuration manager configured to store configuration information associated with operational characteristics of a second dynamic routing module associated a second routing component located on a second network device in the cluster, the cluster comprising a plurality of network devices configured to operate in parallel, the second network device configured to communicate with neighboring devices outside the cluster using a cluster address when the second dynamic routing module is operating, the cluster address identifying any of the plurality of network devices within the cluster; a network information module, configured to store routing information from the second routing component; a communication module configured to transmit a graceful/hitless restart event based upon an event associated with the execution of the dynamic routing module; wherein the dynamic routing module is configured to execute upon an indication that the second dynamic routing module is no longer operating; wherein the first network device is configured to communicate with the neighboring devices outside the cluster using the cluster address when the dynamic routing module is operating; and wherein the dynamic routing module is further configured to operate according to the configuration information.