Patent ID: 7007042

Claim:
A method for detecting a failover condition and executing a failover process in a first destination controller of a plurality of destination controllers in computer-based information storage area network, wherein the destination controllers maintain data as part of a DRM group, the method comprising the steps of: detecting a failure in normal heartbeat operations between controllers in a DRM group; and determining whether the data associated with the destination controller is more current than the data associated other controllers in the DRM group by obtaining GSNs from other destination controllers in the DRM group and comparing the GSNs; and when the data associated with the destination controller is more current than the data associated other destination controllers in the DRM group, then: (a) installing the destination controller as a source controller for the DRM group; and (b) reconciling the data associated with the destination controller to other destination controllers in the DRM group when the data sets in the destination controllers are inconsistent.