Patent ID: 8291101

Claim:
A method of resynchronizing copies of mutually shared data stored by a network device and a second network device, the method comprising: receiving a plurality of messages from the second network device coupled to the network device via a network using an agreed-order protocol that requires the network device and the second network device to exchange and process the messages in a defined order in accordance with a sequence number within each of the messages, wherein the plurality of messages includes one or more messages containing change instructions to modify the mutually shared data and at least one message containing a unique identifier, wherein each of the network device and the second network device maintain a respective journal, and wherein the unique identifier received from the second device is a bookmark recorded in an entry in the journal of the second device and indicates that the second device has processed all change instructions that preceded the unique identifier in the journal of the second device to modify a copy of the mutually shared data stored on the second device; recording the change instructions and the unique identifier in respective entries of the journal of the network device in chronological order in which the change instructions and the unique identifier were sent by the second network device; storing the exchanged unique identifiers and change instructions in an inbound message queues of the network device; receiving a token from the second network device; determining, based at least in part on the token, whether an interruption has occurred in a connection between the network device and the network; and responsive to determining that the interruption occurred, resynchronizing the mutually shared data of the network device by at least sending a resynchronization request to the second network device that includes a sequence of unique identifiers recorded in the journal of the network device.