Patent ID: 8335820

Claim:
A computer implemented method for preserving connections comprising: executing first code on a server, said server communicating with a client over one or more connections, said first code using one or more control structures describing a state of said one or more connections, wherein a first of said one or more control structures includes a first plurality of entries, each of said first plurality of entries identifying an offset corresponding to one of a second plurality of entries of an address table, each of said second plurality of entries including a current address of a different one of a plurality of routines in said first code; performing an operation on said server; and performing first processing in response to said operation, said first processing including loading second code for execution on said server, said second code replacing said first code and using said one or more control structures previously used by said first code, wherein contents of the second plurality of entries of said address table varies in accordance with address changes of the plurality of routines whereby at least a first of the plurality of routines having its address stored in one of the second plurality of entries of the address table is relocated from a first address when executing the first code to a second different address after loading the second code causing the one entry of the address table to be updated from the first address to the second address and wherein said first plurality of entries of the first control structure includes a same contents when executing the first code and the second code, wherein a base address identifies a starting location of the address table and said base address of the address table is a first base address when executing said first code and said base address is a second base address different from the first base address after loading the second code, wherein an order in which addresses of the plurality of routines are stored in the address table is the same when executing the first code and the second code.