Patent ID: 7609617

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving a new version of Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) software on a standby route processor that is coupled to an active route processor in a redundant arrangement; in response to determining, by an active BGP process of the active route processor, one or more transport layer important connections, associated with BGP sessions of the active route processor, transferring, from the active route processor to the standby route processor, one or more transport protocol connections that are associated with one or more active BGP sessions of the active route processor, starting from the one or more transport layer important connections, and instructing an active transport layer protocol process of the active route processor to stop accepting further data on the transferred transport protocol connections; transferring, from the active route processor to the standby route processor, BGP session information representing the active BGP sessions; progressively shutting down an active BGP process of the active route processor; and switching control of BGP data processing to the standby route processor.