Patent ID: 8082304

Claim:
A method of providing reliable delivery of an application layer message, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of: receiving one or more data packets at a first network element; determining a first application layer message that is collectively contained in one or more payload portions of the one or more data packets, wherein the first application layer message originated at a source application; extracting, from the first application layer message, a message identifier that is contained in the first application layer message; determining whether a message identifier queue contains the message identifier; and in response to determining that the message identifier queue does not contain the message identifier, storing the first application layer message in an application layer message queue as well as storing the message identifier into the message identifier queue atomically, and sending towards the source application, an acknowledgment (ACK) message that indicates the message identifier; wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices of the first network element located between the source application and a destination of the first application layer message.