Patent ID: 7058054

Claim:
A method of managing one or more nodes comprising the steps of: (a) forming a packet comprising a network layer header, including a destination address for routing the packet to a destination, a second header identifying a syntax and semantic by which a payload of the packet may be parsed in a predefined fashion, and the payload containing a message to be executed by each of one or more to-be-managed nodes to which the packet is destined, and (b) transmitting the packet plural times to a plurality of nodes, including the one or more to-be-managed nodes, wherein the message in the particular packet is executed only a single time regardless of the number of times that a copy of the particular packet is received in the state enabling execution by the to-be-managed nodes of the message therein, and wherein the transmission of the particular packet plural times increases the likelihood that each of the to-be-managed nodes receives at least one copy of the particular packet in the state enabling execution of the message contained therein.