Patent ID: 8780724

Claim:
A device pool management method, comprising: obtaining autonomous loop configuration data which describes relations between a node device and its ancestor node device and between the node device and its descendant node device in an autonomous loop by using identifiers of node devices in the autonomous loop; and setting up a backup relation between a node device and an ancestor node device as well as a backup relation between the node device and a descendant node device according to the autonomous loop configuration data, receiving and storing backup data sent by the ancestor node device, and sending data of the node device to be backed up to the descendant node device; detecting whether any active quit command is received, and, if an active quit command is received, triggering the ancestor node device and the descendant node device to modify the relations between a node device and its ancestor node device and between the node device and its descendant node device in the autonomous loop; and triggering an upstream service node and a downstream service node that are connected with the node device and located outside the autonomous loop to switch services over to the descendant node device.