Patent ID: 7441141

Claim:
At a first network device of a plurality of network devices each storing device-specific information, a method comprising: selecting at least one second network device of said plurality of network devices to act as a backup for said first network device; communicating the device-specific information maintained by said first network device to said at least one second network device, said communicated device-specific information for use by said at least one second network device in assuming the role of said first network device upon unavailability of said first network device; receiving at said first network device device-specific information from at least one third network device for use by said first network device in assuming the role of the third network device upon unavailability of the third network device, and when the device-specific information of said first network device is requested and said first network device is unavailable, communicating the device-specific information of said first network device from one of said at least one second network device.