Patent ID: 8849995

Claim:
A system for managing a plurality of subsets of host computing devices, the system comprising: a first control component in communication with a first subset of the plurality of subsets of host computing devices, the control component including: a management component for monitoring and controlling one or more aspects of the operation of the first subset of the plurality of subsets of host computing devices; and a first state monitoring component configured to monitor a state of the first subset from the plurality of subsets of host computing devices, the first state monitoring component having: a power supply independent of a power supply associated with the control component, a state processing component for determining information regarding at least one communication event information associated with at least one host computing device in the first subset, and a communication interface for establishing communication with other state monitoring components via an alternative communication channel independent of a communication channel associated with the first subset of host computing devices, wherein the at least one communication event comprises a determination of faults; wherein the first state monitoring component implements a consensus based algorithm, via the alternative communication channel, with another state monitoring component that monitors state of a different subset of the plurality of subsets and wherein the implementation of the consensus based algorithm designates a state monitoring component authoritative for the plurality of subsets.