Patent ID: 7257817

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: a message dispatcher that routes and dispatches messages, wherein each message is routed based on an arbitrary portion of the message's contents; an interface through which application programs communicate with the message dispatcher to define the arbitrary portion of the message's contents; and stored rules instructing the message dispatcher to route a first network message based on a first arbitrary attribute and a second message based on a second arbitrary attribute, wherein the second arbitrary attribute is different from the first arbitrary attribute, wherein the first arbitrary attribute is selected from a set of header and data contained in each message, wherein each rule is stored in a message handler, and wherein the message dispatcher comprises computer executable instructions that, when executed, cause the data processing apparatus to perform the steps of: (i) polling a second apparatus at predetermined intervals; and (ii) receiving poll responses from the second apparatus; wherein responsive to a predetermined condition comprising a failure to receive the poll responses, a first message handler sends an alteration message to alter a second message handler; wherein the predetermined condition comprises a nonoccurrence of step (ii) for a predetermined amount of time.