Patent ID: 7076696

Claim:
A method for use in or with a system including primary elements and failover elements, the method comprising: a) generating a baseline configuration of the system; b) generating a configuration instance of the system; c) determining whether a desired degree of failover exists based on the baseline configuration of the system and the configuration instance of the system; d) if it is determined that a desired degree of failover does not exist, then reporting that the desired degree of failover does not exist; e) generating a new configuration instance of the system; f) re-determining whether a desired degree of failover exists based on the baseline configuration of the system and the new configuration instance of the system; and g) if it is again determined that a desired degree of failover does not exists, then reporting that the desired degree of failover does not exist, wherein the act of reporting that the desired degree of failover does not exist persists until it is determined that a desired degree of failover exists.