Patent ID: 7693045

Claim:
A system, comprising: a computer comprising a plurality of network interface controllers (NICs), said plurality of NICs associated with an address; a switching apparatus coupled to the computer; and an echo device coupled to the switching apparatus, wherein said echo device receives a request originated by one of said NICs, said request provided to said echo device to verify connectivity of said NICs and said request including a layer 2 source address and a second source address encapsulated using a layer 3 protocol, wherein the layer 2 source address and the second source address are different from each other, and wherein said echo device is adapted to send a response packet through the switching apparatus to verify connectivity with the plurality of NICs, said response packet having as a layer 2 destination address the second source address from the request; wherein the switching apparatus compares the layer 2 destination address of the response packet with a data structure to locate a matching address; and wherein, if no matching address is located, the switching apparatus sends copies of the response packet to each of the plurality of NICs coupled to the switching apparatus; wherein one of the plurality of NICs is designated as a primary NIC based upon the receipt of copies of the response packet by at least some of the plurality of NICs; and wherein the request's second source address comprises a media access control (MAC) address not stored in the data structure of the switching apparatus.