Patent ID: 8886834

Claim:
A method comprising: at a second network device in a hot standby configuration, receiving synchronization messages from a first network device that is maintaining Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) Neighbor Discovery (ND) state machines for one or more neighbor devices, wherein each of the IPv6 ND state machines comprises an IPv6 Neighbor Discovery (ND) state machine associated with the IPv6 ND protocol configured to indicate a reachability state for corresponding IPV6 connections and wherein the synchronization messages are configured to indicate an IPv6 ND state for each an IPv6 state machine maintained in the first network device; updating an IPv6 ND state for corresponding an IPv6 state machines in the second network device based on the synchronization messages; and setting a deferred state in a corresponding IPv6 state machine that is configured to allow the second network device to convert the deferred state to an IPv6 ND reachable state upon IPv6 traffic switchover from the first network device to the second network device without restarting the corresponding IPv6 ND state machine associated with each of the one or more neighbor devices in the second network device.