Patent ID: 8230115

Claim:
An adapter comprising: a first port having a first Internet Protocol (IP) address and configured to receive a first received message over a first transmission route, wherein the first received message contains output data and wherein the first transmission route is external to the adapter; a second port having a second IP address and configured to receive a second received message over a second transmission route, wherein the first and second received messages are part of a same multicast group, and wherein the second transmission route is external to the adapter and is different from the first transmission route; a switching module coupled to the first port and the second port; a memory containing a data structure; and a connection manager configured to: determine whether the first transmission route and the second transmission route are operational; instruct the switching module to direct the output data contained in the first received message to the data structure when the first transmission route is operational; and instruct the switching module to direct the output data contained in the second received message to the data structure when the first transmission route is non-operational and when the second transmission route is operational, wherein the adapter is configured to swap the first and second IP addresses of the first and second ports when the adapter detects that the first transmission route is non-operational, and wherein the connection manager is configured to determine whether the first transmission route and the second transmission route are operational based on a comparison of a message delay of the first and second transmission routes.