Patent ID: 8676950

Claim:
A method for restarting a set of nodes forming a peer-to-peer network, the method comprising: determining a current node of the set of nodes to be restarted; and determining known nodes that are known to the current node; wherein each node in the set of nodes to be restarted, prior to restarting, is configured as a transmitting node and implements a transmitting process of, selecting a node from among the known nodes as a selected node, and transmitting, from the transmitting node in the set of nodes to be restarted, a message to the known nodes, containing an identifier of the selected node; and upon receiving the message at receiving known nodes, each receiving known node is configured to implement a restart process of, backing up, at one of the known nodes other than the receiving known node, sessions determined as duplicative between the receiving known node and the transmitting node in the set of nodes to be restarted, and restarting the receiving known node if the message indicates that the receiving known node is the selected node.