Patent ID: 7146419

Claim:
An apparatus for monitoring a state associated with a support node, comprising: a loadbalancer operable to receive one or more communications flows from a first support node and a second support node, the loadbalancer removing one or more communications tunnels associated with the second support node when the second support node does not respond to the message communicated by the first support node, wherein the loadbalancer includes a timing element operable to provide a selected time interval in which the second support node may respond to the message communicated by the first support node, and wherein the loadbalancer removes one or more of the communications tunnels associated with the second support node in response to expiration of the selected time interval, and wherein the loadbalancer includes a table operable to store information associated with each of the first and second support nodes, the table further operable to include parameters associated with the timing element and data relating to a recovery information element associated with one or more communications sessions initiated by each of the first and second support nodes.