Patent ID: 7623464

Claim:
A method of detecting a protocol failure, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of: receiving an indication that a first process has failed, the first process having been engaged in communications over a network connection with a second process, the network connection having a source address and a destination address; retrieving from a database information about the network connection, wherein the information retrieved from the database indicates the source address and the destination address of the network connection; determining a random number; based on the information retrieved from the database, forming a packet comprising the source address, the destination address, a sequence field set to the random number, and a SYN field set to 1; wherein the packet is formed by a third process that is different from the first and second processes; the third process sending the packet to the second process; thereby causing the second process to close the network connection with the first process; wherein the random number falls within an expected sequence number range of the second process; thereby causing the second process to send a reset packet to the first process prior to closing the network connection; and wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.