Patent ID: 6922793

Claim:
A method of recovering from malfunctions in a first agent module that is installed in a modular network device having a plurality of network interface modules housed in a chassis where the first agent module performs management and system controller functions, the method comprising the steps of: installing a second agent module in the chassis and asserting a present signal of the second agent to notify the first agent module that the second agent module is present; determining, at the second agent module, if the first agent module is installed when a present signal, a ready signal and a privilege signal of the first agent module are asserted; synchronizing configuration information of the network interface modules from the first agent module to the second agent module after a ready signal of the second agent module is asserted, wherein the synchronizing step comprises: transmitting a data packet having a header and data associated with the configuration information from the first agent module to the second agent module; acknowledging the data transmitting step by returning an answer packet from the second agent module to the first agent module; receiving the answer packet at the first agent module; and repeating the transmitting, the replying and the receiving steps until all of the configuration information is completely transferred; wherein the header in the data packet comprises a field indicative of a packet transmission type; wherein the answer packet is the header having the field indicative of packet acknowledgement type; periodically sending a message, from the first agent module to the second agent module, indicating that the first agent module has not failed; detecting, at the second agent module, that the malfunctions in the first agent module occur if the second agent module cannot receive the message within a predetermined time interval; rebooting the modular network device including the first agent module and the second agent module; and performing the management and system controller functions by the second agent module using the synchronized configuration information.