Patent ID: 7831686

Claim:
A method comprising: detecting a failed node within a cluster, wherein the failed node communicates with a client via a communication protocol connection; sending a communication protocol message to the client, in response to the detecting the failed node, wherein receipt of the communication protocol message causes the client to terminate the communication protocol connection, the detecting and the sending are performed by a node other than the failed node; obtaining a first parameter associated with the communication protocol connection, wherein the communication protocol message comprises a second parameter derived from the first parameter, the communication protocol connection is a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connection, and the obtaining the first parameter associated with the communication protocol connection is performed prior to detection of the failed node; and rewriting a message for transmission to the client, wherein the rewriting comprises: replacing a first media access control destination address, which identifies a watch guard node, with a second media access control destination address, which identifies a common gateway; and replacing a first protocol type with a second protocol type.