Patent ID: RE41750

Claim:
A method for managing a cluster of network devices, comprising: selecting a plurality of network devices to form a cluster, each of the network devices being capable of interfacing at least two computer networks, and capable of receiving and processing a network management request message from a management console, each of the network devices being assigned with an intra-cluster identifier; selecting a first network device from among the plurality of the network devices to be a commander network device, the commander network device having a public IP address, each of the remaining network devices being a cluster member network device, each cluster member network device having a non-public network address; receiving at the commander network device a network management request message from the management console, wherein the network management request message includes a source address field containing an IP address of the management console, a destination address field containing the IP address of the commander network device, a request identification field containing an original request identifier uniquely identifying the network management request message, and an indication of an intra-cluster identifier; and forwarding the network management request message to the cluster member network device identified by the intra-cluster identifier using the non-pubic network address of the cluster member network device.