Patent ID: 8798086

Claim:
A method for time-preserving transmission of data packets associated with replicating a first virtual machine to maintain second virtual machines, the data packets including at least a first data packet and a second data packet, the method comprising: receiving, by a network element, the first data packet from the first virtual machine, the first data packet not having an associated timestamp upon receipt; receiving, by the network element, the second data packet from the first virtual machine, the second data packet not having an associated timestamp upon receipt; and delaying, by the network element, a forwarding of the first data packet and the second data packet to the second virtual machines by, determining, by the network element, timestamps for respective ones of the first data packet and the second data packet that indicate when the respective ones of the first data packet and the second data packet were received by the network element; first releasing, by the network element the first data packet from a buffer to the second virtual machines; and second releasing, by the network element, the second data packet from the buffer to the second virtual machines after the first releasing based on the timestamps such that a time difference between the first releasing and the second releasing is greater than or equal to a time difference between the timestamps.