Patent ID: 7272755

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a plurality of computer systems coupled together via a network, wherein a first of the plurality of computer systems includes corresponding predictive failure information that indicates whether at least one component on the first computer system will likely fail within a specified time; a predictive failure communication mechanism coupled to the network that communicates the predictive failure information to at least one other computer system on the network; and a predictive failure rerouting mechanism coupled to the network that receives a request for a resource on the first computer system, determines if the predictive failure information for the first computer system indicates a preferred network path for the resource is not available, determines if an alternative path for accessing the requested resource exists, and if the predictive failure information for the first computer system indicates a preferred network path for the resource is not available and an alternative path exists, the predictive failure rerouting mechanism submits a request for the resource via the alternative path, and if the predictive failure information for the first computer system indicates a preferred network path for the resource is not available and no alternative path exists, the predictive failure rerouting mechanism returns an error message.