Patent ID: 8406125

Claim:
A method comprising: operating a first processor of a network device in an active mode, the first processor performing a set of multicast routing-related functions in the active mode; operating a second processor of the network device in a standby mode, the second processor not performing the set of multicast routing-related functions in the standby mode; maintaining, by the first processor, first multicast information used by the first processor for performing the set of multicast routing-related functions, the first multicast information comprising a set of entries, each entry comprising a plurality of fields; maintaining, by the second processor, second multicast information comprising a set of entries, each entry comprising a plurality of fields; communicating update information from the first processor to the second processor for updating the second multicast information, the update information comprising information indicative of a change to be made to a first set of fields of a first entry in the second multicast information, wherein a number of fields included in the first set of fields is less than the plurality of fields; determining, based upon the update information, an entry in the second multicast information corresponding to the first entry in the first multicast information; and updating the first set of fields in the first entry in the second multicast information based upon the update information.