Patent ID: 7730210

Claim:
A method for creating a virtual MAC address, the method comprising: configuring in a configuration for a first network attached system a plurality of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses for each of a plurality of applications executing on the first network attached system, wherein each of the plurality of applications is provided a different IP address; replicating the configuration to a second network attached system; creating a plurality of virtual MAC (Media Access and Control) addresses, each virtual MAC address associated with one of the different IP addresses; setting a non-OUI portion of the virtual MAC address to a subset of the Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with the virtual MAC address; detecting a migration event on the first network attached system; initializing the plurality of applications on the second network attached system according to the replicated configuration, wherein each of the plurality of applications is assigned the different IP address according to the replicated configuration; and recreating on the second network attached system the plurality of virtual MAC addresses, each virtual MAC address associated with one of the different IP addresses and each created on the second network attached system by setting a non-OUI portion of each virtual MAC address to a subset of the different Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with the virtual MAC address.