Fault tolerant recoverable TCP/IP connection router

Claim 2

A fault tolerant recoverable transport connection protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP) connection device to provide a connection between clients and one or more servers in a computer network, said TCP/IP connection device comprising at least two TCP/IP routers connected between said clients and said one or more servers, wherein when a first TCP/IP router of said at least two TCP/IP routers is in an active state to provide said connection between said clients and said one or more servers, then a second TCP/IP router of said at least two TCP/IP routers is in a standby state and capable of providing connection between said clients and said servers with same or different connectivity than said first TCP/IP router; each of said at least two TCP/IP routers including: a synchronization manager that synchronizes internal tables of said at least two TCP/IP routers; a monitoring manager that monitors a state of said at least two TCP/IP routers; upon detecting a failure of said first TCP/IP router, said monitoring manager switching said second TCP/IP router from said standby state to said active state to maintain said connection, and switching said first TCP/IP router from said active state to said standby state; and, a reach-ability manager which compares a TCP/IP router reach-ability state of each of said at least two TCP/IP routers with a required reach-ability set comprising a set of hosts or subnets to which connections are to be maintained, and which instructs said monitoring manager to switch states of said at least two TCP/IP routers when said second TCP/IP router is in the standby state and has a reach-ability state that includes said required reach-ability set and is better than said reach-ability set of said active TCP/IP router, whereby TCP/IP connectivity is maintained between said clients and said servers regardless of said connectivity configuration.

Claim 3

The fault tolerant recoverable TCP/IP connection device of claim 1, wherein each of said at least two TCP/IP routers further comprises a reach-ability manager which updates said router reach-ability state.

Claim 4

The fault tolerant recoverable TCP/IP connection device of claim 1, wherein each of said at least two TCP/IP routers further comprises a keep alive manager that monitors said at least two TCP/IP routers to provide a status notification to said monitoring manager.

Claim 5

The fault tolerant recoverable TCP/IP connection device of claim 1, wherein said monitoring manager is integrated into each of said at least two TCP/IP routers.

Claim 6

The fault tolerant recoverable TCP/IP connection device of claim 1, wherein said active and standby states are determined by workload information.

Claim 7

The fault tolerant recoverable TCP/IP connection device of claim 1, wherein said first router is a primary TCP/IP router and said second router is a backup TCP/IP router, said primary TCP/IP router and said backup TCP/IP router are determined by workload information.

Claim 8

The fault tolerant recoverable TCP/IP connection device of claim 1, wherein said at least two TCP/IP routers include a first primary TCP/IP router for a first cluster of said one or more servers, a second primary TCP/IP router for a second cluster of said one or more servers, and a backup TCP/IP router shared by said first and second cluster of said one or more servers.

Claim 9

The fault tolerant recoverable TCP/IP connection device of claim 1, wherein said first TCP/IP router is a primary TCP/IP router for a first cluster of said one or more servers and a backup router for a second cluster of said one or more servers, and said second TCP/IP router is a primary TCP/IP router for said second cluster of said one or more servers and a backup TCP/IP router for said first cluster of said one or more servers.

Claim 10

A fault tolerant recoverable transport connection protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP) connection device to provide a connection between clients and servers in a computer network, said TCP/IP connection device comprising a primary TCP/IP router and one or more backup TCP/IP routers which are connected between said clients and servers and capable of providing connection between said clients and said servers with same or different connectivity than said first TCP/IP router, said primary TCP/IP router and one of one or more said backup TCP/IP routers switching between an active state and a standby state to maintain either one of said primary TCP/IP router and one of said one or more backup TCP/IP routers in the active state for providing said connection between said clients and said servers; each of said primary TCP/IP router and said backup TCP/IP routers including a synchronization manager, a reach-ability manager, and a monitoring manager; wherein synchronization managers of said primary TCP/IP router and said one of said one or more backup TCP/IP router communicate with each other to synchronize internal tables of said primary TCP/IP router and said one of said one or more backup TCP/IP router; said monitoring managers of said primary TCP/IP router and said one of said one or more backup TCP/IP routers communicate with each other to monitor the state of said primary TCP/IP router and said one of said one or more backup TCP/IP router and perform the switching; said reach-ability managers of one of said primary TCP/IP and said one of said one or more back-up TCP/IP routers being active for collecting from said primary TCP/IP router and said one of said one or more backup TCP/IP router a reach-ability state, comparing the reach-ability states of each of said primary TCP/IP router and said one of said one or more backup TCP/IP router to determine which of said primary TCP/IP router and said one of said one or more backup TCP/IP router has optimum reach-ability to elements of a required reach-ability set; and, informing the monitoring manager for performing the switching in response to a TCP/IP router having an optimum reach-ability, whereby TCP/IP connectivity is maintained between said clients and said servers regardless of said connectivity configuration.

Claim 11

A fault tolerant recoverable transport connection protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP) connection device to provide a connection between clients and servers in a computer network, said TCP/IP connection device comprising a primary TCP/IP router and one or more backup TCP/IP routers which are connected between said clients and servers and capable of providing connection between said clients and said servers with same or different connectivity than said first TCP/IP router, said primary TCP/IP router and one of one or more said backup TCP/IP routers switching between an active state and a standby state to maintain either one of said primary TCP/IP router and one of said one or more backup TCP/IP routers in the active state for providing said connection between said clients and said servers; each of said primary TCP/IP router and said backup TCP/IP routers including a synchronization manager, a reach-ability manager, and a monitoring manager; wherein synchronization managers of said primary TCP/IP router and said one of said one or more backup TCP/IP router communicate with each other to synchronize internal tables of said primary TCP/IP router and said one of said one or more backup TCP/IP router; said monitoring managers of said primary TCP/IP router and said one of said one or more backup TCP/IP routers communicate with each other to monitor the state of said primary TCP/IP router and said one of said one or more backup TCP/IP router and perform the switching; said reach-ability managers of one of said primary TCP/IP and said one of said one or more back-up TCP/IP routers being active for collecting from said primary TCP/IP router and said one of said one or more backup TCP/IP router a reach-ability state, comparing the reach-ability states of each of said primary TCP/IP router and said one of said one or more backup TCP/IP router to determine which of said primary TCP/IP router and said one of said one or more backup TCP/IP router has optimum reach-ability to elements of a required reach-ability set; and, informing the monitoring manager for performing the switching in response to a TCP/IP router having an optimum reach-ability, whereby TCP/IP connectivity is maintained between said clients and said servers regardless of said connectivity configuration.

Claim 12

The fault tolerant recoverable TCP/IP connection device of claim 9, wherein each of said backup TCP/IP routers in the standby state monitors activities of said primary TCP/IP router in the active state so that internal tables of said primary TCP/IP router and said backup TCP/IP router are synchronized.

Claim 13

The fault tolerant recoverable TCP/IP connection device of claim 9, wherein the monitoring manager monitors the state of said primary TCP/IP router and said backup TCP/IP router for detecting a failure of one of said primary TCP/IP router and said backup TCP/IP router which is in the active state.

Claim 14

The fault tolerant recoverable TCP/IP connection device of claim 9, wherein the monitoring manager performs the switching in response to an operator command.

Claim 15

The fault tolerant recoverable TCP/IP connection device of claim 9, wherein said reach-ability set comprises information including hosts and subnets reachable by said connection device, said reach-ability manager of a primary TCP/IP router executing a configurable function to decide which connection device has an optimum current reach-ability.

Claim 16

The fault tolerant recoverable connection device of claim 9, wherein each of said primary TCP/IP router and said one or more TCP/IP backup routers further comprises a keep alive manager that monitors said primary TCP/IP router and said one or more TCP/IP backup routers to provide a status notification to said monitoring manager.

Claim 17

The fault tolerant recoverable connection device of claim 9, wherein said monitoring manager is integrated into each of said primary TCP/IP router and said backup TCP/IP router.

Claim 18

The fault tolerant recoverable connection device of claim 9, wherein said primary TCP/IP router and said backup TCP/IP router are determined by workload information.

Claim 19

The fault tolerant recoverable connection device of claim 9, wherein said active and standby states are determined by workload information.

Claim 20

The fault tolerant recoverable connection device of claim 9 further comprising another primary TCP/IP router for a cluster of servers, wherein said backup TCP/IP router is shared by said servers and said cluster of servers.

Claim 21

The fault tolerant recoverable connection device of claim 9, wherein said primary TCP/IP router of said of servers is a backup TCP/IP router for a cluster of servers, and said backup TCP/IP router of said of servers is a primary TCP/IP router for said cluster of servers.

Claim 24

The method of claim 20, wherein the synchronizing step is performed by a synchronization manager of each of said at least two TCP/IP routers, and the monitoring step, the detecting step and both switching steps are performed by a monitoring manager of said at least two TCP/IP routers.

Claim 25

The method of claim 21, wherein said step of switching a TCP/IP router from a stand-by to an active state further comprises the step of: instructing said monitoring manager to switch states of said at least two TCP/IP routers when said second TCP/IP router is in the standby state and has a reach-ability state which is better than a reach-ability state of said first TCP/IP router.

Claim 26

The method of claim 22, wherein the comparing step and the instructing step are performed by a reach-ability manager of said at least two TCP/IP routers.

Claim 27

The method of claim 20 further comprising updating the internal tables with current reach-ability states.

Claim 28

The method of claim 24, wherein the updating step is performed by each reach-ability manager of said at least two TCP/IP routers.

Claim 29

The method of claim 20 further comprising the steps of: monitoring said at least two TCP/IP routers; and providing status notification to said monitoring manager.

Claim 30

The method of claim 26, wherein the monitoring step and the providing step are performed by a keep alive manager of said at least two TCP/IP routers.

Claim 33

The method of claim 28, wherein the initializing step is performed by a monitoring manager of the primary TCP/IP router.

Claim 34

The method of claim 28, wherein the constructing step is performed by a synchronization manager of each the primary TCP/IP router and the backup TCP/IP router.

Claim 35

The method of claim 28 further comprising communicating configuration information between the primary and backup routers so that configuration information of the primary router need not be reconstructed by the backup router to prevent delays in recovery of requests distributions when the primary router fails.