摘要 |
<p>Methods of transparent connection failover allowing a remote computer (i.e., a client), to continue to use a network connection to communicate with one of at least two or more other computers (i.e., the backup servers) over a network, when one of the other computers (i.e., the primary server) fails. With the mechanisms of this invention, there is no need for the client to establish a new connection to a backup server when the primary server fails. The failover is preferably executed within a bridge layer between the TCP layer and the IP layer of the server's TCP/IP stack. No modifications are required to the network infrastructure, the client's TCP/IP stack, the client application or the server application. The methods support active or semiactive replication of the server application, and do not require rollback of the application during failover. The invention also provides mechanisms for bringing up new backup servers.</p> |