US Patent 11418427 Software emulated switching of dual network devices

In an environment comprising a group of servers and at least two network devices, a link fault is detected. A data cable connects each of the servers to both network devices. An active communication path from one of the network devices to the servers is determined. In response to detecting a failure of the active communication path, a second of the network devices is indicated as the active network device. The configuration is detected by the network devices based on packets received at the network devices.