Patent attributes
Redundant gateway methods, apparatus and systems use more than one gateway device in a gateway device group for communications directed outside of a LAN. Failover services are thus provided in the event that an active router or other gateway device fails. A failover monitoring unit includes a memory and a processor coupled to the memory. The monitoring unit also includes gateway ports connected to the processor. Each gateway port is configured to connect a gateway device to the monitoring unit. The monitoring unit is configured to collect and store redundancy group data pertaining to a redundancy group comprising a plurality of gateway devices connected to the monitoring unit. The redundancy group includes an active gateway device and one or more standby gateway devices. The monitoring unit monitors the gateway ports to detect failure of an active gateway device. When a failure is detected, the monitoring unit notifies each redundancy group standby gateway device of the active gateway device failure.
