The illustrative device may also include message notification and alerting programs (not shown), which facilitate inter-process and inter-server messaging and notification. These systems, such as operating system provided inter-process communication facilities (IPCs) and third party messaging middleware subsystems such as MQ from IBM. The server may also include utility program scheduling programs, such as “cron” on Unix systems or scheduled tasks on Windows systems, that are used to run specific programs on a periodic or scheduled basis.

The illustrative device also may support one or more programs for providing server management information (not shown for clarity) utilizing a web services interface or other dedicated management information reporting systems such as simplified network management protocol (SNMP) for purposes of providing management information useful to report on the operation of the server.

IP route management software (2030) may manage the route and interface table (2057) used by the IP stack. The IP stack uses this table to determine which network interface should be used to transmit packets based upon their destination IP address. The IP route management software monitors the route and interface table for changes, and if one is detected, takes an action as defined in the database. The IP route management software also interacts with the IP stack to monitor received ARP packets. If conflicting ARP packets are received, the software takes an action as defined in the database.