Use of backup heartbeat signal to mitigate split-brain conditions

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

• monitor heartbeat packets from the primary appliance received via a regular heartbeat interface of the backup appliance with the backup appliance to determine whether the connection with the primary appliance via the regular heartbeat interface is stable;
• enable a backup heartbeat interface on the backup appliance in response to a determination that the primary appliance is not operating properly resulting from analyzing at least a status of the heartbeat packets from the primary appliance;
• transmit a backup heartbeat packet from the backup appliance to at least the regular heartbeat interface of the primary appliance in response to a determination that the primary appliance is not operating properly;
• provide services with the backup appliance to replace services previously provided by the primary appliance;
• and
• continue transmission of backup heartbeat packets from the backup appliance while providing services with the backup appliance.

A system comprising:

• a memory system having a plurality of interconnected memory devices;
• one or more hardware processors coupled with the memory system, the one or more hardware processors configurable to:
• monitor heartbeat packets from the primary appliance received via a regular heartbeat interface of the backup appliance with the backup appliance to determine whether the connection with the primary appliance via the regular heartbeat interface is stable;
• enable a backup heartbeat interface on the backup appliance in response to a determination that the primary appliance is not operating properly resulting from analyzing at least a status of the heartbeat packets from the primary appliance;
• transmit a backup heartbeat packet from the backup appliance to at least the regular heartbeat interface of the primary appliance in response to a determination that the primary appliance is not operating properly;
• provide services with the backup appliance to replace services previously provided by the primary appliance;
• and
• continue transmission of backup heartbeat packets from the backup appliance while providing services with the backup appliance.