Selecting one of multiple redundant network access points on a node within an industrial process control network

A computer-readable medium including computer executable instructions for facilitating managing a set of network access points maintained by a single redundantly connected node on an industrial local area network (LAN), the computer executable instructions facilitating performing, by the single redundantly connected node, the steps of:

• primarily testing bi-directional communicative connectivity, via the LAN, between a primary and a backup redundant network access point of the set of network access points;
• secondarily testing, upon determining loss of communicative connectivity between the primary and backup network access points, connectivity between the set of network access points and a set of nodes on the LAN to which the redundantly connected node previously communicated;
• and
• designating a current primary network access point based upon results of the secondarily testing step;
• and
• binding a first set of connections to the current primary network access point, wherein the first set of connections are re-bound to a newly designated current primary network access from a previous primary network access point in the event that the current primary network access point specified during the designating step differs from a previously designated primary network access point.

A node supporting redundant connectivity to an industrial local area network (LAN), the node comprising:

• a set of network access points for redundantly connecting the node to the industrial LAN;
• and
• computer-executable instructions for managing the set of network access points, the computer-executable instructions facilitating performing the steps of:
• primarily testing bi-directional communicative connectivity, via the LAN, between a primary and a backup redundant network access point of the set of network access points;
• secondarily testing, upon determining loss of communicative connectivity between the primary and backup network access points, connectivity between the set of network access points and a set of nodes on the LAN to which the redundantly connected node previously communicated;
• and
• designating a current primary network access point based upon results of the secondarily testing step;
• and
• binding a first set of connections to the current primary network access point, wherein the first set of connections are re-bound to a newly designated current primary network access from a previous primary network access point in the event that the current primary network access point specified during the designating step differs from a previously designated primary network access point.