Virtualized parallel redundancy protocol for fault-tolerant network systems

A method of processing packets in a computing system, comprising:

• sending, by first software executing in a virtual machine (VM), a packet towards a device, the VM managed by a hypervisor executing on a hardware platform of a computer, the hardware platform including a central processing unit (CPU), a memory, a first network interface controller (NIC) coupled to a first network, and a second NIC coupled to a second network;
• receiving, at a virtual switch of the hypervisor, the packet from the first software;
• inserting, by the virtual switch, a sequence number in the packet;
• duplicating, by the virtual switch, the packet into a first packet and a second packet;
• sending, by the virtual switch, the first packet over the first network through the first NIC;
• and
• sending, by the virtual switch, the second packet over the second network through the second NIC.

A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions to be executed in a computing device to cause the computing device to carry out a method of processing packets in a computing system, comprising:

• sending, by first software executing in a virtual machine (VM), a packet towards a device, the VM managed by a hypervisor executing on a hardware platform of a computer, the hardware platform including a central processing unit (CPU), a memory, a first network interface controller (NIC) coupled to a first network, and a second NIC coupled to a second network;
• receiving, at a virtual switch of the hypervisor, the packet from the first software;
• inserting, by the virtual switch, a sequence number in the packet;
• duplicating, by the virtual switch, the packet into a first packet and a second packet;
• sending, by the virtual switch, the first packet over the first network through the first NIC;
• and
• sending, by the virtual switch, the second packet over the second network through the second NIC.