A method is provided for maintaining a connection between a local application and a remote application while the local application is unavailable or inactive. The method includes pausing the local application and sending data over the connection to maintain the connection. A connection filter on the same computing node as the local application sends data to maintain the connection by responding to acknowledgements and heartbeats from the remote application. The connection filter is configured to initiate the restoration of the local application in response to data that it is not configured to handle.