A method for maintaining a high availability data transmission and
processing environment. A network of clusters is provided. Each cluster
of the network includes at least two identical servers. Each cluster of
the network is directly connected to at least one other cluster of the
network. Each pair of clusters directly connected to each other is
characterized by each server in a first cluster of the pair of clusters
being directly connected to at least one server in a second cluster of
the pair of clusters via a communication link. Provided is a control
server adapted to monitor an operational status of the communication link
(i.e., the communication link is operational or non-operational). The
control server is directly linked to at least one server in each cluster
via a communication channel between the control server and the at least
one server.