Network path validation based on user-specified criteria

1. A computer system comprising:

at least one processing resource configured to control and communicate with at least one network device;

a plurality of network resources configured to be coupled by a plurality of pathways between the at least one processing resource and the at least one network device; and

at least one teaming module executable on the at least one processing resource and configured to manage failover in the computer system, wherein the at least one teaming module is configured to:

present a user interface enabling selection from among plural different traffic types to use as a heartbeat, where absence of the heartbeat is an indication of failure, the plural different traffic types including multiple ones selected from among a traffic type defined by a specific protocol, a traffic type defined by a specific Internet Protocol (IP) address, and a traffic type defined by a specific Media Access Control (MAC) address;

receive an indication of a selected user-specified traffic type from among the plural different traffic types to use as the heartbeat;

communicate traffic via the plurality of network resources; and

make a decision to fail over from a primary one of the pathways to a secondary one of the pathways based on failure to receive the heartbeat according to the user-specified traffic type, in combination with detection of availability of traffic according to the user-specified traffic type via the secondary pathway.

2. The computer system according to claim 1 further comprising:

a plurality of servers configured to be connected to a first switch, where the at least one teaming module is configured to further:

monitor for absence of the heartbeat according to the user-specified traffic type at the first switch in combination with presence of traffic according to the user-specified traffic at one or more second switches, and

manage failover from the first switch to a second switch of the one or more second switches that is selected based on user-specified criteria.

3. The computer system according to claim 1 ,

wherein the user interface is configured to specify a hierarchy of user-specified traffic types, the hierarchy determining a secondary pathway from among a plurality of secondary pathways eligible for failover.

4. The computer system according to claim 1 , wherein the user interface is a graphical user interface.

5. The computer system according to claim 1 further comprising:

a finite state machine configurable by a user to execute a multiple-variant analysis to select the secondary pathway from among a plurality of potential pathways for failover from the primary pathway.

6. The computer system according to claim 1 , wherein the user interface is a graphical user interface (GUI) configured to present the traffic type defined by the specific protocol, the traffic type defined by the specific IP address, and the traffic type defined by the specific MAC address.

7. A method of operating a network computer system comprising:

presenting, in a user interface, information relating to a plurality of different traffic types for specifying a heartbeat, where absence of the heartbeat is an indication of failure, the plurality of different traffic types including multiple ones selected from among a traffic type defined by a specific protocol, a traffic type defined by a specific Internet Protocol (IP) address, a traffic type defined by a specific Media Access Control (MAC) address, and a traffic type defined by a predetermined maximum or minimum size;

enabling a user to select, with the user interface, from among the plurality of different traffic types to use as the heartbeat; and

managing failover in the network computer system comprising:

receiving an indication of a selected traffic type from among the plurality of different traffic types to use as the heartbeat;

communicating traffic via a plurality of network resources that form a plurality of pathways to at least one network device; and

making a decision to fail over from a primary one of the pathways to a secondary one of the pathways based on failure to receive the heartbeat according to the selected traffic type in the primary pathway, in combination with detecting availability of traffic according to the selected traffic type via the secondary pathway.

8. The method according to claim 7 further comprising:

managing failover in the network computer system comprising a plurality of servers connected to a first switch;

monitoring for absence of the heartbeat according to the selected traffic type at the first switch in combination with presence of traffic according to the selected traffic type at one or more second switches; and

managing failover from the first switch to a second switch of the one or more second switches that is selected based on user-specified criteria.

9. The method according to claim 7 further comprising:

operating at least a group of the plurality of network resources as a single virtual network resource.

10. A computer system comprising:

at least one processing resource configured to control and communicate with at least one network device;

a plurality of network resources configured to be coupled by a plurality of pathways between the at least one processing resource and the at least one network device; and

a graphical user interface (GUI) executable on the at least one processing resource and configured to:

present a plurality of types of traffic useable as a heartbeat, wherein the plurality of types include a first type of traffic defined by a specific protocol, and a second type of traffic defined by a specific multicast address; and

receive user selection of one of the presented plurality of types of traffic to use as the heartbeat; and

a failover mechanism to control failover from a primary one of the pathways to a secondary one of the pathways based on failure to receive the heartbeat according to the selected type of traffic in the primary pathway.