| CPC H04L 41/0654 (2013.01) [H04L 12/66 (2013.01); H04L 43/10 (2013.01); H04L 45/64 (2013.01); H04L 47/125 (2013.01); H04L 47/13 (2013.01)] | 20 Claims |

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1. A first gateway device comprising:
a memory; and
one or more processors that are configured to execute machine readable instructions stored in the memory to:
determine a second gateway device communicatively connected to the first gateway device via a virtual uplink over a local area network (LAN) connection, wherein the first gateway device enables a physical uplink to a first network accessible via an internet service provider (ISP) of the first gateway device and the second gateway device enables the virtual uplink over the LAN connection for the first gateway device to connect to a second network accessible via an ISP of the second gateway device;
form a cluster of gateway devices with a second gateway device, wherein the cluster of gateway devices is formed via a cluster manager located at a cloud-based software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) or internally to the first gateway device, and the first gateway device and the second gateway device communicate via the LAN connection in addition to the virtual uplink to each ISP;
using the cluster manager, initiate a cluster heartbeat process from the first gateway device to the second gateway device via the LAN connection; and
when a response to the cluster heartbeat process is received from the first gateway device and not the second gateway device within a threshold period of time, notify an uplink manager of the first gateway device regarding a network issue that affects communication with the second gateway device, wherein the uplink manager is configured to:
suspend the virtual uplink as unreachable,
suspend a WAN health check transmitted via the virtual uplink to the second gateway device,
update a default gateway to remove the virtual uplink and utilize the physical uplink outside of the cluster of gateway devices as a default connection to the first network accessible via the ISP of the first gateway device, and
concurrently maintain data transmissions to the first network accessible via the ISP of the first gateway device from the physical uplink outside of the cluster of gateway devices.
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