Upon detection of a failure of a communication link between a remote management system and a communication node, a bypass link is established. The remote management system evaluates whether additional communication nodes can act as a bypass for management communications between the remote management system and the communication node whose management communication link has failed. The remote management system instructs a selected bypass communication node to establish the bypass management communication link between the bypass node and the disconnected node whose management communication link has failed. Depending on the relationship between nodes, management communications sent using the bypass link may be secured. The bypass link in some implementations may include multiple bypass communication nodes linked together to provide a chain of bypass management communication links between the remote management system and the disconnected communication node.