A network comprises a communication device having network communication interfaces and a data processing node having network communication ports. The communication device includes a first and a second interface communicatively coupled to a first and a second port of the data processing node respectively. The first interface is selected as a primary interface for the transmission of network traffic to destinations across the network. The second interface is selected as a backup interface which is to be selected for the transmission of the network traffic in the case of a need to failover to the backup interface. Network traffic from the communication device is transmitted via the first interface while the first interface is selected as the primary interface. At least one data message is transmitted from the communication device via the second interface, while the first interface is selected as the primary interface.