A cluster computer system capable of filtering stale messages resulting
from changes in a cluster membership. The system has interconnected nodes
each hosting one or more applications and having a node filter for
filtering messages to and from other nodes based on a membership
identification and information about source nodes and destination nodes
of the messages. Each application of a hosting node includes multiple
application filters corresponding to other nodes in the system for
filtering messages to and from the application based on the membership
identification and an application view of the cluster membership. Each
node further includes a communication agent for detecting when another
node is disconnected from the membership and for updating its filters
with the membership identification that reflects the node disconnection.