In one embodiment, a triggered reboot of a field area router (FAR) of a computer network is initiated, and gathered states of the FAR are saved. The nodes in the computer network are informed of the triggered reboot, and then feedback may be collected from the nodes in response to the triggered reboot. As such, it can be determined whether to complete the triggered reboot based on the feedback, and the FAR is rebooted in response to determining to complete the triggered reboot. In another embodiment, a node receives information about the initiated triggered reboot of the FAR, and determines whether it has critical traffic. If not, the node buffers non-critical traffic and indicates positive feedback in response to the triggered reboot, but if so, then the node continues to process the critical traffic and indicates negative feedback in response to the triggered reboot.