A device includes a master control card that performs control plane processing, a backup control card, where the backup control card takes over control plane processing if the master control card goes out of service, and a database card that connects to the master control card and the backup control card, where the database control card stores information relating to control plane processing. A method of achieving hitless failover in a network element includes detecting that a master control card of the network element has gone out of service, designating the backup control card as a new master control card of the network element, establishing communication with a database card of the network element, and retrieving protocol states information from the database card.