A method is described that involves entering a notification of a request into a queue that supplies request notifications to a first worker node amongst a plurality of worker nodes. The first worker node is targeted to process the request. In response to the first worker node failing before the notification could be serviced from the first queue, the notification is moved from the first queue to a second queue that supplies request notifications to a second worker node amongst the plurality of worker nodes. After servicing the notification from the second queue, the request is transferred to the second worker node. A response to the request is then generated with the second worker node.