A method, server, and communication system are described that, among other things, enable a server in a server cluster to assume control of any “early” Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) dialogs previously handled by another server in the server cluster when that server fails or otherwise becomes unable to continue handling a communication session. The replacement server in the server cluster is able to generate one or more messages that include an identification of the dialog identifiers used by the now failed server as well as new dialog identifiers to replace the dialog identifiers used by the now failed server.