Patent ID: 8553537
Filing Date: 2013-10-08
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of forwarding incoming client traffic to servers in a group of servers, the method comprising: receiving a packet from a client system, the packet including a packet header with a destination MAC (Media Access Control) address field, a destination IP (Internet Protocol) address field, and a destination service port field; providing a single switch device with a single packet forwarding table for providing load balancing across servers in a server group, the packet forwarding table having a plurality of table entries, each table entry mapping a hash value to a server in a server group; computing, by the single switch device, a hash value from a combination of data in the destination MAC address, destination IP address, and destination service port fields of the packet header of the received packet; searching, by the single switch device, the single packet forwarding table to find a table entry with a hash value that matches the computed hash value and to identify, from the table entry, the server in the server group to which the matching hash value maps; and forwarding sessionlessly, by the single switch device, the packet to the identified server.