Patent ID: 7512702
Filing Date: 2009-03-31
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of providing highly scalable network server load balancing, the method comprising the steps of: receiving, at a first router in a path from a client to one or more server sites, a packet of a request from a client; selecting a particular server site to process the client request; determining a first path from the first router through a network to a second router associated with the particular server site, and a second path from the first router to a server load-balancing device associated with the second router; creating and storing a mapping of flow identifying information, associated with the packet, to a first multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) label value that identifies the first path and to a second MPLS label value that identifies the second path; storing the first MPLS label value and the second MPLS label value in the packet; distributing the first and second MPLS label values to the network by attaching the first and second MPLS label values to a discovery request packet that is sent into the network by the first router; forwarding all subsequent packets associated with the client request to the server load-balancing device based on looking up the first MPLS label value and second MPLS label value in the mapping, wherein the server load-balancing device does not terminate any TCP connections; receiving a cookie containing server address information from the second router, wherein the server address information identifies a server that is managed by the load-balancing device; and storing the server address information in the mapping of flow identifying information.