Patent ID: 6970913
Filing Date: 2005-11-29
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of selecting a server to handle a connection, comprising: receiving at a service manager at a first network node a connection request intercepted by a particular one of a plurality of forwarding agents that are each configured to intercept a subset of the connection requests associated with a network address and operative to receive instructions from the service manager, at least one of the plurality of forwarding agents being located at a second network node different than the first network node, the plurality of forwarding agents being configured to intercept collectively all connection requests associated with the network address by each being configured to intercept a subset of said connection requests, such that the task of intercepting and processing said connection requests is distributed among them, the connection request having been forwarded from the particular one of the plurality of forwarding agents to the service manager; selecting at the service manager a preferred server from among a group of available servers, the preferred server being the server that is to service the connection request; sending instructions from the service manager to the particular one of the plurality of forwarding agents, the instructions including the preferred server that is to service the connection request so that the connection request may be forwarded from the particular one of the plurality of forwarding agents to the preferred server, the instructions operable to allow the particular one of the forwarding agents to forward further requests associated with the connection request without further intervention by the service manager; whereby connection requests associated with the network address may be processed in a distributed manner, without requiring that all connection requests associated with the network address be processed by a single appliance forwarding agent located at a single node through which all such connection requests must pass.