Patent ID: 6754706
Filing Date: 2004-06-22
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A process for load balancing and persistence tracking between client Domain Name Servers (DNS) and content servers across a network in a computer environment, comprising the steps of:providing a plurality of DNS servers; receiving a client's Internet Protocol (IP) address request; checking if the resident DNS server is authoritative for said request; forwarding said request to the proper DNS server if said resident DNS server is not authoritative for said request; wherein each DNS server is associated with a subset of the DNS groups in said network; providing a persistence table; wherein said persistence table is comprised of persistence entries; wherein each of said persistence entries contains an IP address; checking if a persistent response is required; sending the appropriate IP address from said persistence table as a response to the sender of said request if a persistent response is required; providing a latency table; wherein said latency table contains the load, latency, and availability of content servers; finding the proper IP address of a content server to return based on the information in said latency table if no persistent response is required; and sending said proper IP address as a response to the sender of said request.