A distributed load balancer system, comprising: a plurality of load balancer nodes (110A-110n); a plurality of server nodes (130A-130m) each implementing a load balancer module (132A-132m) and a server (134A-134m); and a router operable to distribute packet flows from one or more clients to the plurality of load balancer nodes (110A-110n); wherein the load balancer nodes (110A-110n) are operable to distribute the packet flows to selected ones of the plurality of load balancer modules (132A-132m); wherein each load balancer module (132A-132m) is operable to: send packets received from the load balancer nodes (110A-110n) in one or more packet flows to the server (134A-134m) on the respective server node (130A-130m), wherein each of the one or more packet flows corresponds to one of one or more connections established between the server (134A-134m) and a source client for packet flow; collect state information for each of one or more active connections from the server (134A-134m); and publish the collected state information for the one or more active connections as a connection publishing packet to at least one of the plurality of load balancer nodes (110A-110n) providing a lease to the one or more active connections, and wherein one or more connections dropped by the server are no longer published in the connection publishing packet; and wherein each load balancer node (110A-110n) is further operable to: cache state information for at least one connection; and update the cached state information according to the state information in the connection publishing packets published by the load balancer modules (132A-132m), wherein an update of the cached state information for a given connection on the load balancer node (110A-110n) renews the lease for the connection on the load balancer node (110A-110n). a plurality of load balancer nodes (110A-110n); a plurality of server nodes (130A-130m) each implementing a load balancer module (132A-132m) and a server (134A-134m); and a router operable to distribute packet flows from one or more clients to the plurality of load balancer nodes (110A-110n); wherein the load balancer nodes (110A-110n) are operable to distribute the packet flows to selected ones of the plurality of load balancer modules (132A-132m); wherein each load balancer module (132A-132m) is operable to: send packets received from the load balancer nodes (110A-110n) in one or more packet flows to the server (134A-134m) on the respective server node (130A-130m), wherein each of the one or more packet flows corresponds to one of one or more connections established between the server (134A-134m) and a source client for packet flow; collect state information for each of one or more active connections from the server (134A-134m); and publish the collected state information for the one or more active connections as a connection publishing packet to at least one of the plurality of load balancer nodes (110A-110n) providing a lease to the one or more active connections, and wherein one or more connections dropped by the server are no longer published in the connection publishing packet; and send packets received from the load balancer nodes (110A-110n) in one or more packet flows to the server (134A-134m) on the respective server node (130A-130m), wherein each of the one or more packet flows corresponds to one of one or more connections established between the server (134A-134m) and a source client for packet flow; collect state information for each of one or more active connections from the server (134A-134m); and publish the collected state information for the one or more active connections as a connection publishing packet to at least one of the plurality of load balancer nodes (110A-110n) providing a lease to the one or more active connections, and wherein one or more connections dropped by the server are no longer published in the connection publishing packet; and wherein each load balancer node (110A-110n) is further operable to: cache state information for at least one connection; and update the cached state information according to the state information in the connection publishing packets published by the load balancer modules (132A-132m), wherein an update of the cached state information for a given connection on the load balancer node (110A-110n) renews the lease for the connection on the load balancer node (110A-110n). cache state information for at least one connection; and update the cached state information according to the state information in the connection publishing packets published by the load balancer modules (132A-132m), wherein an update of the cached state information for a given connection on the load balancer node (110A-110n) renews the lease for the connection on the load balancer node (110A-110n).