Patent ID: 6917592

Claim:
A method of load-balancing a network comprising the steps of: establishing a primary L2TP Network Sever (LNS), a peer LNS and a L2TP Access Concentrator (LAC), wherein said primary LNS includes state information; coupling the primary LNS, the peer LNS, and the LAC to a network; transmitting first information from a CPE to said LAC; establishing a first tunnel between said LAC and said primary LNS and transmitting said first information through said tunnel; comparing an LNS overload parameter to an LNS overload threshold and responsively determining that said primary LNS is overloaded if said LNS overload parameter exceeds said LNS overload threshold; offloading said state information directly from said primary LNS to said peer LNS via said network; in response to determining that said primary LNS is overloaded, establishing a second tunnel from said LAC to said peer LNS using said state information; and transmitting second information from said CPE to said LAC and through said second tunnel.