Patent ID: 7003575

Claim:
A method for rerouting network traffic, operating in conjunction with a server cluster comprising at least a first and a second server each having a unique internet address associated therewith, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a packet in the first server, the packet being addressed to the first server, and containing indication of a source address associated with a client; obtaining a service address and flags from a redirection database, at least one of the flags being a redirection flag, when the redirection flag is asserted, adding a redirection header to the packet, the redirection header including a service address, to which the packet is to be redirected to; the flags further comprising at least one flag selected from: a permanent flag indicating whether the client is expected to perform the redirection permanently to the service address, a once flag indicating whether the client is expected to perform the redirection once to the service address, or a leased flag indicating whether the client is expected to perform the redirection to the service address as long as a lease is in force; and, transmitting the packet and redirection header back to the source address; wherein the service address is the address of the second server.