Patent ID: 7088718

Claim:
A method of routing data from a client through one or more load-balancing nodes to a selected load-balanced server among a plurality of servers in a network, the method comprising the steps of: receiving, at a last load balancing node associated with a selected server among the plurality of servers, a first packet of a server reply to a request from the client; setting a first flag value in the first packet of the server reply; storing one or more identifiers of ingress interfaces on which the packet arrives, in a send path list for server load balancing, as the first packet of the server reply is routed from the last load balancing node to the client using hop-by-hop decisions; receiving one or more subsequent packets of the client request; setting a second flag value in each of the subsequent packets; and forwarding the subsequent packets to the selected server only on a route that is defined by the send path list and without hop-by-hop routing decisions.