Patent ID: 8447802

Claim:
A method of sending through a network a message that includes payload information, a value of a source address, a value of a destination address, and one or more particular fields for storing data values, the method comprising: (a) intercepting at a source network proxy, a first message from a client to a server in the network, wherein the value of the source address included in the first message is a client address and the value of the destination address included in the first message is a server address; (b) creating a second message that includes the payload information from the first message, the second message sent from the source network proxy to a destination network proxy; (c) processing the second message at a first address swapper operating in cooperation with the source network proxy, the processing comprising: (d) storing first data within the one or more particular fields of the second message; wherein at least one of a source network proxy address and a destination network proxy address are stored within a TCP option field; (e) storing within the second message an indication that the first data is stored within the second message; and (f) establishing, in the second message, the server address as the value of the destination address and the client address as the value of the source address included in the second message; (g) sending the second message over the network, wherein the network delivers the message based on the destination address included in the second message; (h) intercepting the second message by a second address swapper associated with the destination network proxy; (i) processing the second message by the second address swapper, the processing comprising: (1) retrieving the source network proxy address and the destination network proxy address from the first data stored within the one or more particular fields of the second message; (2) establishing the destination network proxy address as the value of the destination address and the source network proxy address as the value of the source address included in the second message; (j) receiving the second message at the destination network proxy; (k) creating a third message by the destination network proxy that includes the payload information of the second message; and (l) delivering the third message to the server.