Patent ID: 8670304

Claim:
A system, comprising: a first network device having one or more processors that perform actions, including: receiving a packet from a client device, when it is determined that the first network device is designated to receive the packet from the client device, and a second network device is not so designated; sending an acknowledgement (ACK) message to the client device, when it is determined that the first network device is designated to provide the ACK message to the client device, and the second network device is not so designated; the second network device having one or more processing devices that perform actions, including: sending the ACK message to the client device, when it is determined that the second network device is designated to provide the ACK message to the client device, and the first network device is not so designated, wherein the network device not designated to receive the packet from the client device, instead receives the packet from the network device designated to receive the packet from the client device such that a connection state is separately constructed by both the first and the second network devices based on the received packet to enable connection mirroring; and wherein the first network device further performs actions, including: forwarding the packet to a server device, when it is determined that the first network device is designated to forward the packet, and the second network device is not so designated, otherwise the second network device forwards the packet to the server device; receiving a response from the server device, when it is determined that the first network device is designated to receive the response from the server device, and the second network device is not so designated; when the first network device is designated to receive the response, sending the response to the second network device; otherwise, receiving the response from the second network device; and sending an other ACK message to the server device, when the first network device is designated to provide the other ACK message, otherwise, the second network device provides the ACK message to the response from the server device.