Patent ID: 7131140

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving a packet at an outbound firewall load balancer; determining whether the packet is associated with an open connection such that resources are being consumed as reflected by an entry in an outbound connection database, wherein if the entry is not present in the outbound connection database then a new entry is not recorded for the outbound firewall load balancer; and forwarding the packet to a selected one of a plurality of firewalls coupled to the outbound firewall load balancer in the case where the entry is present in the outbound connection database, wherein the packet may be received by the selected firewall and then communicated to an inbound firewall load balancer, wherein the inbound firewall load balancer is operable to generate a new entry for the packet once it has received it from the selected firewall, the new entry being provided in an inbound connection database such that resources for the inbound firewall load balancer are then being consumed for an open flow associated with the packet.