Patent ID: 8874783

Claim:
A traffic manager device for forwarding messages, comprising: a network interface unit for communicating with a least a client and a plurality of servers; and a processing unit for executing instructions that enable the traffic manager device to perform actions, including persistently mapping messages between a connection from the client and the plurality of servers to maintain a previous association for the client with a same server in the plurality of servers, wherein information regarding each persistent connection between the traffic manager device and a first server is stored and is retrievable using a single key that is generated from at least a source address that includes a port number in use with at least a second server on behalf of a second client when it is determined that the client and the second client are within a same set of clients as based on a range of addresses, and wherein the source address and the port number are concatenated with at least a destination address to generate the single key such that the concatenated information is employed as an index to a database of connection objects for subsequent comparison with other information associated with a single connection between the traffic manager device and the client, and wherein source addresses in single keys for each of at least two persistent connections include a same source port number such that a received response from the first server is one of a plurality of responses sent to the same port number from at least the first server and the second server.