Patent ID: 8856351

Claim:
A method for reducing a load placed on an endpoint server acting as an endpoint of a tunnel from a client device across a network the method, implemented at the client device, comprising: receiving a request to establish a new network connection; determining a risk establishing the new network connection outside of the tunnel, the risk based on a plurality of predefined criteria relating to the new network connection; comparing the determined risk with a predefined risk threshold; when the determined risk is less than or equal to the predefined risk threshold, establishing the new network connection directly via the network outside of the tunnel, wherein if the new network connection fails before it is completed it is re-established via the tunnel; attempting to re-establish the new network connection directly via the network outside of the tunnel before re-establishing the new network connection via the tunnel; and when the determined risk is greater than the predefined risk threshold, establishing the new network connection via the tunnel.