Patent ID: 7996886

Claim:
A load balancing system comprising: a first load balancer; a second load balancer; a plurality of SSL proxies communicating with the first load balancer; and a processor operable to execute an action with at least one of a plurality of modules, including: a first module for communicating first identifying data associated with a client from an SSL proxy of the plurality of SSL proxies to the first load balancer, the first identifying data comprising a first client certificate; a second module for determining a target server associated with the client; and a third module for maintaining a persistent communication between the client and the target server, based on the first client certificate; a fourth module for communicating a second identifying data associated with the client from the SSL proxy to the second load balancer, the second identifying data comprising a second client certificate; and a fifth module for maintaining persistent communications between the client and the target server, based on the first identifying data and the second identifying data, wherein at least a portion of the persistent communications is processed at the first load balancer, and at least a portion of the persistent communications is processed at the second load balancer.