Patent ID: 8433808

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving, by a network device, a first message from a first server of a group, the first message including a first value for a first Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) option and a second value for a second TCP option; receiving, by the network device, a second message from a second server of the group, the second message including a third value for the first TCP option and a fourth value for the second TCP option; selecting, by the network device, a first selected value for the first (TCP) option by selecting one of the first value or the third value that is smallest; selecting, by the network device, a second selected value for the second TCP option by selecting one of the second value or the fourth value that is smallest, a set of values of TCP options, for the group, including the first selected value and the second selected value; receiving, by the network device, a synchronization (SYN) message from a client, the SYN message including a request to establish a connection between the client and the first server; and transmitting, by the network device, a synchronization-acknowledgment (SYN-ACK) message to the client based on the SYN message, the SYN-ACK message including the set of values of the TCP options for the group.