Patent ID: 8626949

Claim:
A service-aware lookup service for a network of computing nodes, comprising: a lookup service that receives a request from a client of the network for a service provided by a plurality of service endpoints of the network, wherein the request comprises client context information associated with at least one client application, in response to the client request for the service, determines an optimal service endpoint and at least one alternative service endpoint for providing the service requested by the client, wherein the lookup service determines the optimal service endpoint based at least in part on the client context information associated with at least one client application, and concurrently notifies the client of both the optimal service endpoint and the at least one alternative service endpoint, to enable the client to select between the optimal service endpoint and the at least one alternative service endpoint; and at least one data store storing mapping information about the optimal service endpoint, wherein the lookup service determines the optimal service endpoint based at least in part on the mapping information stored in the at least one data store.