Patent ID: 7953889

Claim:
A method for using a client agent to route client requests among a plurality of appliances using transport layer information, the method comprising the steps of: (a) establishing, by a client agent executing on a client, a first transport layer connection with a first virtual server of a first appliance of a plurality of appliances, the first appliance providing access to one or more servers; (b) establishing, by the client agent executing on the client, a second transport layer connection with a second virtual server of a second appliance of the plurality of appliances, the second appliance providing access to one or more servers; (c) intercepting, by the client agent, a packet transmitted by the client; (d) selecting, by the client agent, one of the first transport layer connection or the second transport layer connection to transmit the intercepted packet based on a characteristic of at least one of: the first transport layer connection, the second transport layer connection, one or more of the plurality of appliances, or the one or more servers; and (e) transmitting the intercepted packet via the selected connection.