Patent ID: 7747720

Claim:
A network comprising: a client machine at a network-based client location within an identifiable network topology of the network and configured for outputting a request for a specified service, the client machine comprising a selection resource configured for execution by the client machine; and server machines distributed throughout the network at respective network-based server locations within the identifiable network topology and each configured for providing the specified service; wherein the selection resource in the client machine is configured for selecting a selected server machine from among the server machines, based on at least one of: the selection resource determining that the corresponding server location of the selected server machine has a minimum distance to the client location based on the selection resource accessing a network topology map obtained via the network and identifying the server locations and the client location, or the selection resource determining that the client machine has a same subnet prefix as the selected server in respective IP addresses used by the client machine and the selected server machine, the selection resource causing the request to be sent by the client machine to the selected server machine for providing the specified service to the client machine.