Patent ID: 7747763

Claim:
A system for providing a device access to a correct instance of a network service, comprising: a plurality of managed devices configured to issue a request for the network service; and a plurality of management domains communicatively coupled to each other via a network, each of the plurality of managed devices belonging to at least one of the plurality of management domains, wherein each of the plurality of management domains comprises: at least one server comprising an instance of the network service, wherein the instance of the network service is responsible for communicating with one or more of the plurality of managed devices that belong to the management domain of the at least one server; and a network service management module configured to: receive a request for the network service from at least one of the plurality of managed devices; provide the at least one requesting device access to the instance of the network service if the request refers to the management domain of the at least one server; forward the request to one or more other servers in the network if the request does not refer to the management domain of the at least one server; and receive a response to the forwarded request from one of the other servers in the network, wherein the response indicates that the requesting device has membership in the management domain of the responding server, wherein the at least one server acts as a proxy facilitating an exchange of information relating to the network service between the requesting device and the responding server.