Patent ID: 7844708

Claim:
A method of handling incoming service requests in a server system comprising a plurality of servers, and for distributing load between the servers, comprising: A) receiving a service request for a client or session at an access node of the server system, B) using the access node to assign a primary server out of a set of primary servers to perform a processing task for the received service request that can be performed by any of the primary servers in the set of primary servers regardless of which client or session the task is directed to, wherein a primary server is selected for the processing task by using a first scheduling algorithm which is adapted to select any one of the primary servers in the set of primary servers, and C) using the primary server to assign a secondary server out of a set of secondary servers to perform a storing task for the received service request that can only be performed by a specific secondary server in the set of secondary servers, wherein the assigned primary server selects a secondary server for the storing task by using a second scheduling algorithm which is adapted to select said specific secondary server in the set of secondary servers depending on a predetermined identity code “user ID” of the client or session; and wherein the second scheduling algorithm is a hashing algorithm.