Patent ID: 8095658

Claim:
A method for processing requests to access a set of resources in a distributed data processing system, the method comprising: receiving a resource request from a client at a proxy server, the proxy server providing a centralized session identifier management service for a set of application servers within a domain so that the set of application servers need not manage session state information; in response to a determination by the proxy server that the proxy server is managing a session identifier that was previously associated with the client by the proxy server, retrieving the session identifier; in response to a determination by the proxy server that the proxy server is not managing a session identifier that was previously associated with the client by the proxy server, obtaining a new session identifier and associating the new session identifier with the client using information that is managed by the proxy server; determining the application server that is a target of the resource request; modifying the resource request by the proxy server to include the session identifier or the new session identifier, wherein the resource request is modified according to a configuration uniquely associated with the application server that is the target of the resource request, wherein the step of modifying includes: retrieving configuration information associated with the application server of the set of application servers, wherein the configuration information associated with the application server indicates a type of modification to be made to resource requests with respect to a session identifier; and formatting the modified resource request in accordance with the configuration information associated with the application server; and forwarding the modified resource request by the proxy server to the application server that is the target of the resource request.