Patent ID: 8392982

Claim:
A method of authentication of network traffic managed by a traffic management virtual server, the method comprising: a) determining, by a traffic management virtual server, from a request of a client to access a server that the client has not been authenticated, the request comprising a first uniform resource locator (URL); b) transmitting, by the traffic management virtual server, to the client a response to the request, the response comprising the first URL and instructions to redirect to an authentication virtual server; c) receiving, by the authentication virtual server, a second request from the client, the second request identifying the first URL; d) authenticating, by the authentication virtual server, credentials received from the client, the authentication virtual server establishing an authentication session for the client, the authentication session identifying one or more policies comprising at least one traffic management policy; e) transmitting, by the authentication virtual server, to the client a second response to redirect the client to the traffic management virtual server, the second response identifying the authentication session; f) receiving, by the traffic management virtual server, a third request from the client, the third request comprising an identifier of the authentication session; and g) forwarding, by the traffic management virtual server based on application of the one or more policies to the third request, traffic authorized by the one or more policies from the client to the server.