Patent ID: 8150951

Claim:
A method for communicating in a loadbalancing environment, the method comprising: receiving, at a loadbalancer, a request packet from a network access server (NAS) requesting loadbalancing among a group of tunneling protocol network servers (TPNSs) distinct from the NAS in order to facilitate a communication session for an end user; selecting a tunneling protocol network server (TPNS) from the group of tunneling protocol network servers distinct from the NAS by the loadbalancer to balance a processing load among the group of tunneling protocol network servers; communicating, by the loadbalancer, the request packet to the TPNS; receiving, at the loadbalancer, a first response packet comprising an identification element associated with the TPNS in response to the request packet, the first response packet establishing a tunnel comprising the NAS, the loadbalancer, and the TPNS that facilitates the communication session; communicating, from the loadbalancer, a second response packet to the NAS in response to receiving the first response packet; wherein data transfers from the NAS to the TPNS and data transfers from the TPNS to the NAS occurring subsequent to the establishment of the tunnel associated with the communication session are executed without going through the loadbalancer; and wherein the loadbalancer does not maintain state information regarding the communication session subsequent to the establishment of the tunnel associated with the communication session.