Patent ID: 8364824

Claim:
A computer implemented method for configuring a transmission control protocol (TCP) connection, the computer implemented method comprising: querying, using a processor, a domain name system for an Internet Protocol (IP) address of a desired host; receiving, from a name server in the domain name system, the IP address and a previously used TCP parameter for a TCP connection to the desired host, wherein the previously used TCP parameter is a TCP parameter that was used to configure a TCP connection with the desired host before the querying step; using, by a user application program that initiated the query, the IP address and the previously used TCP parameter to configure a current connection with the desired host; maintaining, at the domain name system, a set of previously used TCP parameters for a plurality of previous connections with a plurality of hosts; and responsive to receiving a request from the user application program for a requested IP address of a host in the plurality of hosts, sending the previously used TCP parameter from the set of previously used TCP parameters maintained at the domain name system to the user application program, wherein the set of previously used TCP parameters comprise a round trip time, a duplicate acknowledgement threshold, a next-hop router, and path maximum transmission units.