Patent ID: 8059562

Claim:
A method, comprising: registering, by a processor, network nodes having a same destination address, each network node having an application running that waits for connections on a same destination port, in a flow table, thereby obtaining registration information; causing the registration information to be distributed to each of the plurality of network nodes; receiving a packet indicating an initiation of a connection; determining, by the processor, that the received packet indicates the initiation of the connection on the same destination port; selecting, by the processor, a network node from the network nodes registered in the flow table, to which the received packet is to be forwarded; causing the received packet to be forwarded to the selected network node; inserting, by the processor, an entry into the flow table, the entry indicating the selected network node for the initiated connection, thereby obtaining entry information; and causing the entry information to be distributed to each of the plurality of network nodes.