Patent ID: 8341290

Claim:
An information processing system comprising a first server, the first server including: a main processor configured to execute one or more server applications; and an intelligent network interface controller comprising a network processor and a memory; wherein the network processor of the intelligent network interface controller is configured to: store state information in the memory of the intelligent network interface controller from at least the first server and a second server; in response to receiving a first request packet associated with a first connection from a client, select one of the first server and the second server for maintaining a session with the client based at least in part on the stored state information; store an association between a session identifier and the selected server in the memory of the intelligent network interface controller; output the association to at least the second server; output a response packet to the client, the response packet having a header portion and a data portion, wherein the header portion includes at least one header, and wherein the data portion includes the session identifier; receive a second request packet associated with a second connection originating from the client and including the session identifier; determine the server selected to maintain the session using the session identifier and the stored association; and: in response to determining that the first server is the server selected to maintain the session, process the second request packet with the main processor of the first server; and in response to determining that the second server is the server selected to maintain the session, forward the second request packet to the second server; wherein the network processor of the intelligent network interface controller is further configured to handle requests from clients referencing a single session that is associated with multiple connections.