Patent ID: 8555350

Claim:
An apparatus for facilitating persistent communications between entities in a network, the apparatus comprising: a server load balancer (SLB), comprising one or more hardware processor, in an unlicensed mobile access system that fronts a plurality of servers such that authentication messages between a client on the network and the plurality of servers pass through the SLB, wherein the SLB is configured to receive a request for an initial authentication from the client that includes a pseudo-initial International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), and wherein an initial authentication response message generated from a selected one of the plurality of servers that performed the initial authentication is sent to the client, and a first module adapted to insert identification information that identifies a selected server of the plurality of servers into an initial authentication response message wherein the initial authentication response message includes fields that identify the selected server and that identify a pseudo-IMSI, which is derived from the initial IMSI, and wherein a Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) access request message is received from the client as part of a fast reauthentication of the client to facilitate the persistent communication, an expression matching module in the SLB, the expression matching module being configured to parse a Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) access request message from the client and match sub-realm information with server information maintained by the SLB that includes the previously stored sub-realm information associated with the selected server that received the initial authentication from the client, the expression matching module being further configured to use the fields from the RADIUS access request message from the client to selectively route the RADIUS access request message to the selected server for a fast reauthentication of the client to facilitate the persistent communications, wherein the sub-realm information identifies the selected server and the pseudo-IMSI represents an identification number usable for fast reauthentication, and wherein the RADIUS access request message is encrypted to prevent intermediary devices from deciphering the message and obtaining accompanying information; wherein the selected server is selected by the SLB to satisfy the initial authentication request based on load balancing from among the plurality of servers.