Patent ID: 7978598

Claim:
A method, comprising: providing a content switch comprising a first content switch module and a second content switch module linked to each other, wherein each content switch module is configured to manage network traffic to perform server load balancing; and maintaining connectivity between a client and the content switch when a first connection between the client and the first content switch module is lost, comprising: creating a replication request message by operation of one or more computer processors and in response to the first connection between the client and the first content switch module, wherein creating the replication request message includes creating a replicate Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) synchronize (SYN) packet that appears to the second content switch as if the replicate TCP SYN packet originated from the client and that allows the second content switch module to distinguish the replicate TCP SYN packet from a standard TCP SYN packet on the basis of information encoded in the replicate TCP SYN packet, wherein the encoded information is based on a source Machine Address Code (MAC) of the first content switch module and a private link between the first content switch module and the second content switch module, wherein creating the replicate TCP SYN packet includes providing connection state replication data in the replicate TCP SYN packet, wherein the connection state replication data includes at least one of, session state data, network address translation (NAT) state data, TCP state data, and load balancing data; transmitting the replication request message from the first content switch module to the second content switch module; and creating a second connection in the second content switch module, wherein the second connection is a replication of the first connection.