Patent ID: 7490162

Claim:
A method for forwarding messages received at a traffic manager, comprising: (a) receiving in a first connection from a client a message at least a part of which is to be forwarded to a server; wherein the message is sent using hypertext transport protocol (HTTP); (b) if stored information regarding a previously established connection exists from the traffic manager to the server that matches other information regarding the first connection, forwarding the at least a part of the message to the server by employing the existing previously established connection, wherein the server received a previous message from the client forwarded by the traffic manager; otherwise, performing actions, including: (i) selecting a source address of the traffic manager to communicate with the server, wherein the source address of the traffic manager includes a port number of the traffic manager currently in use with at least a second server on behalf of a second client; (ii) opening a new connection that includes the source address of the traffic manager and a destination address associated with the server; wherein the destination address includes a destination port number; and (iii) storing information associating the source address of the traffic manager and the destination address with the other information regarding the first connection in a connection object, wherein the source address of the traffic manager, the port number of the traffic manager, the destination address, and the destination port number are combined into a single key usable as an index for mapping a response, received from the server on the new connection, to the first connection, and wherein the received response is one of a plurality of responses sent to the port number of the traffic manager from at least the server and the second server.