Patent ID: 8406240

Claim:
A method of establishing a connection between a client and a network element, comprising: establishing a connection between a network element and a client; receiving, at the network element, on the established connection, a packet transmitted from the client to at least one server; determining whether the received packet is fragmented and, if the received packet is fragmented, disconnecting the connection or transmitting from the network element to the client an error message, else not disconnecting the connection or transmitting the error message; maintaining a count of consecutive ones of fragmented packets received and corresponding error messages sent and disconnectings performed of the connection between the client and the network element; and if a result of said determining whether a received packet is fragmented determines the received packet is fragmented, comparing the consecutive count to a predetermined maximum count and, if the consecutive count exceeds the predetermined maximum count, forwarding the fragmented packet to the at least one server, else sending the error message or performing said disconnecting the connection between the client and the network element, and incrementing said count.