Patent ID: 8572268

Claim:
A method for managing secure sessions, the method comprising: responsive to receiving a request from a requestor to access a resource, verifying an identity of the requestor, wherein the identity of the requestor comprises authentication information used to identify a number of privileges to the resource for the requestor; sending, by a first data processing system, a session cookie to the requestor, wherein the session cookie identifies the number of privileges for a session; sending, by the first data processing system, a migration cookie to the requestor, wherein the migration cookie is used to recreate the session on a second data processing system; signing the session cookie and the migration cookie with a digital signature, wherein the session cookie comprises a session identifier, a creation time, a last used time, and a policy identifier, wherein the migration cookie comprises a session identifier encrypted with a key known to a number of data processing systems configured to receive the request, and information for restoring the session when cached information for the session is unavailable and a subsequent request for access to the resource is made; responsive to a subsequent request to access the resource occurring after the request, determining whether the session has expired using the session cookie sent by the requestor in making the subsequent request; responsive to an absence of a determination that the session has expired, determining whether cached information for the session is available; responsive to a determination that the cached information for the session is unavailable, requesting the migration cookie from the requestor; and responsive to receiving the migration cookie from the requestor, recreating the session using the migration cookie.