Patent ID: 8769156

Claim:
A method of maintaining an internet protocol address of a server via cache redirection, the method comprising: (a) receiving, by an intermediary device deployed between a plurality of clients and one or more servers, a first request from a client to access a server via a first transport layer connection between the client and the intermediary device, the first request identifying a client internet protocol (IP) address as a source IP address, a client port as a source port of the first request and a server IP address as a destination IP address; (b) transmitting, by the intermediary responsive to determining that the first request is for content that may be cached, the first request as a second request to a cache server via a second transport layer connection between the intermediary device and the cache server, the second request using the client internet protocol (IP) address of the first request as the source IP address of the second request, a port of the intermediary device as a source port of the second request and the server IP address of the first request as the destination IP address of the second request; (c) receiving, by the intermediary device via a third transport layer connection between the intermediary device and the cache server, the second request as a third request from the cache server responsive to a cache miss, the third request having the client internet protocol (IP) address of the first request as the source IP address of the third request, a cache port of the cache server as a source port of the third request and the server IP address of the first request as the destination IP address of the third request; (d) identifying, by the intermediary device, that the third request from the cache server corresponds to the first request of the client via one or more data link layer properties of the third request; and (e) transmitting, by the intermediary device responsive to the identification and maintaining the source IP address and the destination IP address of the first request of the client, the third request as a fourth request to the server via a fourth transport layer connection between the intermediary device and the server, the intermediary using the client internet protocol (IP) address of the first request as the source IP address of the fourth request, a second port of the intermediary device as the source port of the fourth request and the server IP address of the first request as the destination IP address of the fourth request.