Patent ID: 7706362

Claim:
A method for determining a tunnel endpoint in a communications system, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a connection request from a client; responsive to the connection request, querying a database for a database entry matching the client using predetermined identifying information, where the matching database entry will include an identifier for a tunnel endpoint; responsive to receiving a database reply including the identifier for the tunnel endpoint, establishing a connection for the client to the tunnel endpoint identified in the database reply; and responsive to not receiving a database reply: establishing a connection for the client to a locally determined tunnel endpoint, and updating the database to include a database entry that includes the predetermined identifying information for the client and an identifier for the locally determined tunnel endpoint; where the step of querying a database for a database entry matching the client includes querying a local database for the matching entry and, if none is found, querying a remote database, and where the step of querying a remote database further includes multicasting a message having a predetermined message identifier and the predetermined identifying information for the client.