Patent ID: 8533804

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of allowing a user to access a web-based service, comprising the computer-implemented steps of: when the user enrolls with the web-based service: (a) receiving a user identifier and password of the user from a first computing device of the user, (b) assigning the user to a home transaction node of a plurality of transaction nodes which run separate instances of the web-based service, each transaction node of the plurality of transaction nodes comprises a transaction server, (c) transmitting, to the first computing device, assignment data comprising an identifier of the home transaction node, and updating an associated database of the home transaction node with a network address of the home transaction node indexed to the user identifier and the password of the user, and (d) updating associated databases of non-home transaction nodes of the plurality of transaction nodes with the network address of the home transaction node indexed to the user identifier; receiving a request, including the user identifier, from a second computing device of the user to access the web-based service; in response to the request, attempting to access the assignment data from the second computing device, and receiving a communication from the second computing device indicating that the attempt is unsuccessful; in response to the receiving the communication, providing the second computing device with a network address of one of the non-home transaction nodes; at the one of the non-home transaction nodes, accessing the associated database of the one of the non-home transaction nodes using the user identifier to determine that the user is assigned to the home transaction node; and in response to the determining that the user is assigned to the home transaction node, transmitting, to the second computing device, code which is adapted to redirect the second computing device to the home transaction node.