Patent ID: 8645565

Claim:
A method for throttling traffic to an Internet protocol network server using domain name system (DNS) alias hostname identifiers, the method comprising: maintaining a plurality of weight values and corresponding alias hostname identifiers for an IP network server that are associated with the IP network server in a DNS system, wherein two or more of the alias hostname identifiers associated with the IP network server resolve to the same host IP address and port combination associated with the IP network server and wherein each of the two or more alias hostname identifiers represents a portion of the total processing capacity of the IP network server; and throttling network traffic sent to the IP network server by sending, from the IP network server, messages to nodes that send the traffic to the IP network server, where the messages selectively enable or disable traffic flow from the nodes to individual alias hostname identifiers of the two or more alias hostname identifiers, and wherein throttling network traffic sent to the IP network server includes increasing or decreasing the traffic sent to the IP network server by the portion of the total processing capacity of the IP network server represented by the two or more alias hostname identifiers.