Patent ID: 8566450

Claim:
A method for maintaining site persistence in a Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB) system, the method comprising: a) identifying, by a first intermediary device at a first site of a plurality of sites in a Global Server Load balancing (GSLB) system, an internet protocol (IP) address and a port of a GSLB service provided received by the first intermediary device from a second intermediary device to load balance the plurality of sites; b) determining, by the first intermediary device, that a request of a client received by the first intermediary device was forwarded by the second intermediary device, based on a GSLB cookie of the request identifying the IP address and the port of the GSLB service, and, responsive to identifying a persistence identifier in the GSLB cookie, that the second intermediary device uses cookies to maintain site persistence for a client's session; c) forwarding, by the first intermediary device responsive to the determination, the request to a server of a plurality of servers load balanced by the first intermediary device; d) modifying, by the first intermediary device, the response received from the server to include the GSLB cookie; and e) transmitting, by the first intermediary device, the modified response to the client.