Patent ID: 7225236

Claim:
A system for load balancing, the system comprising: a contact L2TP Network Server (LNS) that can determine whether to establish a session between the contact LNS and an L2TP Access Concentrator (LAC), the contact LNS being communicatively coupled to the LAC; the LAC, the LAC including an address of the contact LNS, the LAC using the address of the contact LNS to send to the contact LNS at least a first message to request establishment of the session between the contact LNS and the LAC and to inform the contact LNS of the availability of the LAC for participating in load balancing; and a plurality of load balancing LNSs communicatively coupled to the contact LNS and to the LAC, wherein if the contact LNS determines the contact LNS can handle establishing the requested session, the contact LNS establishes the requested session with the LAC, and wherein if the contact LNS determines the contact LNS cannot handle establishing the requested session, the contact LNS sends to the LAC a response message containing an Internet Protocol (IP) address of a selected load balancing LNS of the plurality of load balancing LNSs to which the LAC should establish a session.