Patent ID: 8380854

Claim:
An apparatus for directing communications over a network between an identified client and at least one server, comprising: a data component configured to: receive a resource request associated with a data flow from a client identified to already be in communication with at least one server, wherein the data flow includes an associated flow signature; determine whether the resource request is directed to an identified server with which the identified client has already reached a selected maximum number of established connections irrespective of the identified server having capacity to accommodate the resource request, wherein the data component is configured to identify a corresponding data flow of a plurality of data flows based on at least one constraint in the flow signature, wherein the plurality of data flows are stored in a data structure, each data flow having an associated connection instruction; performing a look up in the data structure to identify a connection instruction for the identified data flow related to the received data flow, wherein the connection instruction comprises generating a new connection for the resource request to be handled by another server when a constraint of the flow signature matches a corresponding constraint of the identified related data flow; and a memory storage that is arranged to cooperate with the data component, wherein the memory storage stores the data structure and associated connection instructions of each data flow that is associated with the requested resource.