Patent ID: 8762569

Claim:
In a network wherein a plurality of proxies are operating in paths between at least one client and at least one server wherein multiple network paths are possible between a client and a server, a method of detecting asymmetric routing wherein packets from the client to the server take one network path and packets from the server to the client take a different network path, the method comprising: receiving, at a first proxy, a request to initiate a connection; modifying the request to initiate a connection to include a probe message; sending the modified request into the network; receiving, at a second proxy, the modified request; determining, at the second proxy, an asymmetric path, wherein said determining comprises at least one of: detecting whether a client-side proxy receives a reset message from the client with an invalid header relative to packet headers that are expected from a symmetrical path, or detecting whether a server-side proxy receives an acknowledgement message from the server with an invalid header relative to packet headers that are expected from a symmetrical path; and modifying a second proxy state to a state wherein the second proxy defers from establishing a proxy pair for the connection being requested.