Patent ID: 8806043

Claim:
A method comprising: sending, by a network device and during a first attempt, a request to a first server; detecting, by the network device, a first timeout without receiving a response, from the first server, to the request sent during the first attempt; sending, by the network device and during a second attempt, the request to the first server and a second server, based on: detecting the first timeout without receiving a response, from the first server, to the request sent during the first attempt, and information identifying servers to which the request is to be sent, the information identifying the servers including: information identifying a plurality of attempts relating to the request, and information identifying each server to which the request is to be sent during each attempt of the plurality of attempts, the information identifying the servers indicating that, during the second attempt, the request is to be sent to the first server and the second server after the first timeout is detected without receiving a response, from the first server, to the request sent during the first attempt; and sending, by the network device, a message to one of the first server or the second server when a response is received from another one of the first server or the second server, the message instructing the one of the first server or the second server to not respond to the request.