US 7,321,925 B2
Load balancing and fault tolerance for server-based software applications
James R. Trethewey, Hillsboro, Oreg. (US)
Assigned to Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, Calif. (US)
Filed on Sep. 18, 2001, as Appl. No. 9/955,469.
Prior Publication US 2003/0056002 A1, Mar. 20, 2003
Int. Cl. G06F 13/00 (2006.01); G06F 17/30 (2006.01)
U.S. Cl. 709—219  [709/204; 709/227; 370/524; 707/102] 40 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of providing a remote networked computer with a service session using one of a plurality of similarly functioning software applications residing on different servers with different unique real network addresses, the method comprising:
receiving, from the remote computer and at a device having a unique network address that is different from the network address of any of the servers, a packet-based message comprising a request for a service session;
assigning one of the several servers to be used by the remote computer in the service session; and
transmitting, to the remote computer, a packet-based message comprising the unique real network address of the assigned server for the remote user to address subsequent messages during the service session.