Receive load balancing and fail over with multiple network interface cards
US6560630B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 18, 1999 |
| Grant date | May 6, 2003 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 18, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L2101/677
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method for load balancing incoming data packets in a server computer system adapted to have a plurality of network interface cards coupled thereto and communicatively coupled to client computer systems in a network. A first media access control (MAC) address for a first NIC is selected using a load balancing scheme. A first directed data packet containing the first MAC address and a network address for the server computer system is sent to a first client computer system. The first MAC address and the network address are stored in a protocol cache of the first client computer system. A second MAC address for a second NIC is also selected using the load balancing scheme. A second directed packet containing the second MAC address and the network address is sent to a second client computer system. The second MAC address and the network address are stored in a protocol cache of the second client computer system. Thus, the server computer system will receive an incoming data packet from the first client computer system over the first NIC and from the second computer system over the second NIC.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.