Connecting application instances to client devices

A method comprising:

• transmitting, by a first client device of a client device group to a load balancer via a network, a request to connect to a quorum witness application, implemented by multiple application instances of the quorum witness application on at least one remote computing system in a cloud;
• receiving, by the first client device and from the load balancer, a cookie associated with a given application instance of the multiple application instances, wherein the cookie causes connections to the quorum witness application from client devices having the cookie to map to the given application instance;
• passing the cookie, by and from the first client device directly to a second client device of the client device group, such that, based on the cookie, connections to the quorum witness application from both the first client device and the second client device are routed to the same given application instance,
• wherein the first client device and the second client device are included among the client devices having the cookie, the client devices belonging to the client device group and being engaged in joint cluster operations of the client device group,
• the given application instance maintains state information of the client devices having the cookie, and
• the given application instance of the quorum witness application resolves a split-brain scenario for the client device group by determining from the state information which of the client devices is to hold a group leader role that maintains an authoritative record for the client device group.

A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor of a first client device of a client device group, causes the processor to:

• transmit, to an application instance connector and across a network, a request to connect to a quorum witness application in a cloud, wherein the quorum witness application is implemented by multiple application instances of the quorum witness application;
• receive, by the first client device and from the application instance connector, a first cookie associated with a given application instance of the multiple application instances, wherein the first cookie causes connections to the quorum witness application from client devices holding the first cookie to map to the same given application instance;
• and
• pass the first cookie from the first client device directly to a second client device of the client device group, such that, based on the first cookie, connections to the quorum witness application from both the first client device and the second client device are mapped to the same given application instance,
• wherein the first client device and the second client device are included among the client devices holding the first cookie, the client devices belonging to the client device group and being engaged in joint cluster operations of the client device group,
• the given application instance maintains state information of the client devices holding the first cookie, and
• the given application instance of the quorum witness application resolves a split-brain scenario for the client device group by determining from the state information which of the client devices is to hold a group leader role that maintains an authoritative record for the client device group.