Monitoring for replica placement and request distribution

A method of providing a client with an Internet application, comprising:

• (a) using a load balancing DNS module to allocate a client's request associated with the Internet application to an Internet data center running an instance of the Internet application, the client being positioned in a first client cluster;
• (b) using a load balancing switch module in the Internet data center to route the client's request to a first application cluster in the Internet data center that is running the instance of the Internet application and has availability;
• and
• (c) monitoring the performance of the Internet application with respect to the first client cluster.

A method of providing for failover for an Internet application, comprising:

• (a) creating a client session on a primary server positioned in an Internet data center in response to a request received from a client;
• (b) replicating the session on a secondary server;
• (c) providing an identify of the secondary server to the client;
• and
• (d) if the primary server fails, redirecting the request to the secondary server based on the identity provided to the client.