System and method for efectuating packet distribution among servers in a network

A packet distributor node configured to forward communication flows to one or more servers, the packet distributor node comprising:

• one or more processors coupled to a persistent memory;
• a hash flow table (HFT) module forming a portion of the persistent memory, the HFT module configured to store a plurality of hash indices based on hashing one or more flow identification parameters associated with a plurality of incoming communication flows being received at the packet distributor node, each hash index having one or more data fields;
• a supplementary flow table (SFT) module forming a portion of the persistent memory and configured to store fully qualified flow identification parameters with respect to communication flows that are assigned to different servers and have the same hash indices;
• a server association module forming a portion of the persistent memory and configured to associate a server to an incoming communication flow received at the packet distributor node;
• a flow identification module forming a portion of the persistent memory and configured to identify whether an incoming packet is for an existing communication flow, a new communication flow or an end-of-flow packet to indicate termination of an existing communication flow;
• and
• a packet processing module configured to process an incoming packet of a communication flow at least based on values of one or more data fields associated with a hash index of the incoming packet's flow identification parameters.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions stored thereon which, when executed by one or more processors of a packet distributor node, facilitate forwarding of communication flows to one or more servers, the non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising:

• a code portion for hashing one or more flow identification parameters of an incoming packet of a communication flow to obtain a hash index;
• a code portion, operative upon determining that the communication flow is a new flow, for processing the incoming packet according to a new flow process at least based on values of one or more data fields provided for the hash index in a first database portion;
• a code portion, operative upon determining that the communication flow is an existing flow, for processing the incoming packet according to an existing flow process at least based on the values of one or more data fields provided for the hash index in the first database portion;
• and
• a code portion, operative upon determining that the incoming packet is an end-of-flow packet, for processing the packet according to an end-of-flow process at least based on the values of one or more data fields provided for the hash index in the first database portion.