Scalable service discovery and load balancing using direct client connections to servers

A method comprising:

• establishing a first connection between a load balancer and a client device when the client device connects with a service provider system over a network;
• determining a first server of the service provider system that is available to handle processing of data with the client device;
• connecting the client device to the first server via the first connection through the load balancer;
• receiving a request from the client device for a network identifier of the first server via the first connection;
• providing the network identifier to the client device via the first connection;
• establishing a second connection over the network directly between the client device and the first server using the network identifier provided to the client device, wherein the second connection enables the data to be processed between the client device and the first server;
• and
• ending, by the load balancer, the first connection with the client device.

A non-transitory machine-readable medium having stored thereon machine-readable instructions executable to cause a machine to perform operations comprising:

• detecting, by a load balancer of a computing system, a first connection with a client device responsive to a connection establishment request by the client device;
• determining a server from a pool of servers for the computing system based on a server balancing process;
• connecting, via the load balancer, the client device to the server through the first connection;
• receiving, at the server, a ping request from the client device via the first connection;
• transmitting, by the server and in response to the ping request, a ping response to the client device, wherein the ping response comprises a network address of the server;
• and
• establishing, by the server independent of the load balancer, a second connection with the client device to handle at least one subsequent client request from the client device;
• and
• terminating the first connection.