Systems and methods for selecting an authentication virtual server from a plurality of virtual servers

A system for dynamically selecting by a traffic management virtual server an authentication virtual server from a plurality of authentication virtual servers, the system comprising:

• a traffic management virtual server of an appliance determining from a request received from a client to access content of a server that the client has not been authenticated and identifying a policy for selecting an authentication virtual server from a plurality of authentication virtual servers executing on the same appliance to provide authentication of the client;
• a policy engine of the appliance providing to the traffic management virtual server a policy to select an authentication virtual server of the plurality of authentication virtual servers executing on the same appliance to authenticate the client;
• and
• a network engine of the traffic management virtual server transmitting to the client a response to the request, the response comprising an instruction to redirect to the selected authentication virtual server, wherein the traffic management virtual server receives a second request from the client, the second request comprising a session cookie identifying an authentication session of the authentication virtual server, and determines from the identified authentication session one or more traffic management policies to apply to the second request.

A method for dynamically selecting by a traffic management virtual server an authentication virtual server from a plurality of authentication virtual servers, the method comprising the steps of:

• a) determining, by a traffic management virtual server of an appliance, from a first request received from a client to access content of a server that the client has not been authenticated;
• b) selecting, by the traffic management virtual server, via a policy an authentication virtual server from a plurality of authentication virtual servers to authenticate the client;
• c) transmitting, by the traffic management virtual server, to the client a response to the request, the response comprising an instruction to redirect to the selected authentication virtual server for authentication;
• d) receiving, by the traffic management virtual server, a second request from the client to access the content of the server, the second request comprising a session cookie obtained from the selected authentication virtual server, the session cookie identifying an authentication session;
• and
• e) determining, from the identified authentication session, one or more traffic management policies to apply to the second request.