Network load balancing with connection manipulation

Abstract

In an exemplary device implementation, a device includes: a connection migrator that is configured to migrate connections away from the device; the connection migrator capable of precipitating a compilation of protocol state for a connection across a protocol stack; the connection migrator adapted to aggregate the compiled protocol state with data for the connection into an aggregated connection state; the connection migrator further capable of causing the aggregated connection state to be sent toward a target device. In an exemplary media implementation, processor-executable instructions direct a device to perform actions including: obtaining at least a portion of a source/destination pair from a packet; accessing an encapsulation mapping table using the at least a portion of the source/destination pair to locate an encapsulation mapping entry; extracting a flow identifier from the encapsulation mapping entry; and replacing part of the packet with the flow identifier to produce an encapsulated packet.