Splitting HTTP Requests on Two Servers

Many techniques are commonly used to increase server availability or for distributing the load among a group of servers. The authors propose a technique for splitting a single HTTP request that allows a TCP connection to be dynamically split between two Web servers without using a central control. For example, one server can handle connection establishment and closing, while another handles the data transfer. This approach requires no client involvement since the existing connection with the initial server continues to be maintained, and the client is completely unaware of the splitting.