Efficient Routing for Reverse Proxies and Content-based Routers

Efficient routing for a client-server session or connection is provided in an application layer of multi-layered systems interconnect stack by caching a plurality of application-specific information at an intermediary network point; using the application specific information to route messages for an application connection; and indexing the application-specific information with a key provided by the application. Optionally, a second key may be used to retrieve the application-specific information if the first key is not provided in an application connection request, where the second key is optionally opaque to the application program. The intermediary network point may be an edge of network Internet Protocol (IP) switch, and the application layer in which the routing is performed may be layer seven of the Open Systems Interconnection model.