US Patent 9172756 Optimizing application performance in a network environment

An example method for optimizing application performance in a network environment is provided and includes retrieving an L7 session identifier (ID) from a packet, generating a hash from at least the L7 session ID, and inserting the hash into a header of the packet. The L7 session ID identifies a particular application layer session between a client and a server in a network environment. The server includes a plurality of processors configured to process the packet, and the hash indicates a specific processor in the plurality of processors.