The present invention provides an Internet Key Exchange (IKE) daemon
self-adjusting negotiation throttle for minimizing retransmission
processing during Security Association (SA) negotiation requests. A
method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention
includes: receiving a request for a new negotiation to be performed by a
negotiation system; determining if the negotiation system is in
congestion; and if the negotiation system is determined to be in
congestion: determining if a token is available in a token bucket; and if
a token is available in the token bucket, removing the token from the
token bucket; and performing the new negotiation.