According to a first embodiment, a computing device receives an initialization packet originating from a client. In response to at least the initialization packet, the computing device establishes a data structure of a connection with the client, irrespective of whether an application of the computing device is associated with the data structure of the connection.According to a second embodiment, a computing device receives a request packet originating from a client. In response to at least the request packet, the computing device associates an application of the computing device with a data structure of a connection with the client.According to a third embodiment, a first computing device associates an application of the first computing device with a data structure of a connection with a client. Subsequently, the first computing device disassociates the application of the first computing device from the data structure of the connection. After such disassociation, the first computing device outputs the data structure of the connection to a second computing device for associating an application of the second computing device with the data structure of the connection.According to a fourth embodiment, a first computing device receives an initialization packet and a request packet originating from a client. In response to at least the initialization packet, the first computing device establishes a data structure of a connection with the client. In response to at least the request packet and a state of at least one of the first computing device and a second computing device, the first computing device selectively performs one of the following: (a) associating the data structure of the connection with an application of the first computing device; and (b) outputting the data structure of the connection and the request packet to the second computing device for associating an application of the second computing device with the data structure of the connection.