According to one embodiment, a first computing device receives an initialization packet originating from a client. In response to at least the initialization packet, the first computing device outputs a response packet to the client. Also, the first device receives a request packet originating from 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 outputs the request packet to the second computing device for performing an operation in response to the request packet.