| CPC H04L 47/2475 (2013.01) [H04L 67/14 (2013.01)] | 20 Claims |

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1. A method comprising:
receiving, by a network device of a plurality of network devices forming a network, a first network policy defining one or more first performance requirements for network traffic during a session establishment state of a session and a second network policy defining one or more second performance requirements for network traffic during a data communication state of the session, wherein the session comprises a bidirectional flow of network traffic between a first client device and a second client device;
based at least in part on determining that the session is in the session establishment state, selecting, by the network device and based on the one or more first performance requirements defined by the first network policy corresponding to the session establishment state of the session, a first path of a plurality of different paths through the network;
forwarding, by the network device, network traffic associated with the session establishment state of the session along the first path;
based at least in part on determining a change in the session from the session establishment state to the data communication state, selecting, by the network device and based on the one or more second performance requirements defined by the second network policy corresponding to the data communication state of the session, a second path of the plurality of different paths, the second path different from the first path; and
forwarding, by the network device, network traffic associated with the data communication state of the session along the second path.
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