1. A computer implemented method for routing a request, the method comprising: receiving a request from a client application, the request to be processed by a stateful web service instance, the stateful web service instance having state data, the state data used by the stateful web service instance to process the request; extracting identity information from the request, the identity information including an identity of a first server that hosts the stateful web service instance; and reporting a routing failure based on the identity of the first server not corresponding to an identity of a server that received the request.