The present invention provides a system and method for authentication of network traffic managed by a traffic management virtual server. A traffic management virtual server may determine that a client has not been authenticated from a request of the client to access a server. Responsive to the request, the traffic management virtual server may transmit a response to the client with instructions to redirect to an authentication virtual server. The authentication virtual server may receive a second request from the client. The authentication virtual server may then authenticate credentials received from the client and establish an authentication session for the client. Further, the authentication virtual server may transmit a second response to redirect the client to the traffic management virtual server. The second response identifies the authentication session. The traffic management virtual server then receives a request from the client with an identifier to the authentication session.