diff --git a/include/haproxy/stick_table-t.h b/include/haproxy/stick_table-t.h
index c0665e0bd..cfef4e2c7 100644
--- a/include/haproxy/stick_table-t.h
+++ b/include/haproxy/stick_table-t.h
@@ -112,6 +112,15 @@ enum {
 #define STKCTR_TRACK_BACKEND 1
 #define STKCTR_TRACK_CONTENT 2
 
+/* type of the sticky session in the updates tree */
+enum {
+	STKSESS_UPDT_NONE = 0, /* unset, only if table is not used by the peers */
+	STKSESS_UPDT_LOCAL,    /* the sticky session is locally updated */
+	STKSESS_UPDT_REMOTE,   /* the sticky session is remotely updated */
+	STKSESS_UPDT_MARKER,   /* not a true sticky session, only used a marker*/
+};
+
+
 /* stick_table extra data. This is mainly used for casting or size computation */
 union stktable_data {
 	/* standard types for easy casting */
@@ -153,7 +162,7 @@ struct stksess {
 	struct eb32_node exp;     /* ebtree node used to hold the session in expiration tree */
 	struct eb32_node upd;     /* ebtree node used to hold the update sequence tree */
 	struct mt_list pend_updts;/* list of entries to be inserted/moved in the update sequence tree */
-	int updt_is_local;        /* is the update a local one ? */
+	unsigned int updt_type;   /* One of STKSESS_UPDT_* value */
 	struct ebmb_node key;     /* ebtree node used to hold the session in table */
 	/* WARNING! do not put anything after <keys>, it's used by the key */
 };
diff --git a/src/stick_table.c b/src/stick_table.c
index 5532fc679..73ecc5892 100644
--- a/src/stick_table.c
+++ b/src/stick_table.c
@@ -268,6 +268,7 @@ static struct stksess *__stksess_init(struct stktable *t, struct stksess * ts)
 	ts->key.node.leaf_p = NULL;
 	ts->exp.node.leaf_p = NULL;
 	ts->upd.node.leaf_p = NULL;
+	ts->updt_type = STKSESS_UPDT_NONE;
 	MT_LIST_INIT(&ts->pend_updts);
 	ts->expire = tick_add(now_ms, MS_TO_TICKS(t->expire));
 	HA_RWLOCK_INIT(&ts->lock);
@@ -627,13 +628,13 @@ void stktable_touch_with_exp(struct stktable *t, struct stksess *ts, int local,
 			 * scheduled for at least one peer.
 			 */
 			if (!ts->upd.node.leaf_p || _HA_ATOMIC_LOAD(&ts->seen)) {
-				_HA_ATOMIC_STORE(&ts->updt_is_local, 1);
+				_HA_ATOMIC_STORE(&ts->updt_type, STKSESS_UPDT_LOCAL);
 				did_append = MT_LIST_TRY_APPEND(&t->pend_updts[tgid - 1], &ts->pend_updts);
 			}
 		}
 		else {
 			if (!ts->upd.node.leaf_p) {
-				_HA_ATOMIC_STORE(&ts->updt_is_local, 0);
+				_HA_ATOMIC_STORE(&ts->updt_type, STKSESS_UPDT_REMOTE);
 				did_append = MT_LIST_TRY_APPEND(&t->pend_updts[tgid - 1], &ts->pend_updts);
 			}
 		}
@@ -828,7 +829,7 @@ struct task *stktable_add_pend_updates(struct task *t, void *ctx, unsigned int s
 		empty_tgid = 0;
 		if (cur_tgid == global.nbtgroups)
 			cur_tgid = 0;
-		is_local = stksess->updt_is_local;
+		is_local = (stksess->updt_type == STKSESS_UPDT_LOCAL);
 		stksess->seen = 0;
 		if (is_local) {
 			stksess->upd.key = ++table->update;