A cluster
system and method accesses from an
internet network, a network
server within one or a plurality of clusters, each cluster being identified by a
single cluster public
Internet Protocol (IP) address. The cluster
system has a plurality of network servers organized in one of a plurality of clusters and a network load balancer
system for selecting a destination network
server in a cluster. Each cluster has one or a plurality of identical network servers, the network load balancer system being connected on one hand to an access routing device and on another hand to the plurality of network servers through a
private network server subnet. The method includes the steps of at initialization time, on each network server defining, as a non-advertising
alias, in an interface table, the public
IP address of each cluster to which the network server belongs, and upon reception, by the
network load balancing system, of a
datagram having an IP header including a destination
IP address field and a medium
access control (MAC) header including a destination
MAC address field, selecting a destination network server within the cluster corresponding to the cluster public
IP address identified in the destination IP address field of the
datagram IP header, replacing the destination medium
access control (MAC) address field of the
datagram MAC header by the
MAC address of the selected destination network server, and sending the datagram through the
private network server subnet, using the
MAC address of the selected destination network server. Upon reception, by the destination network server, of the datagram sent by the
network load balancing system, the MAC address in the destination MAC address field of the datagram MAC header is identified as being the MAC address of the selected destination network server, and the IP datagram is processed if the identified cluster public IP address in the destination IP address field of the datagram IP header, is defined as a non-advertising
alias in the interface table of the destination network server.