A method for managing packet traffic in a network, comprising: over-provisioning a plurality of IP addresses distributed to available traffic management devices (TMDs ) in a plurality of TMDs , wherein an amount of the plurality of IP addresses is greater than an amount of the plurality of TMDs ; employing the available TMDs to perform traffic management on received packets based on at least a destination IP address of the received packets and each of the plurality of IP addresses previously distributed to the available TMDs , and wherein each connection for an available TMD is mirrored on another available TMD; employing an unavailability of a previously available TMD to redistribute each connection on the previously available TMD to the mirrored connections on the other available TMD , wherein the redistributed connections include the plurality of IP addresses previously distributed to the unavailable TMD , wherein each IP address has a corresponding connection and a media access control, MAC, address that is assigned to the previously available TMD , and wherein the MAC address is reassigned to the other available TMD when the previously available TMD is currently unavailable; and when an imbalance in a load on one or more of the available TMDs is detected, employing a separate mapping table of each connection associated with each IP address that corresponds to each MAC address that is assigned to an available TMD to rebalance the load on the one or more available TMDs by redistributing one or more connections among the available TMDs , wherein rebalancing of the loads is prioritized over balancing a number of IP addresses distributed to the available TMDs . over-provisioning a plurality of IP addresses distributed to available traffic management devices (TMDs ) in a plurality of TMDs , wherein an amount of the plurality of IP addresses is greater than an amount of the plurality of TMDs ; employing the available TMDs to perform traffic management on received packets based on at least a destination IP address of the received packets and each of the plurality of IP addresses previously distributed to the available TMDs , and wherein each connection for an available TMD is mirrored on another available TMD; employing an unavailability of a previously available TMD to redistribute each connection on the previously available TMD to the mirrored connections on the other available TMD , wherein the redistributed connections include the plurality of IP addresses previously distributed to the unavailable TMD , wherein each IP address has a corresponding connection and a media access control, MAC, address that is assigned to the previously available TMD , and wherein the MAC address is reassigned to the other available TMD when the previously available TMD is currently unavailable; and when an imbalance in a load on one or more of the available TMDs is detected, employing a separate mapping table of each connection associated with each IP address that corresponds to each MAC address that is assigned to an available TMD to rebalance the load on the one or more available TMDs by redistributing one or more connections among the available TMDs , wherein rebalancing of the loads is prioritized over balancing a number of IP addresses distributed to the available TMDs . <EOS>