Patent ID: 7305581

Claim:
A system for providing at least one service addressed by an IP address, comprising: a plurality of computer processors connected to an internal communication network; configuration logic to define and establish (a) a virtual local area communication network over the internal network, wherein each computer processor in the virtual local area communication network has a corresponding virtual MAC address and the virtual local area network provides communication among a set of computer processors but excludes the processors from the plurality not in the defined set, and (b) a virtual storage space with a defined correspondence to the address space of the storage network; each of the computer processors including logic to provide the at least one service; and cluster logic for receiving at least one request message for the at least one service, the at least one request message having the IP address, and cluster logic for distributing the at least one request message to an appropriate one of the plurality of computer processors having logic to provide the at least one service.