Patent ID: 6880089

Claim:
A method of managing message traffic between an interior network and an exterior network in conjunction with a plurality of firewalls securing the interior network from intrusion from the exterior network, the method comprising: creating a firewall cluster containing a plurality of the firewalls, the firewall cluster being addressed by a logical Internet protocol (IP) address that is distinct from unique IP addresses of firewalls contained within the firewall cluster, and further being addressed by an associated media access control (MAC) address that is distinct from unique MAC addresses of the firewalls contained within the firewall cluster; in response to a packet addressed to the logical IP address or the associated MAC address, a flow controller that is distinct from the firewalls contained in the firewall cluster selecting a firewall from among the firewalls contained in the firewall cluster on a basis of information in a header of the packet; in response to the selecting, the flow controller addressing the packet to the MAC address of the selected firewall; and in response to the addressing, the flow controller sending the packet to the selected firewall for transferring the packet between the interior network and the exterior network via the selected firewall.