Migrating an Internet Protocol (IP) service from one server to another

摘要

A migration server 104 receives incoming Internet Protocol (IP) packets directed to an IP service. On the basis of one or more source characteristics associated with the IP packets, the migration server determines whether the packets have originated from client devices that have been migrated from an old server 100 to a new server 102. Packets originating from clients that have been migrated are processed at the new server. Packets originating from clients that have not been migrated are forwarded to a physical address (MAC 1) associated with the old server for processing. The migration server is configured with the same IP address as the old server (IP1) but with a different physical address (MAC 3). An upstream router 106 is re-configured to map the old server IP address to the migration server MAC address. The invention enables the gradual migration of an IP service from one server to another.