Abstract: A method and system for managing broadband IP servers in a layer two broadcast network includes an intermediate system, an end system, and a control system. The service information is advertised by each end system (server) on the layer two network. The same service is provided by multiple end systems. The intermediate system forwards a service request packet to one of the available end systems, and the intermediate system learns the service advertisements from the end system. If the available end system decides to instruct an intermediate system to forward certain traffic from a certain source to the end system, the end system can advertise the flow information to intermediate systems. This flow could be an established TCP connection or any packets that are specified by pattern matching rules. The intermediate system always forwards the packet based on the flow that is advertised by the end system.