The present invention addresses method, apparatus and computer program product for resource management within a distributed system in a core network element, comprising organizing computing resources of the core network element into sets, wherein a first set is always active, setting an upper threshold and a lower threshold for the load of the sets, wherein the sets in operation are loaded as long as the average load of the sets in operation reaches the upper threshold, and when the upper threshold is exceeded, a new set is activated, whereas, when the load thereof falls below the lower threshold, the last activated set is deactivated, assigning a priority number to each set, segmenting an interval of random numbers for randomizing a request distribution in subintervals which are allocated to the computing resources of the active sets, wherein the length of each subinterval is determined based on the priority number of the set of the respective computing resource, and allotting a random number out of the interval to an incoming request, and forwarding the request to such computing resource which belongs to the subinterval that contains the allotted random number.