Providing high availability in a distributed networking platform includes detecting that an original primary service engine is unavailable, wherein: the original primary service engine and a plurality of secondary service engines are configured to provide one or more network applications associated with a virtual Internet Protocol (VIP) address; the original primary service engine and the plurality of secondary service engines are in active-active configuration mode; and the original primary service engine is configured to respond to Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) requests designating the VIP address. Additionally, providing high availability in a distributed networking platform further includes determining that a controller is unavailable; and configuring a selected secondary service engine as the next primary service engine.