A method of controlling a packet flow in a distributed network system comprising a plurality of network nodes having the same destination address is disclosed. Network nodes each having an application running that waits for connections on a given destination port are registered in a flow table. This registration information is distributed to each of the plurality of network nodes. When a packet indicating an initiation of a connection is received and it is determined that the received packet indicates the initiation of the connection on the given destination port, a network node is selected from the network nodes registered in the flow table, to which the received packet is to be forwarded. The received packet is forwarded to the selected network node and a corresponding entry is inserted into the flow table. This entry information is distributed to each of the plurality of network nodes.