In some systems, usually in large networks it is disadvantageous to modify IP address – Media Access Control (MAC) pairs, because certain routers do not refresh their arp cache, causing problems in the network traffic. In this case the fail-over functionality is realized by taking over the Media Access Control (MAC) address.

In such systems, all nodes use the same fix IP and hardware MAC address in the network and the nodes are differentiated by the state of the servicing interface. The master (active) node has the interface in up state while the slave nodes' interfaces are kept down. If the service is failed over to the other node, the interfaces get into up state. Client requests are serviced by the node having the interface in up state.

Transferring MAC address is beneficial if the resources need to be relocated very quickly.