For processing nodes of a cluster of a file server, the IO modules associated with the nodes may be required to be part of a same sub-network. A cluster may be configured to ensure that, for each cluster processing node, at least one other cluster processing node is associated with an IO module on a same sub-network as the IO module associated with the cluster processing node. The user may configure a file server to ensure that a primary node and one or more failover nodes of the file server are on a same sub-network. When configuring IO modules, physical ports having similar or same characteristics may be configured to be on a same sub-network. By doing so, and restricting nodes of a file server to being on a same sub-network, a relatively seamless failover between nodes of a file server may be achieved.