A mechanism for establishing connections is described. The mechanism comprises: sending a first message comprising the domain name of a network element to a server; receiving a response message comprising server record and domain names relevant to primary IP address and secondary IP address of the network element from the server; determining, on the basis of the received response message, the domain names relevant to the primary IP address and secondary IP address of the network element respectively; sending a second message comprising the determined domain name relevant to the primary IP address of the network element to the server; receiving the primary IP address of the network element from the server; attempting to establish a first connection towards the network element based on the obtained primary IP address; sending a third message comprising the determined domain name relevant to the secondary IP address of the network element to the server in the event that the first connection establishment attempt fails; receiving the secondary IP address of the network element from the server in response to the third message; and attempting to establish a second connection towards the network element based on the obtained secondary IP address.