A method and system are provided for balancing a server's traffic load in an internet protocol (IP) based half-duplex network that uses an address resolution protocol (ARP) for address resolution. The server includes multiple network interface cards (NICS) that are used for communicating with multiple clients. The server may be accessible either directly to a client or indirectly to a client via a router or gateway. The clients, router, or gateway may store a single IP address identifying the server. The method comprises sending outbound traffic via some of the NICs and receiving inbound traffic via another of the NICs. To achieve this, the server is configured so that certain NICs are used only for outbound traffic and another NIC is used only for inbound traffic. This prevents a single NIC from both sending and receiving traffic, and minimizes the impact of inbound traffic on the server's overall throughput.