1. A method of establishing a connection to a database node, the method comprising: receiving a connection request at a cluster manager from a requesting process; querying a first hierarchical level of an index of a database system to receive a cluster and node configuration for the database system, wherein the query results in receipt of a first index response, and wherein querying the first hierarchical level of the index of the database system includes performing a query command on a first index node in a first index cluster; determining whether the first index response includes a relevant pointer to a second hierarchical level of the index; querying the second hierarchical level of the index to receive the cluster and node configuration for the database system when it is determined that the first index response includes the relevant pointer to the second hierarchical level, wherein querying the second hierarchical level of the index includes performing a query command on a second index node in a second index cluster, and wherein the first index cluster is different from the second index cluster; determining a cluster/node topography for the database system based on the received cluster and node configuration; assembling a connection list based on the cluster/node topography of the database system; and connecting the requesting process to one or more of a specified database node and a specified database cluster based on the connection list.