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 an index of a database system to receive a cluster and node configuration for the database system; 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.