The object of the present invention is to provide a communication network system that reduces the burden of entering settings for the network system. A service directory server in the communication network system provides unified management of the service information of the service-providing server installed in the network. The service information managed by the service directory server is distributed to the communication nodes either automatically or in response to requests from a communication node. The communication nodes receive packets and, for received packets that are addressed to itself, a service-providing server destination is determined based on the service information provided by the service directory server and the packet is transferred to the server to receive the service.