Dead Server Redirect

Allow me to try to clarify. The original server, the one that is now down, had an IP address that was accessible externally. You took that IP address and reused it to create a VIP, which should also be accessible externally, and so far you can't access it, though you could access the server with that address when it was up. Is that correct? If yes, are you crossing a routed network to get to it? You might be having an ARP issue - a "stuck" layer 2 MAC address mapping from the router connected to that subnet. Usually that'll time out after a while. Is the server truly down, as in powered off?