Patent ID: 8125996

Claim:
A method performed by a border component situated at a border of a network of switches, comprising: receiving, by the border component from the network of switches, a first packet intended for a first host coupled to the border component, wherein the first host has a first L2 (layer 2) address and a first L3 (layer 3) address associated therewith, and wherein the first packet includes the first L3 address as a destination L3 address, and includes a substitute L2 address as a destination L2 address, wherein the substitute L2 address is associated with a communication channel of the border component; accessing, by the border component, a data structure, wherein the data structure comprises a first set of information that indicates an association between the first L3 address and the first L2 address; determining, by the border component, based at least partially upon the first L3 address in the first packet and the first set of information, that the destination L2 address for the first packet should be the first L2 address; deriving, by the border component, a first updated packet from the first packet, wherein deriving the first updated packet comprises replacing the substitute L2 address with the first L2 address, thereby making the first L2 address the destination L2 address for the first updated packet; sending, by the border component, the first updated packet to the first host; receiving, from the network of switches, a second packet intended for a second host coupled to the border component, wherein the second host has a second L2 address and a second L3 address associated therewith, and wherein the second packet includes the second L3 address as a destination L3 address, and includes the substitute L2 address as a destination L2 address; accessing the data structure, wherein the data structure further comprises a second set of information that indicates an association between the second L3 address and the second L2 address; determining, based at least partially upon the second L3 address in the second packet and the second set of information, that the destination L2 address for the second packet should be the second L2 address; deriving a second updated packet from the second packet, wherein deriving the second updated packet comprises replacing the substitute L2 address with the second L2 address, thereby making the second L2 address the destination L2 address for the second updated packet; and sending the second updated packet to the second host.