MECHANISM FOR ENABLING LAYER TWO HOST ADDRESSES TO BE SHIELDED FROM THE SWITCHES IN A NETWORK

Methods and systems for shielding layer two host addresses (e.g., MAC addresses) from a network are provided. A border component interposed between a network of switches and multiple local hosts receives from a first local host a first packet destined for a first destination host. The first local host has a first layer 2 (L2) address and a first layer 3 (L3) address associated therewith. The first packet includes the first L2 address as a source L2 address for the first packet, and includes the first L3 address as a source L3 address for the first packet. The border component shields the first L2 address from the network of switches by replacing the source L2 address for the first packet with a substitute L2 address associated with a communication channel of the border component before sending the first packet to the network of switches.