Routing between software defined networks and physical networks

A system comprising:

• a software defined networking network (SDN network) comprising node element and router element, the router element having components executing on two or more computing devices;
• a physical network comprising physical network elements;
• a controller to control a flow network information through the SDN network;
• and
• a data link layer (layer 2) gateway device configured to:
• receive, from the controller, routing data to a computing device of the two or more computing devices, the computing device selected to receive a packet transmitted from the physical network to the SDN network;
• receive, from a first element of the physical network elements, an address request for a layer 2 address of a router element in the SDN network, the address request including a networking layer address of the router element;
• transmit, to the first element in response to receiving the request for the data link layer address, the layer 2 address of the router element using the routing data;
• receive, from the first element, a routing request to route the packet to a destination element in the SDN network using the layer 2 address;
• and
• route the received packet to the selected computing device.