Supporting relay functionality with a distributed layer 3 gateway

An apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of ports configured in hardware to send and receive messages in a network;
• and
• a processor coupled to the ports, and configured to:
• obtain an address request message received from a host device in a network at one of the ports;
• modify the address request message to include a response address that uniquely identifies the apparatus;
• add in a field of the address request message subnetwork information that identifies a subnetwork to which the host device belongs;
• and
• cause the modified address request message to be sent to an address server.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage media encoded with software comprising computer executable instructions and when the software is executed operable to:

• obtain an address request message received from a host device in a network;
• modify the address request message to include a response address that uniquely identifies a switch device;
• add in a field of the address request message subnetwork information that identifies a subnetwork to which the host device belongs;
• and
• cause the modified address request message to be sent to an address server.