The invention solves the problem of maintaining Route information Field
(RIF) information in a router for populating the RIF field of packets
routed by the router, by storing the RIF information with the Layer 2
address in the address binding table. The address binding table
establishes a binding between a Layer 2 address and a Layer 3 address of
a station. The Layer 2 address in the address binding table is extended
to include the RIF information. The address binding table is normally
maintained in the router in an architecture which permits rapid access
for fast switching such as cut through routing. A separate RIF cache
table, requiring a separate time consuming table look-up is thereby
avoided. The address binding table is referred to as the Address
Resolution Protocol (ARP) Table in IP protocol. The Layer 2 address is
extended to include both MAC address and REF information. The RIF
information in the Layer 2 field of the ARP table is updated in response
to execution of an ARP Explorer protocol by the router. RIF information
is read from an ARP Explorer response packet and written into the Layer 2
field of the ARP table. The Layer 2 address, both MAC address and RIF
information, is read from the ARP table for use in populating both the
destination address field and the RIF field of a routed packet.