A source host device masks the hardware address of a hosted container from a network device to mitigate the use of resources in the network device. A virtual switch on the source host receives a frame from a hosted container. The frame includes a source hardware address of the hardware address corresponding to the hosted container. The frame also includes a source network address of the network address corresponding to the hosted container. The virtual switch replaces the source hardware address of the frame with the hardware address associated with the source host, and send the frame to the network device. The frame sent to the network device includes the host hardware address as the source hardware address and the container network address as the source network address.