a switch for selectively precluding the issuance of interswitch resolve packets . when the address of a destination node is not able to be resolved by an interswitch resolve packet , the destination identifier for the packet is stored in an unresolved address table . the unresolved address table includes a destination identifier of the packet , a counter and one or more timers . when the value of the counter reaches a test count value it is determined whether or not the packets have been sent at a rate that would unduly degrade the performance of the network . if the resolve packets are unduly loading the network , then the destination identifier is forwarded to a blocked address table . subsequent issuance of interswitch resolve packets having the destination identifier are selectively filtered to ensure that they do not unduly degrade the performance of the computer network . some resolve requests are still permitted so that when the node having the destination identifier is subsequently returned to the network , the address may be resolved . with such an arrangement , address resolution may be achieved while maintaining the performance of the computer network .