Embodiments are directed to a relay that receives packets from a source gateway associated with a source gateway identifier (GID) and a target GID associated with a target gateway where each GID is separate from a network address or a hostname of the source gateway or the target gateway. The relay determines a connection route based on an association between the connection route and an ingress identifier obtained from the packets. The relay provides the connection route based on the source GID and the target GID. The relay determines network address information associated with the target gateway based on the connection route. And, the relay forwards the packets provided by the source gateway to the target gateway based on the network address information.