Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media are provided to populate databases with routing data for containers to eliminate the need for continuously accessing a global discovery service. An example method includes initiating, from a source container operating on a first machine in a first rack, a communication with a destination container operating on a second machine on a second rack, wherein a local database on the first machine does not know an address of the destination container. The method includes accessing a global discovery service to provide the address of the destination container, populating the local database on the first machine with the address of the destination container and routing a packet from the source container to the destination container according to the address of the destination container.