A method by which a host computer or router connected to a non-broadcast multi-access (NBMA) network can discover the internetworking layer addresses and subnetwork addresses of the NBMA next hop towards a destination station. The source station sends a query packet, to which the destination station responds if on the same network. If the destination station is not on the same network or subnetwork, the subnetwork egress node nearest to the destination station responds.Thereby, the source host or router dynamically discovers the most direct path to the host or egress router and to avoid unnecessary intermediate hops. NHRP is described in IETF RFC 2332. See also IETF and subnet.