System and method for using dynamic thresholds with route isolation for heterogeneous traffic in shared memory packet buffers

A method for managing shared memory packet buffers, the method comprising:

• receiving ingress traffic of a traffic type at a server fabric adapter (SFA) communicatively coupled to an ingress entity;
• determining, by the SFA, whether a minimum guarantee space of a shared buffer has been allocated for the ingress traffic;
• and
• in response to determining the minimum guarantee space has been allocated for the ingress traffic, forwarding packets of the ingress traffic to the shared buffer in a particular sequence of (1) the minimum guarantee space, (2) a dedicated shared space, and (3) a global shared space, wherein the dedicated shared space is part of the shared buffer allocated to the traffic type after the minimum guarantee space and a headroom have been allocated, and the global shared space is a portion of the shared buffer after the dedicated shared space has been allocated.

A system for managing shared memory packet buffers, the system comprising:

• a server fabric adapter (SFA) communicatively coupled to an ingress entity, the SFA configured to:
• receive ingress traffic of a traffic type;
• determine whether a minimum guarantee space of a shared buffer has been allocated for the ingress traffic;
• and
• in response to determining the minimum guarantee space has been allocated for the ingress traffic, forward packets of the ingress traffic to the shared buffer in a particular sequence of (1) the minimum guarantee space, (2) a dedicated shared space, and (3) a global shared space, wherein the dedicated shared space is part of the shared buffer allocated to the traffic type after the minimum guarantee space and a headroom have been allocated, and the global shared space is a portion of the shared buffer after the dedicated shared space has been allocated.