Method and system for credit management in a networking system

A buffer structure for a network port, comprising:

• a frame monitoring logic for monitoring and determining a frame length of an incoming frame received at the network port;
• a first memory storage space that includes a plurality of slots, where each of the plurality of slots can store only one frame regardless of frame size;
• and
• a second memory storage space that includes a plurality of slots, where each of the plurality of slots can store more than one frame;
• wherein depending on the frame length, the incoming frame is either stored in the first memory storage space or the second memory storage space;
• if the incoming frame is stored in the second memory storage space, a signal is immediately transmitted to another port indicating that credit is available to store more frames;
• and if the incoming frame is stored in the first memory storage space, transmitting a signal to another port indicating that credit is available to store more frames only after a frame has been processed so that a slot is released from the first memory storage space.