Method and apparatus for dynamic assignment of network interface card resources

A system, comprising:

• a physical network interface card (NIC) comprising a first hardware receive ring (HRR), a second HRR, and a hardware classifier;
• a host, operatively connected to the NIC, comprising:
• a first virtual network interface card (VNIC) initially bound to the first HRR;
• a software ring (SR) comprising a software classifier and a software receive ring (SRR), wherein SR is operatively connected to the second HRR;
• a second VNIC initially bound to the SRR;
• a first packet destination operatively connected to the first VNIC;
• a second packet destination operatively connected to the second VNIC;
• and
• a monitoring application configured to monitor the system and generate monitoring information associated with the first HRR and the SRR,
• wherein the host is configured to:
• obtain the monitoring information;
• determine, using the monitoring information, whether a use of the first HRR is below a first threshold;
• determine, using the monitoring information, whether a use of the SRR is above a second threshold;
• if the use of the first HRR is below the first threshold and the use of the SRR is above the second threshold:
• bind the first VNIC to the SRR and the second VNIC to the first HRR;
• remove the binding from the first VNIC to the first HRR;
• remove the binding from the second VNIC to the SRR;
• and
• reprogram the hardware classifier to send packets associated with the first VNIC to the second HRR and to send packets associated with the second VNIC to the first HRR;
• and
• reprogram the software classifier to send packets associated with the first VNIC to the SRR.

A computer readable medium encoded with instructions capable of being executed by a computer for:

• obtaining monitoring information associated with a first hardware receive ring (HRR) and a software receive ring (SRR), wherein the first VNIC is bound to the first HRR and a second VNIC is bound to the SRR;
• determining, using the monitoring information, whether a use of the first HRR is below a first threshold;
• determining, using the monitoring information, whether a use of the SRR is above a second threshold;
• if the use of the first HRR is below the first threshold and the use of the SRIR is above the second threshold:
• binding the first VNIC to the SRR and the second VNIC to the first HRR;
• removing the binding from the first VNIC to the first HRR;
• removing the binding from the second VNIC to the SRR;
• and
• reprogramming a hardware classifier to send packets associated with the first VNIC to a second HRR and to send packets associated with the second VNIC to the first HRR;
• reprogramming a software classifier to send packets associated with the first VNIC to the SRR,
• wherein the software classifier is associated with a soft ring (SR) and the SR is configured to obtain packets from the second HRR.