Network adapter with shared database for message context information

A network interface adapter, comprising:

• a network interface, coupled to send and receive messages containing message data over a network using a plurality of transport service instances, each of the messages being associated with a respective one of the transport service instances;
• a client interface, for coupling to a client device so as to exchange the message data with the client device;
• and
• message processing circuitry, coupled between the network interface and the client interface and configured to process the messages sent and received over the network using context information with respect to the transport service instances with which the messages are associated, the circuitry comprising:
• a first cache memory, configured to store a first portion of the context information for at least some of the transport service instances, such that each of the at least some of the transport service instances is allocated a substantially equal part of the first cache memory;
• and
• a second cache memory, configured to store a second portion of the context information for the at least some of the transport service instances, such that the part of the second cache memory allocated to each of the transport service instances varies responsive to a respective characteristic of each of the transport service instances;
• in which the first portion of the context information includes substantive context information;
• in which the characteristic of each of the transport service instances, responsive to which the part of the second cache memory allocated to said each transport service instance varies, comprises a respective level of activity on the network that is associated with each of the transport service instances;
• in which each of the transport service instances is assigned a respective limit, on use of the second cache memory, that may differ among the transport service instances, and
• in which the respective level of activity on the network associated with each of the transport service instances is constrained so that the use of the second cache memory does not exceed the respective limit.