Host ethernet adapter for handling both endpoint and network node communications

A host Ethernet controller, comprising:

• a host interface configured for communication with a multicore processor over a processor bus, the host interface comprising:
• a receive processing element including a receive processor, a receive buffer and a scheduler for dispatching packets from the receive buffer to the receive processor;
• a send processing element including a send processor and a send buffer;
• and
• a completion queue scheduler (CQS) for dispatching completion queue elements (CQE) from the head of the completion queue (CQ) to threads of the multicore processor in a network node mode.

A computer program product including computer usable program code embodied on a non-transitory computer usable storage medium for controlling an Ethernet adapter coupled to a multi-core processor system via a processor bus, the computer program product comprising:

• computer usable program code for selectively assigning a first plurality of packets to a first queue pair for servicing in an endpoint mode;
• computer usable program code for running a device driver on the multi-core processing system, the device driver controlling the servicing of the first queue pair by dispatching the first plurality of packets to only one processor core of the multi-core processor system;
• computer usable program code for selectively assigning a second plurality of packets to a second queue pair for servicing in a network node mode;
• and
• computer usable program code for the Ethernet adapter controlling the servicing of the second queue pair by dispatching the second plurality of packets to multiple processor threads.