Patent ID: 8578026

Claim:
A method of managing a limit for a resource across a plurality of cores managing the resource in a multi-core device, the method comprising: a) identifying, by a multi-core device, a limit for a number of times any one of a plurality of packet processing engines uses a resource, wherein the plurality of packet processing engines execute on a plurality of cores in the multi-core device; b) establishing, by a pool manager of the multi-core device, an exclusive quota pool for the resource based on the limit, the exclusive quota pool comprising an exclusive number of times each packet processing engine can use the resource; c) establishing, by the pool manager, a shared quota pool for the resource based on the limit, the shared quota pool comprising a permissive number of times any packet processing engine can use the resource; and d) allocating, by the pool manager, a first exclusive number of times of use of the resource from the exclusive quota pool to a first packet processing engine operating on a first core.