Patent ID: 8839244

Claim:
A method of data processing, comprising: a physical host executing a virtual machine monitor (VMM) that instantiates a plurality of virtual machines (VMs) in the physical host; a virtual link manager (VLM) that executes within or on the VMM deploying and configuring a plurality of Layer 2 virtual links sharing bandwidth of a Layer 2 physical link between a physical network interface of the physical host and an access switch; the VMM uniquely defining each of the plurality of virtual links by applying a respective one of a plurality of different service tags to frames of the plurality of virtual links, wherein the plurality of Layer 2 virtual links span at least from the VMM to the access switch such that the physical network interface need not provide explicit tagging support for the plurality of Layer 2virtual links; and the VMM communicating parameters of the plurality of virtual links with the access switch.