Patent ID: 8184631

Claim:
A method for specifying a MAC identifier for a network-interface-device in a computing device, where the network-interface-device is configured to connect to a network through a single port, where the network-interface-device is configured to accept a data packet received through the port if the data packet contains a destination that matches the MAC identifier, where the network-interface-device includes a universally-administered MAC identifier, the method comprising: determining whether the network interface device supports more than one MAC identifier for the single port by acquiring data that describes the capabilities of the network interface device and determining from the acquired data if the capabilities include supporting multiple MAC identifiers for the single port; if so, selecting and activating an additional MAC identifier, wherein selecting and activating the additional MAC identifier comprises associating a resource with the additional MAC identifier in an accept filter for the network-interface-device, wherein the network-interface-device uses the accept filter to determine whether a destination address in a data packet matches one of the MAC identifiers; and receiving from a hypervisor a command to release the additional MAC identifier, wherein releasing the additional MAC identifier comprises removing the additional MAC identifier from the accept filter; wherein activating the additional MAC identifier facilitates the network-interface-device accepting and logically separating data packets based on the additional MAC identifier.