Patent ID: 8677014

Claim:
A method, comprising: determining by a network device if a frame associated with an exchange is a command frame indicating that the exchange is a new exchange, wherein the network device includes multiple processors or cores, and wherein the exchange is an exchange in a storage area network (SAN); and performing by the network device the following when the frame is a command frame indicating that the exchange is a new exchange: determining a core identification that identifies a least loaded processor or core in the multiple processors or cores; creating an entry in an exchange lookup data structure such that the entry maps the exchange to the core identification; and indicating, in the entry in the exchange lookup data structure, one or more types of frames for the least loaded processor to be assigned, wherein the one or more types of frames include one or more of a plurality of types, each of the plurality of types corresponding to a different one of a plurality of stages of processing of an exchange.