Patent ID: 7865633

Claim:
A method comprising: providing a plurality of input/output ports in a network switch, which provide a set of data channels for data communications between one of a plurality of host nodes and one of a plurality of target nodes; providing a plurality of virtual host channel adapters (HCA's) in the network switch, any one of which may be assigned to a work queue pair received via any one of the plurality of input/output ports; receiving a work queue pair via any one of the plurality of input/output ports; assigning the work queue pair to one of the plurality of virtual host channel adapters (HCA's); activating a scheduler in the network switch to sequence processing performed by the plurality of virtual host channel adapters (HCA's), the scheduler being accessible to the plurality of virtual host channel adapters (HCA's); updating a context associated with the work queue pair, the context being stored in a shared memory of the network switch accessible to the plurality of virtual host channel adapters (HCA's); creating at least one data packet corresponding to the work queue pair; and sending the at least one data packet to at least one of the plurality of target nodes via at least one of the plurality of input/output ports of the network switch.