Patent ID: 8675644

Claim:
A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code adapted to, when executed by a processor, implement a method for providing network connectivity to a host, the method comprising: creating a virtual switch on the host, wherein the virtual switch is connected to a physical network interface card (NIC) associated with the host; specifying at least one data link attribute of the virtual switch, wherein the at least one data link attribute comprises a link speed and at least one CPU associated with the virtual switch; creating a Vswitch table configured to identify virtual network interface cards (VNICs) associated with the virtual switch; creating a plurality of VNICs on the host, wherein each of the plurality of VNICs is associated with a different one of a plurality of execution environments; associating each of the plurality of VNICs with the virtual switch by adding each of the plurality of VNICs to the Vswitch table; and when associated with the virtual switch, automatically inheriting, by each of the plurality of VNICs, the at least one data link attribute of the virtual switch, wherein the plurality of execution environments is located on the host, wherein all processing required by the plurality of VNICs is performed by the at least one CPU, and wherein the plurality of VNICs is located on the host.