Patent ID: 8665725

Claim:
A switch that enables dynamic queue threshold limits, comprising: a shared memory buffer; a plurality of ports, a first of said plurality of ports being coupled to a network device having a plurality of virtual machines, wherein each of said plurality of virtual machines has a plurality of queues that are associated with a plurality of traffic classes; and a processing core that determines a virtual machine limit for each of said plurality of virtual machines, wherein a first virtual machine limit for a first of said plurality of virtual machines is determined as a fraction of a port limit for said first of said plurality of ports, said port limit for said first of said plurality of ports being determined by multiplying an unused remainder of said shared memory buffer by a burst absorption factor assigned to said first of said plurality of ports, said burst absorption factor having a value that is less than one, wherein an application of said value of said burst absorption factor to said unused remainder of said shared memory buffer creates an adaptive port limit that has a value that adjusts based on said unused remainder of said shared memory buffer, said processing core further determining queue limits for each of a plurality of queues associated with said first of said plurality of virtual machines, said queue limits for each of said plurality of queues associated with said first of said plurality of virtual machines representing a fraction of said first virtual machine limit for said first of said plurality of virtual machines.