Patent ID: 7961729

Claim:
A method for managing broadcast packets or multicast packets received by an Ethernet adapter comprising a plurality of logical ports, wherein the Ethernet adapter is shared by a plurality of applications executing on a plurality of virtual systems, the method comprising: providing a first function operable to register a logical port of the Ethernet adapter as a recipient of any broadcast packet received by the Ethernet adapter satisfying a first predefined criterion, including a broadcast packet with or without a virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier; providing a second function operable to register the logical port of the Ethernet adapter as a recipient of any multicast packet received by the Ethernet adapter satisfying a second predefined criterion, including a multicast packet with a media access control (MAC) address and with or without a VLAN identifier; invoking the first function by an application assigned to the logical port, including providing a first registration type, a port number and a VLAN identifier parameters by the application, wherein the first registration type parameter indicates the broadcast packet with or without a VLAN identifier, the VLAN identifier parameter identifies a VLAN whose broadcast traffic is a receive candidate, and the port number parameter identifies a logical port within the Ethernet adapter, and wherein invoking the first function results in registration of only the logical port assigned to the application invoking the first function as a recipient of any broadcast packet received by the Ethernet adapter satisfying the first predefined criterion; and invoking the second function by the application assigned to the logical port, including providing a second registration type, a port number, a MAC address and a VLAN identifier parameters by the application, wherein the second registration type parameter indicates the multicast packet with or without a VLAN identifier, the VLAN identifier parameter identifies a VLAN whose multicast traffic is a receive candidate, the port number parameter identifies a logical port within the Ethernet adapter, and the multicast MAC address parameter specifies a destination multicast address, and wherein invoking the second function results in registration of only the logical port assigned to the application invoking the second function as a recipient of any multicast packet received by the Ethernet adapter satisfying the second predefined criterion.