Patent ID: 7643482

Claim:
A system, comprising: a first plurality of virtual network interface cards (VNICs); and a first Vswitch table associated with a first virtual switch, wherein each entry in the first Vswitch table is associated with one of the first plurality of VNICs, wherein each of the first plurality of VNICs is located on a host, and wherein each of the first plurality of VNICs is associated with the first virtual switch, wherein a first VNIC in the first plurality of VNICs is configured to: receive a first packet associated with a first hardware address (HA); determine, using the first HA, whether one of the plurality of entries in the first Vswitch table is associated with the first HA; send the first packet to a VNIC associated with first HA if one of the plurality of entries in the first Vswitch table is associated with the first HA, wherein the VNIC is one of the first plurality of VNICs; and drop the first packet if none of the plurality of entries listed in the first Vswitch table is associated with the first HA.