Patent ID: 8370530

Claim:
A method for controlling network traffic in a chassis, comprising: assigning control of a network express manager located in the chassis to a control virtual machine selected from a plurality of virtual machines, wherein the plurality of virtual machines is located in a plurality of computers communicatively coupled with each other via a chassis interconnect in the chassis, wherein the chassis interconnect comprises a Peripheral Component Interface Express (PCI-E) backplane comprising a plurality of PCI-E endpoints, wherein a first computer of the plurality of computers connects to the chassis using a first PCI-E endpoint from the plurality of PCI-E endpoints, wherein a second computer of the plurality of computers connects to the chassis using a second PCI-E endpoint from the plurality of PCI-E endpoints, wherein each the plurality of virtual machines is associated with at least one of a plurality of virtual network interface cards (VNICs), wherein the plurality of computers share a physical network interface, and wherein assigning control of the network express manager to the control virtual machine comprises mapping a service processor located in the network express manager as a physical device in the control virtual machine and wherein mapping the service processor is performed by a chassis processor located in the chassis; configuring the network express manager, by the control virtual machine, wherein the network express manager is configured to route network traffic in the chassis; implementing a virtual network path using the network express manager, and migrating, after implementing the virtual network path, the control virtual machine within the plurality of computers without disrupting operation of the network express manager, wherein the virtual network path comprises a virtual wire between a first VNIC selected from the plurality of VNICs and a second VNIC selected from the plurality of VNICs, wherein the network express manager implements the virtual network path using a virtual switching table, wherein the virtual switching table comprises a first mapping of a first Internet Protocol (IP) address for the first VNIC to the first PCI-E endpoint, and a second mapping of a second IP address for the second VNIC to the second PCI-E endpoint, wherein the first VNIC is located in the first computer, and wherein the second VNIC is located in the second computer.