Patent ID: 7962587

Claim:
A method for migrating virtual machines, comprising: obtaining migration criteria for a first virtual machine (VM), wherein the first VM is located on a first blade in a blade chassis, wherein the first VM is associated with a first virtual network interface card (VNIC), wherein the first VNIC is connected to a second VNIC on a second blade in the blade chassis using a first virtual wire having a first priority, and wherein the migration criteria is a bandwidth constraint for the first VM; sending a request comprising the migration criteria to a third blade in the blade chassis, wherein the second blade comprises a second VM associated with the second VNIC, a third VM associated with the third VNIC, wherein the third VNIC is connected to a fourth VNIC on the third blade in the blade chassis using a second virtual wire having a second priority, receiving a response to request from the third blade, wherein response indicates that the third blade cannot satisfy the migration criteria; suspending the second virtual wire, wherein the first priority is higher than the second priority and wherein suspending the second virtual wire comprises suspending the third VNIC and fourth VNIC; suspending execution of the first VM on the first blade and obtaining information to migrate the first VM; obtaining information required to migrate the first VNIC; migrating the first VM and the first VNIC to the third blade using the information required to migrate the first VM and the information required to migrate the first VNIC; configuring the first VNIC and the first VM to satisfy the migration criteria; updating a virtual switching table in the blade chassis to reflect the migration of the first VM from the first blade to the third blade; and resuming execution of the first VM on the third blade.