Patent ID: 8375145

Claim:
A method for communication over a network, comprising: assigning one or more doorbell addresses on a network interface adapter for use by a host processor; writing a first descriptor to a system memory associated with the host processor, the first descriptor defining a first message to be sent over the network; writing a command to a first one of the doorbell addresses instructing the adapter to read and execute the first descriptor; writing a second descriptor to a second one of the doorbell addresses, the second descriptor defining a second message to be sent over the network; responsive to the command having been written to the first one of the doorbell addresses, reading the first descriptor from the system memory using the network interface adapter, and sending the first message from the network interface adapter over the network responsive to the first descriptor; and responsive to the second descriptor having been written to the second one of the doorbell addresses, sending the second message from the network interface adapter over the network.