Method and system for controlling virtual machine bandwidth

1. A method of controlling bandwidth comprising:

receiving and classifying a packet;

sending the packet to a hardware receive ring based on a classification of the packet;

sending, in accordance with an operating mode, the packet to a software receive ring; and

sending the packet from the software receive ring to a virtual network interface card,

wherein the virtual network interface card is associated with a virtual machine,

wherein the operating mode is adjusted to control the bandwidth consumed by the virtual machine,

wherein the operating mode comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of an interrupt mode and a polling mode.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the software receive ring is configured to change the operating mode.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the operating mode is changed based on a predefined packet arrival rate threshold at the software receive ring.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein an interrupt is generated prior to sending the packet to the virtual network interface card when the software receive ring is operating in the interrupt mode.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the packet is sent to the virtual network interface card following a polling request when the software receive ring is operating in the polling mode.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the classification is based on a header of the packet.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein a mapping of the hardware receive ring to the software receive ring is one-to-one.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the software receive ring is located in a Media Access Control (MAC) layer of a host and wherein the virtual machine is located on the host.

9. A system for controlling bandwidth comprising:

a network interface card comprising:

a plurality of hardware receive rings;

a classifier configured to classify a packet and sending the packet to one of the plurality of hardware rings based on a classification; and

a host, operatively connected to the network interface card, comprising:

a virtual network interface card associated with a virtual machine;

a software receive ring associated with the virtual network interface card and at least one of the plurality of hardware receive rings,

wherein the packet is sent from the hardware receive ring to the software receive ring based on an operating mode of the software receive ring,

wherein the operating mode is adjusted to control the bandwidth consumed by the virtual machine,

wherein the operating mode comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of an interrupt mode and a polling mode.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the virtual machine comprises:

a virtual stack bound to a packet destination, wherein the packet is intended for the packet destination.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the operating mode is changed by the software receive ring.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the operating mode is changed based on a packet arrival rate at the software receive ring.

13. The system of claim 9 , wherein an interrupt is issued prior to sending the packet to the virtual network interface card when the software receive ring is operating in the interrupt mode.

14. The system of claim 9 , wherein the packet is sent to the virtual network interface card following a polling request when the software receive ring is operating in the polling mode.

15. The system of claim 9 , wherein a mapping of the hardware receive ring to the software receive ring is one-to-one.

16. The system of claim 9 , wherein the classifier is configured to classify based on a header associated with the packet.

17. The system of claim 9 , wherein the software receive ring corresponds to a buffer interposed between the hardware receive ring and the virtual network interface card.

18. The system of claim 9 , wherein software receive ring is located in a Media Access Control (MAC) layer of the host.