TRAFFIC RATE LIMITING FOR VMs WITH MULTIPLE VIRTUAL FUNCTIONS

The present disclosure is directed to systems and methods for rate limiting network traffic generated by virtual machines (VMs) having multiple attached SR-IOV virtual functions. The network interface circuitry includes a plurality of offload circuits, each performing operations associated with a specific VF. Each VM attached to network interface circuitry is assigned a unique identifier. The unique identifier associated with a VM is inserted into the header of data packets originated by the VM. The packets are queued using a dedicated memory queue assigned to the VM. The aggregate data transfer rate for the VM is determined based upon counting the data packets originated by the VM and processed across the plurality of offload circuits. If the aggregate data transfer rate exceeds a data transfer rate threshold, traffic control circuitry limits the transfer of data packets from the memory queue associated with the VM to the plurality of offload circuits.