Methods and systems for fine grain bandwidth allocation in a switched network element

Methods and systems for fine grain bandwidth allocation are disclosed. According to one method, input is received from a user in a standard bandwidth denomination indicating bandwidth to be provided by a switched network element. The bandwidth is automatically converted into a base bandwidth value and a residual bandwidth value. The base bandwidth value is converted to a number of tokens to be placed in a token bucket every predetermined token bucket refresh interval. The residual bandwidth value is converted into a second number of tokens and a number of predetermined token bucket refresh intervals over which the second number of tokens is to be placed in the token buckets. The token buckets are then refreshed in accordance with the base and residual bandwidth values and the token bucket refresh intervals. The queue is serviced in accordance with available tokens in the token buckets.