A method, system, and apparatus are provided to avoid dropping data packets between computers coupled on a network. In one example, the system receives a plurality of data packets from one or more sending servers into a receive queue of a first network interface device (e.g., Fiber Channel host bus adapter) in a receiving server. The receive queue includes addresses to data buffers to store a predetermined number of data packets. The system monitors the number of data packets stored in the data buffers waiting for read out by a software application. The system detects a potential overflow of the receive queue in response to a number of unused data buffers of the receive queue. In response to detecting the potential overflow, the system performs preemptive actions to avoid dropping at least one of the plurality of data packets.