In a method for allocating physical queues of a network forwarding element, a request is received at the network forwarding element, the network forwarding element including a plurality of physical queues, where each physical queue of the plurality of physical queues has a fixed bandwidth, the request identifying an allocation of a plurality of virtual queues at the network forwarding element. Based at least in part on the request, a configuration of the plurality of physical queues to the plurality of virtual queues is determined. The plurality of physical queues is configured according to the configuration, wherein the configuring includes allocating at least two physical queues to a virtual queue.