A computer readable medium comprising software instructions for: obtaining an allocation policy by a MAC layer executing on a host; receiving, a request for a transmit kernel buffer (TxKB) by a sending application executing on at least one processor of the host; obtaining a location of a plurality of available TxKBs on the host; obtaining a location of at least one available network interface on the host; obtaining a location of the sending application; allocating one of the plurality of available TxKBs to obtain an allocated TxKB, wherein the one of the plurality of available TxKBs is selected according to the allocation policy using the location of the plurality of available TxKB, the location of the at least one available network interface, and the location of the sending application, to obtain an allocated TxKB; and providing, to the sending application, the location of the allocated TxKB.