In an embodiment, a method is provided. The method of this embodiment provides in response to receiving a packet at a packet processing device having a memory ("on-device memory"), storing the packet at a location in a memory not on the packet processing device ("off-device memory"); creating a packet descriptor corresponding to the packet, the packet descriptor referencing the location; storing the packet descriptor in a packet descriptor queue on the off-device memory; and storing a packet descriptor copy on the on-device memory.