A computer-implemented method comprises receiving an index number for each of a plurality of physical processing units, each of the plurality of physical processing units communicatively coupled to each of a plurality of switch chips in a leaf-spine topology; assigning at least one of the plurality of physical processing units to a first virtual drawer by updating an entry in a virtual drawer table indicating an association between the respective index number of the at least one physical processing unit and an index of the first virtual drawer; and performing a drawer management function based on the virtual drawer table.