A virtual machine (VM) can provision a region of memory for a queue to receive packet header, packet payload, and/or descriptors from the network interface. A virtual switch can provide a routing rule to a network interface to route a received packet header, packet payload, and/or descriptors associated with the VM to the provisioned queue. A direct memory access (DMA) transfer operation can be used to copy the received packet header, packet payload, and/or descriptors associated with the VM from the network interface to the provisioned queue without copying the packet header or payload to an intermediate buffer and from the intermediate buffer to the provisioned queue. A DMA operation can be used to transfer a packet or its descriptor from the provisioned queue to the network interface for transmission.