1. For an electronic device that comprises a physical network interface card (PNIC) with a plurality of queues for temporarily storing data traffic through the PNIC, a method of managing the queues of the PNIC, the method comprising: specifying a first pool and assigning at least a first queue of the queues of the PNIC to the first pool; initializing a first virtual machine (VM) as an addressable node executing on the electronic device, wherein the first VM includes a first virtual network interface card (VNIC) which is coupled through a network stack to the PNIC; assigning a subset of data traffic through the PNIC to the first pool to be supported by queues which are assigned to the first pool including at least the first queue, wherein the subset of data traffic relates to the first VM; initializing a second virtual machine (VM) as an addressable node executing on the electronic device, wherein the second VM includes a second VNIC which is coupled through a network stack to the PNIC; determining that the second VM has a particular traffic requirement relevant to a specific hardware functionality that is supported by the PNIC; specifying a hardware-feature pool and assigning at least a second queue of the queues of the PNIC to the hardware-feature pool, the specifying of the hardware-feature pool and the assigning of at least the second queue comprises determining that none of the queues of the PNIC are free queues and, in response, preempting the second queue which is currently assigned to another pool and assigning the second queue to the hardware-feature pool, wherein the second queue has the specific hardware functionality to match the particular traffic requirement of the VM, and, by way of the preempting, is a free queue of the PNIC prior to assigning the second queue to the hardware-feature pool; and based on the determining, assigning data traffic of the second VM to the hardware-feature pool to be supported by queues which are assigned to the hardware-feature pool including at least the second queue.