A method, system and computer program product is disclosed for scheduling data packets in a multi-processor system comprising a plurality of processor units and a multitude of multicast groups. The method comprises associating one of the processor units with each of the multicast groups, receiving a multitude of data packets from the multicast groups, and scheduling all of the data packets received from each of the multicast groups for processing by the one of the processor units associated with said each of the multicast groups. In one embodiment, scheduling is based on affinity of both transmit and received processing for multiple connections to a processor unit. In another embodiment, a system call is provided for transmitting the same data over multiple sockets. Additional system calls may be used for building multicast group socket lists.