79 results about "I/O virtualization" patented technology

This disclosure describes a system for Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) pass-thru for network packet processing via a virtualized environment of a device. The system includes a device comprising a virtualized environment and a plurality of virtual machines having a virtual network interface for receiving and transmitting network packets. A driver for the physical network interface of the device creates a plurality of virtual devices corresponding to the physical network interface, which appear as a Peripheral Component

Interconnect (PCI) device to the virtualized environment. A virtual device of the plurality of virtual devices is assigned via the virtualized environment to each virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines. The virtual machine uses the virtual device assigned to the virtual machine, to receive and transmit network packets via the physical network interface of the device.

A method, computer program product, and distributed data processing system that allows a single physical I/O adapter, such as a PCI, PCI-X, or PCI-E adapter, to use a PCI adapter identifier to associate its resources to a system image and isolate them from other system images thereby providing I/O virtualization is provided. Specifically, the present invention is directed to a mechanism for sharing among multiple system images a conventional PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) I/O adapters, PCI-X I/O adapters, PCI-Express I/O adapters, and, in general, any I/O adapter that uses a memory mapped I/O interface for communications. A mechanism is provided that allows a single physical I/O adapter, such as a PCI, PCI-X, or PCI-E adapter, to use a PCI adapter identifier to associate its resources to a system image and isolate them from other system images, thereby providing I/O virtualization.

The system and method address the situation where an input/output (I/O) fabric is shared by more than one logical partition (LPAR) and where each LPAR can share with the other LPARs an I/O adapter (IOA). In particular, each LPAR is assigned its own separate address space to access a virtual function (VF) assigned to it such that each LPAR's perception is that it has its own independent IOA. Each VF may be shared across multiple LPARs. Facilities are provided for management of the shared resources of the IOA via a Physical Function (PF) of the IOA by assignment of that PF to an I/O Virtualization Management Partition (IMP). The code running in the IMP acts as a virtual intermediary to the VFs for fully managing the VF error handling, VF reset, and configuration operations. The IMP also acts as an interface to the PF for accessing common VF functionality. Furthermore, the functions of resource assignment and management relative to the VFs and the client partitions that use those VFs, which might normally be done by an entity like a hypervisor, are implemented by this IMP.

A method for providing support for multi-tenancy in single root input/out virtualization (SR-IOV) enabled physical network interface controller (NIC) is provided. The NIC is associated with a host. The SR-IOV provides a physical function (PF) and a set of virtual functions (VFs) for the NIC. The method at a VF of the physical NIC, receives a mapping table of an overlay network which associates an identification of each of a set of virtual machine (VM) of a tenant on the host to an identification of a tunnel end point on the overlay network. The method receives a transmit packet from a VM connected to the VF and performs a lookup in the mapping table to identify source and destination tunnel end points associated with source and destination VMs in the packet. The method encapsulates the packet, for transmission through the tunnel end point associated with the source VM.

The system and method address the situation where an input/output (I/O) fabric is shared by more than one logical partition (LPAR) and where each LPAR can share with the other LPARs an I/O adapter (IOA). In particular, each LPAR is assigned its own separate address space to access a virtual function (VF) assigned to it such that each LPAR's perception is that it has its own independent IOA. Each VF may be shared across multiple LPARs. Facilities are provided for management of the shared resources of the IOA via a Physical Function (PF) of the IOA by assignment of that PF to an I/O Virtualization Management Partition (IMP). The code running in the IMP acts as a virtual intermediary to the VFs for fully managing the VF error handling, VF reset, and configuration operations. The IMP also acts as an interface to the PF for accessing common VF functionality.

The invention provides a multi-root I/O (Input/Output) virtualization sharing method and system. The multi-root I/O virtualization sharing system comprises a root node subsystem, an I/O equipment subsystem and a multi-root I/O virtualization sharing controller, wherein the root node subsystem comprises N root nodes; each root node consists of a root complex, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and an internal memory; the CPU and the internal memory are connected with the root complex; the I/O equipment subsystem comprises M I/O equipment; each I/O equipment can provide services for a plurality of virtual machines simultaneously; the multi-root I/O virtualization sharing controller consists of PCIe (Peripheral Component Interface Express) upstream ports, a PCIe multi-root switchover and PCIe downstream ports; and the multi-root I/O virtualization sharing controller is used for coupling the root node subsystem with the I/O equipment subsystem through a PCIe port protocol, so that I/O equipment resources are directly shared by a plurality of root nodes.

The present invention is directed to an information handling system device for operatively coupling with a device implementing Input/Output (I/O) virtualization for data transmission. The information handling system device may be configured for executing an operating system control program to manage one or more guest operating systems on the information handling system device. The operating system control program may include a paravirtualization driver for formulating a work queue entry according to the I/O virtualization of the device. Data may be transmitted between the one or more guest operating systems and the device via the paravirtualization driver.

An apparatus includes a server comprising n operating system images and an IOV aware root complex; a plurality of physical I/O devices comprising n virtual I/O functions; and a PCI Express bus operatively connected to the server and the plurality physical I/O devices via the root complex, wherein the root complex is operable to provide communication between the n operating system images and the n virtual I/O function, and wherein the server and the plurality of physical I/O devices are modules in a chassis.

A means for extending a PCI System of a host computer via software-centric virtualization. A Root Complex is virtualized at the host computer, and physically separated with a portion located remotely at an Endpoint, such as at a Remote Bus Adapter. One aspect of the invention avoids the need for a Host Bus Adapter. The invention utilizes 1 Gbps-10 Gbps or greater connectivity via the host's existing standard LAN adapter along with unique software to form the virtualization solution. The invention works within a host's PCI Express topology, extending the topology by adding an entire virtual I/O hierarchy via virtualization. The invention enables I/O virtualization in those implementations where a specialized host bus may not be desirable or feasible. Some examples of this may be a laptop computer, an embedded design, a cost-sensitive design, or a blade host where expansion slots are not available or accessible.

The invention discloses an input/output (I/O) resource management method for a multi-root I/O virtualization sharing system. The method for implementing centralized initialization configuration and allocation management on all I/O equipment in the multi-root I/O virtualization sharing system by using a master control root node comprises the following steps of: 1, performing enumeration discovery and initialization configuration on I/O resources in the system by the master control root node; 2, assisting a management user in managing and controlling I/O equipment resources in the system through a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) management module by the master control root node, and executing an I/O resource allocation strategy formulated by the management user; and 3, establishing a mapping relation between equipment functions and root nodes thereof according to the PCIe management module and an I/O resource allocation table by the master control root node to realize dynamic allocation of t he I/O resources.

The invention discloses a direct I/O (Input/Output) virtualization method and device used for a multi-root I/O virtualization sharing system. The method comprises the following steps: 1, a logic virtualization function mirror is established through the logical abstraction of a physical I/O device function, the logic virtualization function mirror replaces the I/O device function to be used as a device placeholder of a slave root node, and each function in an I/O device is independently found and configured by a plurality of root nodes; 2, the mapping of the device function between the PCIe (peripheral component interconnect express) domain of the slave root node and a master control root node is realized in a hardware re-mapping mode, a pass-mode is provided for each root node when the operation shared physical I/O device is accessed, and at the same time isolation and protection are provided for the sharing of each root node; and 3, the I/O device function can be dynamically deleted and added to the root nodes under the condition that other jobs of the root nodes are not affected through the virtual hot plug control operation of a PCIe device, and each function in the I/O device is dynamically shared by the root nodes.

A method, computer program product, and distributed data processing system that allows a single physical I/O adapter, such as a PCI, PCI-X, or PCI-E adapter, to associate its resources to a system image and isolate them from other system images, thereby providing I/O virtualization is provided. Specifically, the present invention is directed to a mechanism for sharing conventional PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) I/O adapters, PCI-X I/O adapters, PCI-Express I/O adapters, and, in general, any I/O adapter that uses a memory mapped I/O interface for communications. A mechanism is provided that allows a single physical I/O adapter, such as a PCI, PCI-X, or PCI-E adapter, to associate its resources to a system image and isolate them from other system images thereby providing I/O virtualization.

The invention provides a virtual machine system for input/output equipment virtualization outside a virtual machine monitor. The virtual machine system comprises the virtual machine monitor; the virtual machine monitor is provided with a plurality of input/output virtual machines, and all I/O operations of clients and equipment sharing are processed by the input/output virtual machines; the plurality of input/output virtual machines are managed and dispatched by the virtual machine monitor; and an inter-domain communication mechanism and a memory sharing mechanism are formed between the input/output virtual machines and the virtual machine monitor. Functions of processing and sharing input and output are extracted from the virtual machine monitor based on a processor platform of hardware-aid virtualization technology, and processing, sharing and dispatching of the input and the output are performed in the prerogative client virtual machines running above the virtual machine monitor tofinish the I/O virtualization function so that better isolation and safety can be acquired and the burden of the virtual machine monitor can be reduced at the same time.

Wake on local area network (LAN) functionality is provided in a multi-root environment. An I/O device, which is share by a plurality of physical hosts, receives the MAC address contained in the wake up packet, then prepares and sends an appropriate wake signal to the targeted host. In one embodiment, the shared I/O device sends an out-of-band wake up signal to each of the physical host computers, wherein the wake up signal is a serial bit stream encoded with the MAC address so that only the physical host having a MAC address matching the MAC address in the wake up signal will be turned on. In another embodiment, the shared I/O device sends a binary ON/OFF signal directly to the targeted physical host computer over a signal line associated with the MAC address.

Access management techniques have been developed to specify and facilitate mappings between I/O and host domains in ways that provide flexibility in the form, granularity and/or extent of mappings, attributes and access controls coded relative to a particular I/O domain. In some embodiments of the present invention, operation translations coded relative to a particular logical I/O device, domain or sub-window seek to optimize functionality, isolation or some other figure of merit without regard to needs or limitations of another. In this way, operation translations need not be uniform and need not reduce supported operation semantics to correspond to that of a lowest common denominator I/O device. In some embodiments, the form of mappings (e.g., of operation translations) may be specialized on a per-logical-device basis (or even a per-sub-window basis), thereby offering individual logical I/O devices (or sub-windows thereof) immediate, indexed, and/or untranslated operation mapping frameworks appropriate to their individual requirements or needs. In general, flexibilities and efficiencies afforded in some embodiments of the present invention can be desirable, particularly as the diversity of I/O device types and richness of transaction semantics supported in interconnect fabrics increase. Some embodiments may be leveraged in support of sophisticated system partitions or I/O virtualizations.

The invention discloses a direct I/ O (input/output) remapping method for a plurality of virtualized shared systems. The method comprises the following steps: 1, extracting an I/ O device function base address definition, recording a mapping relation between a base address register number and a base address number corresponding to an address window defined by the I/ O device function base address definition; 2, performing writing storage on a function base address in a main control root node PCIe domain, and establishing a mapping relationship from the function base address number to the base address in the main control root node PCIe domain; 3, performing writing storage on a device function ID (identification) mapping relationship, and establishing a mapping relationship between ID numbers of a device function in the main control root node PCIe domain and a subordinate root node PCIe domain; 4, performing writing storage on a function base address in the subordinate root node PCIe domain, and establishing a mapping relationship from a base address in the subordinate root node PCIe domain to a function base address number corresponding to the base address; and 5, performing direct I/ O remapping, and remapping a subordinate root node and an I/O device affair package.

The invention provides a method for realizing the distributed I/O resource virtualization technology and provides a method for managing and using the distributed I/O resource virtualization technology effectively aiming at the limited factors that in recent years, the I/O resource management of large scale computer systems is complex, the using efficiency is low, and the like. The points of the invention are as follows: the I/O virtualization module in a distributed virtualization monitor system DVMM is realized; and the I/O virtualization module realizes cross-node access to three types of I/O instructions by the I/O virtualization technology, thus realizing the integration of the distributed I/O resource and providing a global virtual I/O environment for a client operating system. The invention explores a feasible path for the development of I/O technology in a future server.

Efficient and effective mechanisms for coalescing change notifications such as Registered State Change Notifications (RSCNs) are provided. Multiple hosts are connected to an I/O director that allows virtualization of I/O resources including Host Bus Adapters (HBAs) for the various hosts. The I/O director is connected to a Fiber Channel switch. When an RSCN is received by the I/O director, the I/O director queries to Fiber Channel fabric to identify the state change and maintains information about the RSCN so that subsequent redundant RSCNs can be discarded. Change notification information is forwarded to the appropriate hosts connected to the I/O director.

The invention relates to a dynamic scheduling method with a virtual function, belongs to the field of computer virtualization, and solves the problems of insufficient expandability and poor flexibility in using of virtual functions provided by a single root input and output virtualization standard network card so as to improve use ratio of the network card. The dynamic scheduling method with the virtual function comprises the steps of initializing, establishing queues, classifying virtual machines, distributing virtual functions, judging and wakening, adding virtual machines, dynamically adjusting and sleeping. During a period, the dynamic scheduling method with the virtual function performs dynamic scheduling on the virtual functions provided by the single root (input/output) I/O virtualization standard network card through statistics of I/O interruption times and sleeping time of the virtual machines, guarantees that the virtual function is utilized by a virtual machine with the largest I/O priority value, improves, network performance, fully utilizes hardware, and is used for supporting virtual machine platforms with a device direct distribution method.

The embodiment of the present invention discloses a method and device for accessing memory, relating to the computer field, and enabling the safty of the memory of a system to be improved effectively. The method provided by the embodiment of the present invention comprises the steps of obtaining a data access request that a first device requires to access a first memory area, wherein the data access request comprises a physical memory address of the data that the first device requires to access, the first memory area is a special physical memory area corresponding to the first device; according to the physical memory address of the data that the first device requires to access, querying the physical memory address information in an I/O virtual controller device, wherein the physical memory address information contains a physical memory address corresponding to the physical memory address of the first memory area; if the physical memory address of the data that the first device requires to access is in the physical memory address information in the I/O virtual controller device, accessing the first memory area.

The invention discloses an SR-IOV (Single Root I/O Virtualization)-based linked clone method, which comprises the following steps: a virtual machine monitor creates a base mirror image in storage equipment through a physical function driving module; a storage controller records the logical space range of the base mirror image, and generates a corresponding mirror image ID (Identifier) for the base mirror image; the virtual machine monitor sends a request command for creating a linked clone mirror image for a virtual machine (VM0); the storage controller distributes virtual function resources for the virtual machine (VM0), creates a difference mirror image of the colon mirror image, and maintains a corresponding mapping relationship; the memory controller receives the command which is sent to a destination virtual function by the virtual machine (VM0), looks up the corresponding difference mirror image and executes a corresponding operation to the difference mirror image. The invention also discloses an SR-IOV-based linked clone system, which comprises the storage equipment and a host, can realize linked clone hardware unloading, improves the I/O speed of the virtual machine and the reuse efficiency of a storage space, and is applied to the technical field of I/O virtualization.