Sharing Legacy Devices in Multi-Host Virtual Machines
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional PCI interconnects face challenges in extending their architecture for disaggregated systems due to their rooted design and legacy programming model, making it difficult to share devices across multiple hosts without requiring each host to be a complete computer system.
Innovation Solution
Implementing hardware-assisted virtualization of legacy devices, allowing them to be shared among partitions in a multi-host environment by extending hardware partitioning rules and using software extensions, and utilizing a switch fabric with abstraction layers to enable flexible allocation and high-performance data transfer across virtual machines.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If PCI interconnect architecture is extended for disaggregated systems, then device sharing across multiple hosts is enabled, but the rooted architecture and legacy programming model create compatibility and performance issues
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a switch fabric as an intermediary component between legacy devices and multiple hosts. This switch fabric acts as a mediator that enables device sharing across hosts without requiring modification of the legacy device architecture itself, thus resolving the contradiction by adding complexity at the interconnection level rather than at the device level
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments the traditional monolithic host-device connection into separate virtual machine instances, each with its own virtual device view. This segmentation allows multiple hosts to share the same physical legacy device through virtualization, enabling adaptability while maintaining the integrity of the original device architecture
2Reliability
If physical devices are replicated for each host partition, then device availability and performance are ensured, but cost and system scalability are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple host partitions' access to the same physical legacy device through a unified switch fabric infrastructure. Instead of replicating physical devices for each host, the system combines access paths through virtualization, reducing the total number of physical devices required while maintaining device availability for each partition
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates virtual copies of device access interfaces for each host partition, allowing each virtual machine to interact with the legacy device as if it had direct access. These virtual copies enable reliable device access without requiring physical replication, thus improving reliability while reducing the quantity of physical devices
3Productivity
If legacy devices are virtualized for sharing, then resource utilization and scalability are improved, but hardware partitioning rules and programming models must be extended
Solution Approach 1:
The switch fabric is designed with universal functionality to handle multiple types of device transactions and support various virtual machine configurations. This multi-functional approach enables resource sharing across different host partitions without requiring separate specialized infrastructure for each case, thus improving productivity while limiting the growth of complexity
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods of sharing legacy devices in a multi-host environment are disclosed. An exemplary method for sharing legacy devices in a multi-host environment includes receiving device information from a legacy device, the device information identifying a target within a virtual machine. The method also includes encapsulating the device information into a corresponding bus transaction for a network switch fabric. The method also includes routing the bus transaction over the network switch fabric in the virtual machine to a host within the virtual machine.