SWITCHING APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING SHARED I/O WITHIN A LOAD-STORE FABRIC
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Abstract
An apparatus and method are provided that enable I/O devices to be shared among multiple operating system domains. The apparatus has a first plurality of I/O ports, a second I/O port, and core logic. The first plurality of I/O ports is coupled to a plurality of operating system domains (OSDs) through a load-store fabric, each routing transactions between the plurality of OSDs and the switching apparatus. The second I/O port is coupled to a first shared input/output endpoint. The first shared input/output endpoint requests/completes the transactions for each of the plurality of OSDs. The core logic is coupled to the first plurality of I/O ports and the second I/O port. The core logic routes the transactions between the first plurality of I/O ports and the second I/O port. The core logic designates a corresponding one of the plurality of OSDs according to a variant of a protocol, where the protocol provides for routing of the transactions only for a single OSD.
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32 Claims
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22. A method for interconnecting independent operating system domains to a shared I/O endpoint within a load-store fabric, comprising:
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via first ports, first communicating with each of the independent operating system domains according to a protocol that provides exclusively for a single operating system domain within the load-store fabric;
via a second port, second communicating with the shared I/O endpoint according to a variant of the protocol to enable the shared I/O endpoint to associate a prescribed operation with a corresponding one of the independent operating system domains, said second communicating comprising;
encapsulating an OS domain header within a transaction layer packet that otherwise comports with the protocol, wherein the value of the OS domain header designates the corresponding one of the operating system domains; and
via core logic within a switching apparatus, mapping the independent operating system domains to the shared I/O endpoint. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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Specification