Virtualized environment allocation system and method

• US 20080163232A1
• Filed: 12/28/2006
• Published: 07/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Walrath, Craig A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,317,309 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5011 the resources being hardware resources other than CPUs, Servers and Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455

Abstract

A virtualized environment allocation system comprises a computer system having a plurality of virtualized stacks, the computer system configured to have a plurality of input/output (I/O) devices coupled thereto, and an allocation controller configured to allocate at least one of the plurality of I/O devices to a first of the plurality of virtualized stacks and at least another of the plurality of I/O devices to a second of the plurality of virtualized stacks.

Claims

1. A virtualized environment allocation system, comprising:

a computer system having a plurality of virtualized stacks, the computer system configured to have a plurality of input/output (I/O) devices coupled thereto; and

an allocation controller configured to allocate at least one of the plurality of I/O devices to a first of the plurality of virtualized stacks and at least another of the plurality of I/O devices to a second of the plurality of virtualized stacks.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the allocation controller is configured to allocate the plurality of I/O devices to the plurality of virtualized stacks based on user input.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the allocation controller is configured to dynamically allocate the plurality of I/O devices to the plurality of virtualized stacks.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a set of prioritization rules accessible by the allocation controller for determining which of the plurality of I/O devices should be allocated to which of the plurality of virtualized stacks.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the allocation controller is configured to reallocate the at least one I/O device to another virtualized stack.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the allocation controller is configured to reallocate the at least one I/O device to another virtualized stack in response to an event.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the allocation controller is configured to allocate the at least one I/O device based on a function of the at least one I/O device.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the allocation controller is configured to allocate the at least one I/O device to the first virtualized stack based on a function of the first virtualized stack.

9. The system claim 1, wherein the allocation controller is configured to allocate at least one of the plurality of I/O devices to at least one of the plurality of virtualized stacks based on prioritization among the plurality of virtualized stacks.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein allocation of the at least another I/O device is contingent upon the allocation of the at least one I/O device.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the allocation controller is configured to reallocate the at least one I/O device to another virtualized stack in response to another I/O device being connected to the computer system.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the allocation controller is configured to reallocate the at least one I/O device to another virtualized stack in response to opening of an application on the computer system.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the allocation controller is configured to reallocate the at least one I/O device to another virtualized stack in response to closing of an application on the computer system.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the allocation controller is configured to reallocate the at least one I/O device to another virtualized stack in response to another I/O device being disconnected from the computer system.

15. A virtualized environment allocation method, comprising:

identifying a plurality of input/output (I/O) devices coupled to a computer system, the computer system having a plurality of virtualized stacks; and

allocating at least one of the plurality of I/O devices to a first of the plurality of virtualized stacks and at least another of the plurality of I/O devices to a second of the plurality of virtualized stacks.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising allocating the plurality of I/O devices to the plurality of virtualized stacks based on user input.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising dynamically allocating the plurality of I/O devices to the plurality of virtualized stacks.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising accessing a set of prioritization rules for determining which of the plurality of I/O devices should be allocated to which of the plurality of virtualized stacks.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising reallocating the at least one I/O device to another virtualized stack.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising reallocating the at least one I/O device to another virtualized stack in response to an event.

21. The method of claim 15, further comprising allocating the at least one I/O device based on a function of the at least one I/O device.

22. The method of claim 15, further comprising allocating the at least one I/O device to the first virtualized stack based on a function of the first virtualized stack.

23. The method claim 15, further comprising allocating at least one of the plurality of I/O devices to at least one of the plurality of virtualized stacks based on prioritization among the plurality of virtualized stacks.

24. The method of claim 15, further comprising allocating the at least another I/O device based on the allocation of the at least one I/O device.

25. The method of claim 15, further comprising reallocating the at least one I/O device to another virtualized stack in response to another I/O device being connected to the computer system.

26. The method of claim 15, further comprising reallocating the at least one I/O device to another virtualized stack in response to opening of an application on the computer system.

27. The method of claim 15, further comprising reallocating the at least one I/O device to another virtualized stack in response to closing of an application on the computer system.

28. The method of claim 15, further comprising reallocating the at least one I/O device to another virtualized stack in response to another I/O device being disconnected from the computer system.

29. A virtualized environment allocation system, comprising:

means for allocating at least one of a plurality of I/O means to a first of a plurality of virtualized stack means of a computer means and at least another of the plurality of I/O means to a second of the plurality of virtualized stack means.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the allocating means comprises means for dynamically allocating the plurality of I/O means to the plurality of virtualized stack means.

31. The system of claim 29, further comprising means for reallocating the at least one I/O means in response to an event.

32. The system of claim 29, further comprising means for identifying a prioritization among the plurality of virtualized stack means for allocating at least one of the plurality of I/O means thereto.

33. The system of claim 29, further comprising means for determining a function of the at least one I/O means for allocating the at least one I/O means to the first virtualized stack means.

34. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon an instruction set to be executed, the instruction set, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to:

allocate at least one of a plurality of I/O devices to a first of a plurality of virtualized stacks of a computer system and at least another of the plurality of I/O devices to a second of the plurality of virtualized stacks.

35. The computer-readable medium of claim 34, wherein the instruction set, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to dynamically allocate the plurality of I/O devices to the plurality of virtualized stacks.

36. The computer-readable medium of claim 34, wherein the instruction set, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to reallocate the at least one I/O device to a different virtualized stack.

37. The computer-readable medium of claim 34, wherein the instruction set, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to reallocate the at least one I/O device to a different virtualized stack in response to an event.