SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGEMENT OF AN IOV ADAPTER THROUGH A VIRTUAL INTERMEDIARY IN A HYPERVISOR WITH FUNCTIONAL MANAGEMENT IN AN IOV MANAGEMENT PARTITION

• US 20090133028A1
• Filed: 11/15/2007
• Published: 05/21/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Freimuth, Douglas M., Brown, Aaron C., Pafumi, James A., Recio, Renato J., Thurber, Steven M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,141,092 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/385 for adaptation of a particular data processing system to different peripheral devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45579 I/O management, e.g. providing access to device drivers or storage
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2213/0026 PCI express
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

A system and method which provide a mechanism for an I/O virtualization management partition (IMP) to control the shared functionality of an I/O virtualization (IOV) enabled I/O adapter (IOA) through a physical function (PF) of the IOA while the virtual functions (VFs) are assigned to client partitions for normal I/O operations directly. A hypervisor provides device-independent facilities to the code running in the IMP and client partitions. The IMP may include device specific code without the hypervisor needing to sacrifice its size, robustness, and upgradeability. The hypervisor provides the virtual intermediary functionally for the sharing and control of the IOA'"'"'s control functions.

Claims

1. A method, in a data processing system, for managing input/output (I/O) virtualization, comprising:

creating one or more client partitions in the data processing system, each client partition having an associated portion of resources of the data processing system;

performing I/O virtualization management operations with one or more I/O endpoints associated with the data processing system, wherein the I/O virtualization management operations operate to configure at least one of a physical function or a virtual function of the one or more I/O endpoints; and

controlling access of the I/O virtualization management operations to resources of the one or more I/O endpoints using a virtual intermediary separate from the I/O virtualization management partition (IMP), wherein the virtual intermediary prevents a client partition from accessing resources of the one or more I/O endpoints that are not assigned to that client partition.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating an I/O virtualization management partition (IMP) in the data processing system, wherein the IMP performs I/O virtualization management operations with one or more I/O endpoints associated with the data processing system to thereby manage at least one physical function of the one or more I/O endpoints, and wherein the one or more client partitions are not permitted to perform I/O virtualization management operations on the at least one physical function.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein creating one or more client partitions and creating the IMP are performed by the virtual intermediary, and wherein the virtual intermediary is a hypervisor associated with the data processing system.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the hypervisor is provided with access to configuration spaces for physical functions and virtual functions in the one or more I/O endpoints, and wherein the IMP is provided with access to only configuration spaces for physical functions assigned to the IMP and configuration spaces for virtual functions belonging to physical functions assigned to the IMP, in the one or more I/O endpoints.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the hypervisor permits access by a client partition to configuration spaces of virtual functions, in the one or more I/O endpoints, assigned to the client partition and blocks access by the client partition to configuration spaces of virtual functions, in the one or more I/O endpoints, that are not assigned to the client partition.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising receiving an input from a hardware management console (HMC) directing performance of the I/O virtualization management operations.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the input from the HMC is a command to initiate a hot-plug operation for adding a new I/O endpoint to the data processing system, and wherein performing the I/O virtualization management operations comprises:

allocating resources to the one or more client partitions based on addition of the new I/O endpoint;

configuring the IMP based on the addition of the new I/O endpoint; and

dynamically adding at least one virtual function of the new I/O endpoint to at least one client partition in the one or more client partitions.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the input from the HMC is a command to initiate a hot-plug operation for removing an existing I/O endpoint from the data processing system, and wherein performing the I/O virtualization management operations comprises:

identifying at least one client partition in the one or more client partitions having resources associated with a virtual function of the I/O endpoint to be removed;

removing the virtual function and resources associated with the virtual function from use by the at least one client partition;

removing, from use by the IMP, a physical function and resources associated with the physical function; and

powering down the I/O endpoint to be removed.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the input from the HMC is a command to dynamically reconfigure the data processing system, and wherein performing the I/O virtualization management operations comprises:

receiving a selection of a virtual function of an I/O endpoint to add to a selected client partition in the one or more client partitions;

setting up resources for selected virtual function in the selected client partition; and

loading a device driver for the selected virtual function in the selected client partition.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the input from the HMC is a command to dynamically reconfigure the data processing system, and wherein performing the I/O virtualization management operations comprises:

receiving a selection of a virtual function of an I/O endpoint to remove from a selected client partition in the one or more client partitions;

removing the selected virtual function from further use by the selected client partition; and

removing resources for selected virtual function in the selected client partition.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein the input from the HMC is a command to change a network address associated with a selected virtual function of an I/O endpoint, and wherein performing the I/O virtualization management operations comprises:

identifying a physical function associated with the selected virtual function;

sending a management request to the IMP, wherein the management request includes address information for changing the network address of the selected virtual function; and

changing the network address of the selected virtual function via a device driver associated with the physical function based on the address information in the management request.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the I/O virtualization management operations comprises:

receiving in the virtual intermediary, from a device driver in a client partition of the one or more client partitions, a query virtual function error state firmware call;

providing error information to the device driver from the virtual intermediary identifying an error state of a virtual function of an I/O endpoint;

logging, by the device driver, the error information received from the virtual intermediary;

sending a reset virtual function request from the device driver to firmware of the data processing system to reset the virtual function having the error state; and

configuring the virtual function after reset.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the I/O virtualization management operations comprises:

detecting, by the virtual intermediary, a client partition failure;

determining if a client partition reboot operation is to be performed;

if the client partition is not to be rebooted, removing virtual function resources associated with a failed client partition from the one or more I/O endpoints and adding the removed virtual function resources to a free virtual function resource pool; and

if the client partition is to be rebooted, reassigning, by the virtual intermediary, the virtual function resources to the failed client partition after reboot of the failed client partition.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the I/O virtualization management operations comprises:

detecting a failure of the IMP;

initiating, by the virtual intermediary, a reboot of the IMP;

stalling firmware calls by the one or more client partitions relating to virtual functions associated with physical functions assigned to the IMP until the reboot of the IMP is complete; and

discontinuing stalling of firmware calls by the one or more client partitions following completion of the reboot of the IMP.

15. A data processing system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory comprises instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

create one or more client partitions in the data processing system, each client partition having an associated portion of resources of the data processing system;

perform I/O virtualization management operations with one or more I/O endpoints associated with the data processing system, wherein the I/O virtualization management operations operate to configure at least one of a physical function or a virtual function of the one or more I/O endpoints; and

control access of the I/O virtualization management operations to resources of the one or more I/O endpoints using a virtual intermediary separate from the IMP, wherein the virtual intermediary prevents a client partition from accessing resources of the one or more I/O endpoints that are not assigned to that client partition.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

create an I/O virtualization management partition (IMP) in the data processing system, wherein the IMP performs I/O virtualization management operations with one or more I/O endpoints associated with the data processing system to thereby manage at least one physical function of the one or more I/O endpoints, and wherein the one or more client partitions are not permitted to perform I/O virtualization management operations on the at least one physical function.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein creating one or more client partitions and creating the IMP are performed by the virtual intermediary, and wherein the virtual intermediary is a hypervisor associated with the data processing system.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the hypervisor is provided with access to configuration spaces for physical functions and virtual functions in the one or more I/O endpoints, and wherein the IMP is provided with access to only configuration spaces for physical functions assigned to the IMP and configuration spaces for virtual functions belonging to physical functions assigned to the IMP, in the one or more I/O endpoints.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the hypervisor permits access by a client partition to configuration spaces of virtual functions, in the one or more I/O endpoints, assigned to the client partition and blocks access by the client partition to configuration spaces of virtual functions, in the one or more I/O endpoints, that are not assigned to the client partition.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to receive an input from a hardware management console (HMC) directing performance of the I/O virtualization management operations.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the input from the HMC is a command to initiate a hot-plug operation for adding a new I/O endpoint to the data processing system, and wherein the instructions cause the processor to perform the I/O virtualization management operations by:

allocating resources to the one or more client partitions based on addition of the new I/O endpoint;

configuring the IMP based on the addition of the new I/O endpoint; and

dynamically adding at least one virtual function of the new I/O endpoint to at least one client partition in the one or more client partitions.

22. The system of claim 15, wherein the instructions cause the processor to perform the I/O virtualization management operations by:

receiving in the virtual intermediary, from a device driver in a client partition of the one or more client partitions, a query virtual function error state firmware call;

providing error information to the device driver from the virtual intermediary identifying an error state of a virtual function of an I/O endpoint;

logging, by the device driver, the error information received from the virtual intermediary;

sending a reset virtual function request from the device driver to firmware of the data processing system to reset the virtual function having the error state; and

configuring the virtual function after reset.

23. The system of claim 15, wherein the instructions cause the processor to perform the I/O virtualization management operations by:

detecting, by the virtual intermediary, a client partition failure;

determining if a client partition reboot operation is to be performed;

if the client partition is not to be rebooted, removing virtual function resources associated with a failed client partition from the one or more I/O endpoints and adding the removed virtual function resources to a free virtual function resource pool; and

if the client partition is to be rebooted, reassigning, by the virtual intermediary, the virtual function resources to the failed client partition after reboot of the failed client partition.

24. The system of claim 15, wherein the instructions cause the processor to perform the I/O virtualization management operations by:

detecting a failure of the IMP;

initiating, by the virtual intermediary, a reboot of the IMP;

stalling firmware calls by the one or more client partitions relating to virtual functions associated with physical functions assigned to the IMP until the reboot of the IMP is complete; and

discontinuing stalling of firmware calls by the one or more client partitions following completion of the reboot of the IMP.

25. A computer program product comprising a computer recordable medium having a computer readable program recorded thereon, wherein the computer readable program, when executed in a data processing system, causes the data processing system to:

create one or more client partitions in the data processing system, each client partition having an associated portion of resources of the data processing system;

perform I/O virtualization management operations with one or more I/O endpoints associated with the data processing system, wherein the I/O virtualization management operations operate to configure at least one of a physical function or a virtual function of the one or more I/O endpoints; and

control access of the I/O virtualization management operations to resources of the one or more I/O endpoints using a virtual intermediary separate from the IMP, wherein the virtual intermediary prevents a client partition from accessing resources of the one or more I/O endpoints that are not assigned to that client partition.