Communicating Between Host Computers and Peripheral Resources in an Input/Output (I/O) Virtualization System
First Claim
1. A system comprising:
- a management central processor unit (MCPU) coupled to transport fabric;
a plurality of device interfaces coupled to the transport fabric and to a plurality of independent input/output (IO) devices, the plurality of independent IO devices initialized in an MCPU domain; and
a plurality of host interfaces coupled to the transport fabric, wherein each host interface couples to a host computer of a plurality of independent host computers and exposes functions of the plurality of independent IO devices to the host computer, each host computer of the plurality of independent host computers accessing the functions from a host domain that is an independent domain specific to the host computer performing the access, wherein the MCPU domain is different from the host domain.
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Abstract
An Input/Output (IO) Virtualization (IOV) system provides for sharing of computer peripheral devices between multiple host computers by presenting a single device multiple times to numerous host systems. The IOV system, in coupling or connecting multiple host computers and multiple IO devices, provides IO virtualization and host-to-host communication services to the host computers. The system comprises device interfaces coupled to IO devices, and host interfaces coupled to each of a number of host computers. The IO devices are initialized in a first domain. Each host interface exposes functions of the independent IO devices to the host computer to which it is coupled. Each host computer accesses functions from a host domain that is an independent domain specific to the host computer performing the access. The first domain is different from the host domain.
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Citations
112 Claims
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1. A system comprising:
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a management central processor unit (MCPU) coupled to transport fabric; a plurality of device interfaces coupled to the transport fabric and to a plurality of independent input/output (IO) devices, the plurality of independent IO devices initialized in an MCPU domain; and a plurality of host interfaces coupled to the transport fabric, wherein each host interface couples to a host computer of a plurality of independent host computers and exposes functions of the plurality of independent IO devices to the host computer, each host computer of the plurality of independent host computers accessing the functions from a host domain that is an independent domain specific to the host computer performing the access, wherein the MCPU domain is different from the host domain. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56)
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57. A system comprising:
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a plurality of device interfaces coupled to transport fabric and to a plurality of independent input/output (IO) devices that are initialized in a first domain; and a plurality of host interfaces coupled to the transport fabric, wherein each host interface couples to a host computer of a plurality of independent host computers and exposes functions of the plurality of independent IO devices to the host computer, each host computer of the plurality of independent host computers accessing the functions from a host domain that is an independent domain specific to the host computer performing the access, wherein the first domain is different from the host domain.
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58. A method comprising:
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coupling a plurality of device interfaces to the transport fabric and to a plurality of independent input/output (IO) devices that are initialized in a first domain; coupling a plurality of host interfaces to the transport fabric by coupling each host interface to a host computer of a plurality of independent host computers; and exposing functions of the plurality of independent IO devices to the host computer, wherein the exposing comprises each host computer of the plurality of independent host computers accessing the functions from a host domain that is an independent domain specific to the host computer performing the access, wherein the first domain is different from the host domain. - View Dependent Claims (59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112)
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Specification