SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SR-IOV PASS-THRU VIA AN INTERMEDIARY DEVICE

• US 20120284712A1
• Filed: 05/03/2012
• Published: 11/08/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/04/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Original Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: Mirani, Rajiv, Goyal, Raghu, Nimmagadda, Chitti, Dave, Saurabh
• Granted Patent: US 9,021,475 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/00 Interconnection of, or transfer of information or other signals between, memories, input/output devices or central processing units interface circuits for specific input/output devices G06F3/00 ; multiprogram control therefor G06F9/46; multiprocessor systems G06F15/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/10 Program control for peripheral devices G06F13/14 - G06F13/42 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/102 where the programme performs an interfacing function, e.g. device driver G06F13/105 takes precedence; scheduling within device drivers G06F9/52; contention policies within device drivers G06F9/4881
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/105 where the programme performs an input/output emulation function
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45579 I/O management, e.g. providing access to device drivers or storage
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45583 Memory management, e.g. access or allocation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/455 Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45537 Provision of facilities of other operating environments, e.g. WINE I/O emulation G06F13/105
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4555 Para-virtualisation, i.e. guest operating system has to be modified
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/6418 Hybrid transport
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

This disclosure describes a system for Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) pass-thru for network packet processing via a virtualized environment of a device. The system includes a device comprising a virtualized environment and a plurality of virtual machines having a virtual network interface for receiving and transmitting network packets. A driver for the physical network interface of the device creates a plurality of virtual devices corresponding to the physical network interface, which appear as a Peripheral Component

Interconnect (PCI) device to the virtualized environment. A virtual device of the plurality of virtual devices is assigned via the virtualized environment to each virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines. The virtual machine uses the virtual device assigned to the virtual machine, to receive and transmit network packets via the physical network interface of the device.

Claims

1. A method for Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) pass-thru for network packet processing via a virtualized environment of a device, the method comprising:

(a) establishing, on a device, a virtualized environment comprising a plurality of virtual machines, each virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines having a virtual network interface for receiving and transmitting network packets;

(b) creating, via a driver for a physical network interface of the device, a plurality of virtual devices corresponding to the physical network interface, the physical network interface comprising a Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) enabled device, each virtual device of the plurality of virtual devices appearing as a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) device to the virtualized environment;

(c) assigning a virtual device of the plurality of virtual devices to each virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines, each virtual machine comprising a driver to communicate to the virtual device; and

(d) receiving and transmitting, by the virtual machine using the virtual device assigned to the virtual machine, network packets via the physical network interface of the device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein step (a) further comprises executing, by the device intermediary to a plurality of clients and a plurality of severs, each virtual machine as one of a virtualized packet processing engine or a virtualized application delivery controller.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein step (a) further comprises executing, by the device comprising multiple cores, each virtual machine on a corresponding core of the device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein step (a) further comprises establishing, by the device, the virtual network interface comprising one of an emulated network interface card or a para-virtualized network interface card.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) further comprises creating, via the driver, a predetermined number of virtual devices for the physical network interface.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) further comprises creating, via the driver, virtual device that supports promiscuous mode.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein step (c) further comprises assigning, via the virtualized environment, each virtual device to a virtual machine comprising an unprivileged domain.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein step (c) further comprises assigning, via the virtualized environment, each virtual device to a virtual machine identified by a global unique identifier.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein step (d) further comprises receiving and transmitting, by the virtual machine, network packets via the physical network interface of the device without traversing a privileged domain of the virtualized environment.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein step (d) further comprises receiving and transmitting, by the virtual machine, network packets via the physical network interface of the device without processing of the network packets by privileged domain of the virtualized environment.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the driver creates a virtual device that supports promiscuous mode.

11. A system for Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) pass-thru for network packet processing via a virtualized environment of a device, the system comprising:

a device comprising a virtualized environment;

a plurality of virtual machines of the virtualized environment, each virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines having a virtual network interface for receiving and transmitting network packets;

a physical network interface of the device, the physical network interface comprising a Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) enabled device;

a driver for the physical network interface of the device creating a plurality of virtual devices corresponding to the physical network interface, each virtual device of the plurality of virtual devices appearing as a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) device to the virtualized environment;

wherein via the virtualized environment a virtual device of the plurality of virtual devices is assigned to each virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines, each virtual machine comprising a driver to communicate to the virtual device; and

wherein the virtual machine using the virtual device assigned to the virtual machine, receives and transmits network packets via the physical network interface of the device.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the device is intermediary to a plurality of clients and a plurality of severs and each virtual machine comprises one of a virtualized packet processing engine or a virtualized application delivery controller.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the device comprises multiple cores and the device executes each virtual machine on a corresponding core of the device.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the virtual network interface comprises one of an emulated network interface card or a para-virtualized network interface card.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the driver creates a predetermined number of virtual devices for the physical network interface.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein each virtual device is assigned to a virtual machine comprising an unprivileged domain.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the virtual machine receives and transmits network packets via the physical network interface of the device without traversing a privileged domain of the virtualized environment.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the virtual machine receives and transmits network packets via the physical network interface of the device the physical network interface of the device without processing of the network packets by privileged domain of the virtualized environment.

18. The system of claim 111, wherein each virtual device is assigned to a virtual machine identified by a global unique identifier.