VIRTUALIZED SYSTEMS HAVING HARDWARE INTERFACE SERVICES FOR CONTROLLING HARDWARE

• US 20190332412A1
• Filed: 04/27/2018
• Published: 10/31/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nutanix Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Nutanix Incorporated
• Inventors: BOGGARAPU, ANIL KUMAR, GUHA, RABI SHANKER, RAPOLE, RAGHU PRASAD
• Granted Patent: US 10,838,754 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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 2009/45591 Monitoring or debugging support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4552 Involving translation to a different instruction set architecture, e.g. just-in-time translation in a JVM
• 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: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication

Abstract

Examples described herein provide for hardware interface services in virtualized systems. The hardware interface services may receive a vendor-agnostic command to control a particular hardware component. The particular hardware component may be identified, for example, by its location (e.g., physical and/or logical location or other identification) in the virtualized system. The hardware interface services described herein may identify a hardware component type (e.g., vendor, serial number, model number, etc.) based on the location provided. The hardware interface services may translate the vendor-agnostic command to a command specific for the identified hardware component.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a plurality of hardware components;

a computing node including a hypervisor, the computing node further comprising;

a controller virtual machine configured to run on the computing node and manage access by the virtual machine to a storage pool;

a hardware interface service provided by the controller virtual machine, wherein the hardware interface service is configured to receive a location of a particular hardware component of the plurality of hardware components and a generic command intended for the particular hardware component, and wherein the hardware interface service is configured to translate the generic command into a specific command for the particular hardware component and provide the specific command to the particular hardware component.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the particular hardware component comprises a light emitting diode (LED) light on a selected storage device.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the generic command comprises a command to blink the LED light.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the hardware interface service comprises an application programming interface (API) exposed to an operating system of the controller virtual machine.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the hardware interface service is configured to receive the location of the particular hardware component from an admin system in communication with the computing node.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the admin system is configured to display a graphical view of the storage pool, and wherein the hardware interface service is configured to receive the location of the particular hardware component responsive to a selection of a storage device in the graphical view.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the particular hardware component comprises a sensor and the generic command comprises a request to get a sensor reading from the sensor.

8. A method comprising:

receiving, at an operating system of a controller virtual machine operating on a computing node, a request to control hardware in a distributed computing system;

providing, by the operating system of the controller virtual machine, the request to an application programming interface (API) of a hardware interface running on the controller virtual machine, including a location of the hardware;

receiving, from the hardware interface, a command specific for the hardware to effect the request; and

providing the command specific for the hardware to the hardware to control the hardware.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the hardware comprises a light emitting diode (LED), and the request to control the hardware comprises a request to blink the LED.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the hardware interface is configured to provide vendor-specific hardware commands based on the location of the hardware.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising, displaying, on a user interface in communication with the computing node, a graphical display of hardware components in the distributed computing system.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising receiving the request to control hardware responsive to a selection of a particular hardware component in the graphical display.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the hardware comprises a sensor, and the request to control the hardware comprises a request to obtain a sensor reading.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the hardware comprises a fan speed sensor, and the request to control the hardware comprises a request to obtain a fan speed.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with executable instructions, which, when executed, cause a computing node to:

image software onto the computing node, including an operating system for a controller virtual machine, the controller virtual machine configured to manage access to a storage pool by user virtual machine running on the computing node;

identify a hypervisor running on the computing node and a hardware component accessible to the computing node; and

load a hardware interface specific to the hypervisor and the hardware component, the hardware interface configured to translate generic requests to control hardware from the operating system into commands specific to the hypervisor and the hardware component.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the hardware component comprises a light emitting diode (LED) light on a selected storage devices.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the generic request comprises a request to blink the LED light.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the hardware interface comprises an application programming interface (API) exposed to the operating system.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the hardware interface is configured to receive the request to control hardware including a location of a particular hardware component from an admin system in communication with the computing node.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the hardware interface is configured to translate generic requests to control hardware from the operating system into commands specific to the hypervisor and vendors of the hardware component.