Apparatus, system, and method for booting using an external disk through a virtual SCSI connection
First Claim
1. A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having computer usable program code programmed for booting a Logical Partition using an external storage device, the operations of the computer program product comprising:
- creating a virtual Small Computer System Interface (“
SCSI”
) device assigned to a first logical partition (“
LPAR”
) of a first computer using a virtual input/output (“
I/O”
) server by mapping a logical unit number (“
LUN”
) of a storage volume to a SCSI ID uniquely associated with the virtual SCSI device,the virtual I/O server configured to map a physical I/O device of the first computer to one or more LPARs on the first computer,the storage volume located external to the first computer, andthe first LPAR configured to share one or more physical processors and one or more physical I/O devices of the first computer with a plurality of LPARs;
receiving a boot request to boot the first LPAR, the boot request identifying the storage volume as a boot device using the SCSI ID of the virtual SCSI device;
retrieving boot data from the storage volume using a SCSI driver of the first LPAR; and
booting the first LPAR using the boot data.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for booting a Logical Partition using an external storage device. The method creates a virtual SCSI device assigned to a first logical partition (“LPAR”) of a first computer using a virtual I/O server by mapping a LUN of a storage volume to a SCSI ID. The storage volume is located external to the first computer and the first LPAR is configured to share one or more physical processors and one or more physical I/O devices of the first computer with a plurality of LPARs. The method receives a boot request to boot the first LPAR. The boot request identifies the storage volume as a boot device using the SCSI ID of the virtual SCSI device. The method retrieves boot data from the storage volume using a SCSI driver of the first LPAR and boots the first LPAR using the boot data.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having computer usable program code programmed for booting a Logical Partition using an external storage device, the operations of the computer program product comprising:
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creating a virtual Small Computer System Interface (“
SCSI”
) device assigned to a first logical partition (“
LPAR”
) of a first computer using a virtual input/output (“
I/O”
) server by mapping a logical unit number (“
LUN”
) of a storage volume to a SCSI ID uniquely associated with the virtual SCSI device,the virtual I/O server configured to map a physical I/O device of the first computer to one or more LPARs on the first computer, the storage volume located external to the first computer, and the first LPAR configured to share one or more physical processors and one or more physical I/O devices of the first computer with a plurality of LPARs; receiving a boot request to boot the first LPAR, the boot request identifying the storage volume as a boot device using the SCSI ID of the virtual SCSI device; retrieving boot data from the storage volume using a SCSI driver of the first LPAR; and booting the first LPAR using the boot data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. An apparatus to boot a logical partition using an external storage device, the apparatus comprising:
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a virtual SCSI device module configured to create a virtual Small Computer System Interface (“
SCSI”
) device assigned to a first logical partition (“
LPAR”
) of a computer using a virtual input/output (“
I/O”
) server by mapping a logical unit number (“
LUN”
) of a storage volume to a SCSI ID uniquely associated with the virtual SCSI device,the virtual I/O server configured to map a physical I/O device of the computer to one or more LPARs on the computer, the storage volume located external to the computer, and the first LPAR configured to share one or more physical processors and one or more physical I/O devices of the first computer with a plurality of LPARs; a boot request module configured to receive a boot request to boot the first LPAR, the boot request identifying the storage volume as a boot device using the SCSI ID of the virtual SCSI device; a boot data module configured to retrieve boot data from the storage volume using a SCSI driver of the first LPAR; and a boot module configured to boot the first LPAR using the boot data. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A system to boot a logical partition that shares physical processors using an external storage device, the system comprising:
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a storage area network (“
SAN”
);a storage volume accessible through the SAN by a unique logical unit number (“
LUN”
);a computer in communication with the storage volume through the SAN, the computer comprising one or more logical partitions (“
LPAR”
) each configured to share one or more physical processors and one or more physical I/O devices of the computer,a virtual input/output (“
I/O”
) server configured to map a physical I/O device of the computer to the one or more LPARs on the computer,wherein the virtual I/O server executes within a virtualization module configured to manage and control a plurality of physical processors, a plurality of physical communication adapters, a plurality of physical storage devices, and memory to provide virtual processors, virtual communication adapters, virtual storage devices, and memory to the one or more LPARS; a virtual SCSI device module configured to create a virtual Small Computer System Interface (“
SCSI”
) device assigned to a first LPAR of the computer using the virtual I/O server by mapping a LUN of the storage volume to a SCSI ID uniquely associated with the virtual SCSI device;a boot request module configured to receive a boot request to boot the first LPAR, the boot request identifying the a storage volume as a boot device using the SCSI ID of the virtual SCSI device; a boot data module configured to retrieve boot data from the storage volume using a SCSI driver of the first LPAR; and a boot module configured to boot the first LPAR using the boot data. - View Dependent Claims (19)
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Specification