Virtualization of a host computer's native I/O system architecture via the internet and LANs

• US 7,734,859 B2
• Filed: 04/21/2008
• Issued: 06/08/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: NUON Incorporated
• Original Assignee: NUON Incorporated, Arizona Board of Regents (University of Arizona)
• Inventors: Daniel, David A., Hui, Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): AUVE, GLENN ALLEN
• Application Number:
  US12/148,712
• Publication Number:
  US 20090006710A1
• Time in Patent Office: 778 Days
• Field of Search: 710/306, 710/315, 710/316, 709/250, 370464-469
• US Class Current: 710/315
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

A hardware/software system and method that collectively enables virtualization of the host computer'"'"'s native I/O system architecture via the Internet and LANs. The invention includes a solution to the problems of the relatively narrow focus of iSCSI, the direct connect limitation of PCI Express, and the inaccessibility of PCI Express for expansion in blade architectures.

Claims

1. A computing system, comprising:

a computing module having a host system bus configured to process data and configured to handle the data on the host system bus;

at least one native I/O module operably coupled to the computing module and including an interface adapted to exchange the data between the host system bus and at least one remote peripheral device having a peripheral bus in a message format according to a standardized motherboard architecture; and

an encapsulation module configured to encapsulate the data available to the interface according to the standardized motherboard architecture into a data message according to a first transport architecture, wherein the first transport architecture is a hardwired direct-connect, wide area network (WAN), wireless transport, or a combination thereof.

2. A computing system as specified in claim 1 wherein the encapsulation module is configured to exchange the data message according to the first transport architecture with the at least one remote peripheral device.

3. A computing system as specified in claim 2 wherein the data message according to the standardized motherboard architecture is mapped into the data message according to the first transport architecture.

4. A computing system as specified in claim 1 wherein the encapsulation module is transparent to the computing module.

5. A computing system as specified in claim 4 wherein the encapsulation module is transparent to the remote peripheral device.

6. A computing system as specified in claim 1 wherein the interface includes a slot.

7. A computing system as specified in claim 6 wherein the encapsulation module is configured to couple to the slot.

8. A computing system as specified in claim 1 wherein the encapsulation module comprises a controller, wherein the controller includes a protocol converter, memory, and buffering.

9. A computing system as specified in claim 8 wherein the encapsulation module includes both firmware and software components cooperating at a plurality of networking layers to reduce latency during encapsulation.

10. A computing system as specified in claim 1 wherein a device native to a computer system architecture comprises the at least one remote peripheral device.

11. A computing system as specified in claim 1 wherein the first transport architecture is a hardwired protocol.

12. A computing system as specified in claim 11 wherein the first transport architecture is based on TCP/IP.

13. A computing system as specified in claim 1 wherein the first transport architecture is a wireless protocol.

14. A computing system as specified in claim 1 wherein the computing module and the at least one native I/O module are remote from one another and are configured to virtualize the native I/O module with respect to the computing module.

15. A computing system as specified in claim 14 wherein the at least one remote device is a native system memory-mapped or I/O address mapped resource.

16. A computing system as specified in claim 15 wherein the native device is selected from the group of a bridge, an I/O controller, an I/O device, and memory.

17. A computing system as specified in claim 15 wherein the motherboard architecture is selected from the group of PCI, and PCI Express and PCI-X.

18. A computing system as specified in claim 15 wherein the computing system is a minimal host system configured and optimized for portability, and a substantial portion of the standardized motherboard architecture is located remotely from the computing system on a network.

19. A system configured to enable virtualization of a host computer'"'"'s native I/O system architecture and expansion of the system via a multiplicity of transports, comprising:

a host bus adapter configured to encapsulate/un-encapsulate data and adapt the native I/O architecture and resources in consideration of the multiplicity of transports;

a remote bus adapter configured to encapsulate/un-encapsulate data, adapt the transport and extend the native I/O system architecture to a remote backplane;

a remote backplane configured to accommodate the remote bus adapter and one or more peripheral functions compatible with the native I/O system;

wherein

the host bus adapter and remote bus adapter are configured to cooperate at a plurality of network layers and mitigate the impact of introduced latency resulting from the multiplicity of transports, mitigate quality of service impacts, and handle host system timeouts.

20. The system as specified in claim 19, where one of the transports is defined by an Internet Protocol Suite.

21. The system as specified in claim 20, where one of the transports is TCP/IP.

22. The system as specified in claim 19, where one of the transports is a direct connect arrangement utilizing an Ethernet physical layer as the transport link, without consideration of a MAC hardware address or any interceding external Ethernet switch.

23. The system as specified in claim 19, where one of the transports is a wireless transport and the host bus adapter and the remote bus adapter include a radio platform.

24. The system as specified in claim 23, where the wireless transport is a Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) link.

25. The system as specified in claim 24, where the WPAN link utilizes IEEE 802.15 MAC and PHY layers.

26. The system as specified in claim 24, where the WPAN link utilizes a 57-66 GHz “

mmWave”

band.

27. The system as specified in claim 24, where the WPAN link is configured for direct expansion of a host system to a single remote I/O via a mmWave piconet.

28. The system specified in claim 23, where the Radio Platform Interface (RPI) includes a native I/O system protocol adaption layer module configured to adapt between host adapter logic and the MAC and PHY layers.

29. The system as specified in claim 23, where the wireless transport is a wireless Local Area Network (LAN) link.

30. The system as specified in claim 23, where the wireless transport is a wireless Wide Area Network (WAN) link.