Vendor-independent resource configuration interface for self-virtualizing input/output device

• US 9,218,195 B2
• Filed: 05/17/2011
• Issued: 12/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Anderson, Gary D., Graham, Charles S., Koch, Andrew T., Logan, Bryan M., Lucke, Kyle A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhe, Mengyao
• Assistant Examiner(s): Zhao, Bing
• Application Number:
  US13/109,289
• Publication Number:
  US 20120297379A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,680 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45579 I/O management, e.g. providing access to device drivers or storage
• 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

Abstract

A vendor-independent resource configuration interface automatically maps virtual functions to physical functions in a self-virtualizing IO resource using the concept of a logical port that maps to a particular physical port and protocol in the self-virtualizing IO resource. A user wishing to provide a logical partition access to a self-virtualizing IO resource typically creates or configures a logical port for the logical partition by mapping the logical port to a particular physical port and protocol defined for the self-virtualizing IO resource, and an appropriate virtual function mapped to an appropriate physical function on an appropriate self-virtualizing IO resource is automatically selected, typically without requiring the user to have a detailed understanding of the numbers of supported virtual functions, physical functions and protocols supported by specific resources.

Claims

1. A method of managing a self-virtualizing input/output (IO) resource in a logically partitioned data processing system, wherein the self-virtualizing IO resource includes a plurality of physical functions, a plurality of physical ports, and a plurality of protocols, each physical function associated with a physical port from among the plurality of physical ports and a protocol from among the plurality of protocols, and each physical function associated with a plurality of virtual functions, the method comprising:

in connection with configuring or creating a logical port in response to user input, mapping a logical port to a selected physical port from among the plurality of physical ports and a selected protocol from among the plurality of protocol, wherein the selected physical port and the selected protocol are received from a user in connection with configuring or creating the logical port and are received by a hypervisor in the logically partitioned data processing system over an interface; and

in connection with mapping the logical port to the selected physical port and the selected protocol, automatically assigning a virtual function to the logical port from among the plurality of virtual functions associated with the physical function associated with the selected physical port and selected protocol, wherein automatically assigning the virtual function to the logical port is performed by the hypervisor.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the interface comprises a vendor-independent resource configuration interface.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the vendor-independent resource configuration interface interfaces a hardware management console with the hypervisor.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving an expected load from a user, wherein automatically assigning the virtual function to the logical port is based at least in part on the expected load received from the user.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising configuring a maximum number of virtual functions for the self-virtualizing IO resource in response to user input, wherein automatically assigning the virtual function to the logical port is based at least in part on the maximum number of virtual functions configured for the self-virtualizing IO resource.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising configuring a maximum number of virtual functions per protocol per physical port for the self-virtualizing IO resource in response to user input, wherein automatically assigning the virtual function to the logical port is based at least in part on the maximum number of virtual functions per protocol per physical port configured for the self-virtualizing IO resource.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the logical port is associated with a partition profile for a logical partition.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating an adjunct partition for the assigned virtual function after assigning the assigned virtual function to the logical port.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the adjunct partition includes a separate dispatchable state and employs virtual address space donated from a logical partition or a hypervisor of the data processing system.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein creating the adjunct partition is performed automatically in response to creation of a logical partition for the logical port.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the self-virtualizing IO resource comprises an SRIOV Ethernet adapter.

12. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor; and

program code configured upon execution by the at least one processor to manage a self-virtualizing input/output (IO) resource in a logically partitioned data processing system, wherein the self-virtualizing IO resource includes a plurality of physical functions, a plurality of physical ports, and a plurality of protocols, wherein each physical function is associated with a physical port from among the plurality of physical ports and a protocol from among the plurality of protocols, wherein each physical function is associated with a plurality of virtual functions, and wherein the program code is configured to manage the self-virtualizing IO resource by mapping a logical port to a selected physical port from among the plurality of physical ports and a selected protocol from among the plurality of protocols, and automatically assigning a virtual function to the logical port from among the plurality of virtual functions associated with the physical function associated with the selected physical port and selected protocol;

wherein the program code is configured to map the logical port to the selected physical port and the selected protocol and automatically assign the virtual function to the logical port in connection with configuring or creating the logical port in response to user input, wherein the program code includes a hypervisor, wherein the selected physical port and the selected protocol are received from a user in connection with configuring or creating the logical port and are received by the hypervisor over an interface, and wherein the hypervisor is configured to automatically assign the virtual function to the logical port.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the interface comprises a vendor-independent resource configuration interface.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the vendor-independent resource configuration interface interfaces a hardware management console with the hypervisor.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the program code is further configured to receive an expected load from a user, wherein the program code is configured to automatically assign the virtual function to the logical port based at least in part on the expected load received from the user.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the program code is further configured to configure a maximum number of virtual functions for the self-virtualizing IO resource in response to user input, and wherein the program code is configured to automatically assign the virtual function to the logical port based at least in part on the maximum number of virtual functions configured for the self-virtualizing IO resource.

17. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the program code is further configured to configure a maximum number of virtual functions per protocol per physical port for the self-virtualizing IO resource in response to user input, and wherein the program code is configured to automatically assign the virtual function to the logical port based at least in part on the maximum number of virtual functions per protocol per physical port configured for the self-virtualizing IO resource.

18. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the logical port is associated with a partition profile for a logical partition.

19. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the program code is further configured to create an adjunct partition for the assigned virtual function after assigning the assigned virtual function to the logical port.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the adjunct partition includes a separate dispatchable state and employs virtual address space donated from a logical partition or a hypervisor of the data processing system.

21. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the program code is configured to create the adjunct partition automatically in response to creation of a logical partition for the logical port.

22. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the self-virtualizing IO resource comprises an SRIOV Ethernet adapter.

23. A program product, comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable medium; and

program code stored on the computer readable medium and configured upon execution to manage a self-virtualizing input/output (IO) resource in a logically partitioned data processing system, wherein the self-virtualizing IO resource includes a plurality of physical functions, a plurality of physical ports, and a plurality of protocols, wherein each physical function is associated with a physical port from among the plurality of physical ports and a protocol from among the plurality of protocols, wherein each physical function is associated with a plurality of virtual functions, and wherein the program code is configured to manage the self-virtualizing IO resource by mapping a logical port to a selected physical port from among the plurality of physical ports and a selected protocol from among the plurality of protocols, and automatically assigning a virtual function to the logical port from among the plurality of virtual functions associated with the physical function associated with the selected physical port and selected protocol,

wherein the program code is configured to map the logical port to the selected physical port and the selected protocol and automatically assign the virtual function to the logical port in connection with configuring or creating the logical port in response to user input, wherein the program code includes a hypervisor, wherein the selected physical port and the selected protocol are received from a user in connection with configuring or creating the logical port and are received by the hypervisor over an interface, and wherein the hypervisor is configured to automatically assign the virtual function to the logical port.