Virtualized environment allocation system and method

• US 9,317,309 B2
• Filed: 12/28/2006
• Issued: 04/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Walrath, Craig A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Puente, Emerson
• Assistant Examiner(s): PATEL, HIREN P
• Application Number:
  US11/646,903
• Publication Number:
  US 20080163232A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,400 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5011 the resources being hardware resources other than CPUs, Servers and Terminals
• 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 virtualized environment allocation system comprises a computer system having a plurality of virtualized stacks, the computer system configured to have a plurality of input/output (I/O) devices coupled thereto, and an allocation controller configured to allocate at least one of the plurality of I/O devices to a first of the plurality of virtualized stacks and at least another of the plurality of I/O devices to a second of the plurality of virtualized stacks.

Claims

1. A virtualized environment allocation system, comprising:

a computer system having a plurality of virtualized stacks, the computer system configured to have a plurality of input/output (I/O) devices coupled thereto; and

an allocation controller configured to allocate, according to at least one rule, at least one of the plurality of I/O devices to a first of the plurality of virtualized stacks and at least another of the plurality of I/O devices to a second of the plurality of virtualized stacks, wherein the at least one rule specifies allocation of a particular one of the plurality of I/O device; and

wherein the allocation controller is further configured to reallocate, according to the at least one rule, the at least one I/O device to another virtualized stack in response to a give I/O device being connected to the computer system, wherein the at least one rule specifies that the at least one I/O device is to be allocated to the first virtualized stack unless the given I/O device is connected to the computer system.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the allocation controller is configured to dynamically allocate the plurality of I/O devices to the plurality of virtualized stacks.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a set of prioritization rules accessible by the allocation controller for determining which of the plurality of I/O devices should be allocated to which of the plurality of virtualized stacks, wherein the at least one rule is part of the set.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the allocation controller is configured to reallocate the at least one I/O device to another virtualized stack in response to an event.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the allocation controller is configured to allocate the at least one I/O device to the first virtualized stack based on a function of the first virtualized stack.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the allocation controller is configured to allocate at leas tone of the plurality of I/O devices to at least one of the plurality of virtualized stacks based on prioritization among the plurality of virtualized stacks.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein allocation of the at least another I/O device is contingent upon the allocation of the at least one I/O device.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the allocation controller is configured to reallocate, according to the at least one rule, the at least one I/O device to another virtualized stack in response to opening of an application on the computer system, wherein the at least one rule specifies that the at least one I/O device is to be allocated to the first virtualized stack unless the application is opened.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the allocation controller is configured to reallocate, according to the at least one rule, the at least one I/O device to another virtualized stack in response to closing of an application on the computer system, wherein the at least one rule specifies that the at least one I/O device is to be allocated to the first virtualized stack unless the application is closed.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the allocation controller is configured to reallocated the at least one I/O device to another virtualized stack in response to a given I/O device being disconnected from the computer system, wherein the at least one rule specifies that the at least one I/O device is to be allocated to the first virtualized stack unless the given I/O device is disconnected from the computer system.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one rule specifies allocation of the particular I/O device to the first virtualized stack if the particular I/O device has a first function, and the at least one rule specifies allocation of the particular I/O device to the second virtualized stack if the particular I/O device has a second, different function.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the allocation controller is part of the computer system.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one rule specifies allocation of the at least another of the plurality of I/O devices is to be allocated to the second virtualized stack if a particular component is present in the system, and to specify allocation of the at least another of the plurality of I/O devices to a different one of the plurality of virtualized stacks if the particular component is not present in the system.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one rule specifies allocation of the at least another of the plurality of I/O devices to the second virtualized stack in response to an application running in the system, and to specify allocation of the at least another of the plurality of I/O devices to a different one of the plurality of virtualized stacks if the application is not running in the system.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one rule specifies allocation of the at least one I/O device to the first virtualized stack if the first virtualized stack is running, and the at least one rule further specifies allocation of the at least one I/O device to a different one of the virtualized stacks if the first virtualized stack is not running.

16. A virtualized environment allocation method, comprising:

identifying a plurality of input/output (I/O) devices coupled to a computer system, the computer system having a plurality of virtualized stacks;

allocating, according to at least one rule, at least one of the plurality of I/O devices to a first of the plurality of virtualized stacks and at least another of the plurality of I/O devices to a second of the plurality of virtualized stacks, wherein the at least one rule specifies allocation of a particular one of the plurality of I/O devices to a selected one of the plurality of virtualized stacks based on a function of the particular I/O device; and

reallocating, according to the at least one rule, the at least one I/O device to another virtualized stack in response to a given I/O device being connected to the computer system, wherein the at least one rule specifies that the at least one I/O device is to be allocated to the first virtualized stack unless the given I/O device is connected to the computer system.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising dynamically allocating the plurality of I/O devices to the plurality of virtualized stacks.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising accessing a set of prioritization rules for determining which of the plurality of I/O devices should be allocated to which set of the plurality of virtualized stacks, wherein the at least one rule is part of the set.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising reallocating, according to the at least one rule, the at least one I/O device to another virtualized stack in response to an event, wherein the at least one rule specifies allocation of the at least one I/O device to the first virtualized stack unless the event occurs.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising allocating the at least one I/O device to the first virtualized stack based on a function of the first virtualized stack.

21. The method of claim 16, further comprising allocating the at least one of the plurality of I/O devices to at least one of the plurality of virtualized stacks based on prioritization among the plurality of virtualized stacks.

22. The method of claim 16, further comprising allocating the at least another I/O device based on the allocation of the at least one I/O device.

23. The method of claim 16, further comprising reallocating, according to the at least one rule, the at least one I/O device to another virtualized stack in response to opening of an application on the computer system, wherein the at least one rule specifies that the at least one I/O device is to be allocated to the first virtualized stack unless the application is opened.

24. The method of claim 16, further comprising reallocating, according to the at least one rule, the at least one I/O device to another virtualized stack in response to closing of an application on the computer system, wherein the at least one rule specifies that the at least one I/O device is to be allocated to the first virtualized stack unless the application is closed.

25. The method of claim 16, further comprising reallocating, according to the at least one rule, the at least one I/O device to another virtualized stack in response to a given I/O device being disconnected from the computer system, wherein the at least one rule specifies that the at least one I/O device is to be allocated to the first virtualized stack unless the given I/O device is disconnected from the computer system.

26. A virtualized environment allocation system, comprising:

at least one central processing unit (CPU); and

an allocation controller executable on the at least one CPU to allocate at least a first one of a plurality of I/O devices to a first of a plurality of virtualized stacks of a computer and at least a second one of the plurality of I/O devices to a second of the plurality of virtualized stacks, wherein the allocation controller is executable to further determine a function of the first one of the plurality of I/O devices and allocate the first one of the plurality of I/O devices to the first of the plurality of virtualized stacks based on the determined function of the first one of the plurality of I/O devices; and

wherein the allocation controller is executable to further reallocate the first 11O device from the first virtualized stack to another of the virtualized stacks in response to 10 detecting addition or removal of a component in the computer.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the allocation controller is executable to dynamically allocate the plurality of I/O devices to the plurality of virtualized stacks.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein the allocation controller is executable to further identify a prioritization among the plurality of virtualized stacks for allocating at least one of the plurality of I/O devices thereto.

29. The system of claim 26, wherein the allocation controller is executable to control allocation of the plurality of I/O devices among the plurality of virtualized stacks according to at least one rule, wherein the at least one rule specifies allocation of a particular one of the I/O devices to a selected one of the plurality of virtualized stacks based on a function of the particular I/O device.

30. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon an instruction set to be executed, the instruction set, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to:

determine a function of at least a first one of a plurality of I/O devices;

allocate the first one of the plurality of I/O devices to a first of a plurality of virtualized stacks of a computer system based on the determined function of the first one of the plurality of I/O devices and at least a second one of the plurality of I/O devices to a second of the plurality of virtualized stacks; and

reallocate the first I/O device from the first virtualized stack to another of the virtualized stacks in response to detecting addition or removal of a component in the computer system.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 30, wherein the instruction set, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to dynamically allocate the plurality of I/O devices to the plurality of virtualized stacks.