Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080301692 | FACILITATING ACCESS TO INPUT/OUTPUT RESOURCES VIA AN I/O PARTITION SHARED BY MULTIPLE CONSUMER PARTITIONS - At least one input/output (I/O) firmware partition is provided in a partitioned environment to facilitate access to I/O resources owned by the at least one I/O firmware partition. The I/O resources of an I/O firmware partition are shared by one or more other partitions of the environment, referred to as consumer partitions. The consumer partitions use the I/O firmware partition to access the I/O resources. Since the I/O firmware partitions are responsible for providing access to the I/O resources owned by those partitions, the consumer partitions are relieved of this task, reducing complexity and costs in the consumer partitions. | 12-04-2008 |
20090022153 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR CREATING ADDRESSES - In a first aspect, a first method is provided for creating a media access control (MAC) address for a device. The first method includes the steps of (1) obtaining one or more identifiers; (2) obtaining a first MAC address; and (3) creating at least a second MAC address based on the one or more identifiers and the first MAC address. Numerous other aspects are provided. | 01-22-2009 |
20090150504 | AUTO-CONFIGURATION OF AN INTERNAL VLAN NETWORK INTERFACE - Apparatus and storage media for auto-configuration of an internal network interface are disclosed. Embodiments may install an internal VLAN manager in a logically partitioned computer system along with network agents in each of the partitions in the logically partitioned system to facilitate configuring an internal communications network and the corresponding internal network interfaces in each participating partition. In particular, an administrator accesses internal VLAN manager, selects an internal VLAN ID, selects each of the participating partitions, and configures the communications network with global parameters and ranges. The internal VLAN manager then generates partition parameters and incorporates them into messages for each of the partitions selected to participate in the internal network. Each of the participating partitions receives one of the messages and, in response, invokes the corresponding network agent that extracts partition parameters from the message and creates or re-configures an internal network interface based upon the parameters. | 06-11-2009 |
20110173353 | Virtualizing A Host USB Adapter - Virtualizing a host USB adapter in a virtualized environment maintained by a hypervisor, the hypervisor administering one or more logical partitions, where virtualizing includes receiving, by the hypervisor from a logical partition via a logical USB adapter, a USB Input/Output (‘I/O’) request, the logical USB adapter associated with a USB device coupled to the host USB adapter; placing, by the hypervisor, a work queue element (‘WQE’) in a queue of a queue pair associated with the logical USB adapter; and administering, by an interface device in dependence upon the WQE, USB data communications among the logical partition and the USB device including retrieving, with direct memory access (‘DMA’), USB data originating at the USB device from the host USB adapter into a dedicated memory region for the logical USB adapter. | 07-14-2011 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080216085 | System and Method for Virtual Adapter Resource Allocation - A method, computer program product, and distributed data processing system that enables host software or firmware to allocate virtual resources to one or more system images from a single physical I/O adapter, such as a PCI, PCI-X, or PCI-E adapter, is provided. Adapter resource groups are assigned to respective system images. An adapter resource group is exclusively available to the system image to which the adapter resource group assignment was made. Assignment of adapter resource groups may be made per a relative resource assignment or an absolute resource assignment. In another embodiment, adapter resource groups are assigned to system images on a first come, first served basis. | 09-04-2008 |
20080270735 | Association of Host Translations that are Associated to an Access Control Level on a PCI Bridge that Supports Virtualization - A method, computer program product, and distributed data processing system that allows a system image within a multiple system image virtual server to directly expose a portion, or all, of its associated system memory to a shared PCI adapter without having to go through a trusted component, such as a Hypervisor. Specifically, the present invention is directed to a mechanism for sharing conventional PCI I/O adapters, PCI-X I/O Adapters, PCI-Express I/O Adapters, and, in general, any I/O adapter that uses a memory mapped I/O interface for communications. | 10-30-2008 |
20090007118 | Native Virtualization on a Partially Trusted Adapter Using PCI Host Bus, Device, and Function Number for Identification - A mechanism that allows a single physical I/O adapter, such as a PCI, PCI-X, or PCI-E adapter, to perform I/O transactions using the PCI host bus, device, and function numbers to validate that an I/O transaction originated from the proper host is provided. Additionally, a method for facilitating identification of a transaction source partition is provided. An input/output transaction that is directed to a physical adapter is originated from a system image of a plurality of system images. The host data processing system adds an identifier of the system image to the input/output transaction. The input/output transaction is then conveyed to the physical adapter for processing of the input/output transaction. | 01-01-2009 |
20090089611 | METHOD, APPARATUS, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR COORDINATING ERROR REPORTING AND RESET UTILIZING AN I/O ADAPTER THAT SUPPORTS VIRTUALIZATION - A method, apparatus, and computer program product are disclosed in a shared processor data processing system for coordinating error reporting for and resetting of a physical I/O adapter that supports virtualization. The physical I/O adapter is virtualized by generating virtual I/O adapters that each represent a portion of the physical I/O adapter. Each one of the virtual I/O adapters is assigned to a different one of client logical partitions. A determination is made regarding whether the physical I/O adapter may have experienced an error. If the physical I/O adapter has experienced an error, all of the client logical partitions are notified about the error and a recovery of the physical I/O adapter is coordinated among all of the client logical partitions by waiting for each client logical partition to acknowledge the error notification before the physical I/O adapter is reset. | 04-02-2009 |
20090106475 | System and Method for Managing Metrics Table Per Virtual Port in a Logically Partitioned Data Processing System - A method, computer program product, and distributed data processing system that allows a single physical I/O adapter, such as a PCI, PCI-X, or PCI-E adapter, to track performance and reliability statistics per virtual upstream and downstream port, thereby allowing a system and network management to be performed at finer granularity than what is possible using conventional physical port statistics, is provided. Particularly, a mechanism of managing per-virtual port performance metrics in a logically partitioned data processing system including allocating a subset of resources of a physical adapter to a virtual adapter of a plurality of virtual adapters is provided. The subset of resources includes a virtual port having an identifier assigned thereto. The identifier of the virtual port is associated with an address of a physical port. A metric table is associated with the virtual port, wherein the metric table includes metrics of operations that target the virtual port. | 04-23-2009 |
20090144462 | Method and System for Fully Trusted Adapter Validation of Addresses Referenced in a Virtual Host Transfer Request - A method, computer program product, and distributed data processing system that allows a single physical I/O adapter, such as a PCI, PCI-X, or PCI-E adapter, to validate that a direct memory access address referenced by an incoming I/O transaction that was initiated through a memory mapped I/O operation are associated with a virtual adapter or virtual resource that is referenced by the incoming memory mapped I/O operation is provided. Specifically, the present invention is directed to a mechanism for sharing conventional PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) I/O adapters, PCI-X I/O Adapters, PCI-Express I/O Adapters, and, in general, any I/O adapter that uses a memory mapped I/O interface for communications. A single physical I/O adapter validates that one or more direct memory access addresses referenced by an incoming I/O transaction initiated through a memory mapped I/O operation are associated with a virtual adapter or virtual resource that is referenced by the incoming memory mapped I/O operation. | 06-04-2009 |