SHARING A NETWORK I/O ADAPTER BETWEEN LOGICAL PARTITIONS

An I/O adapter sharing mechanism in a logically partitioned computer system allows sharing a network I/O adapter between logical partitions in an efficient manner. A first logical partition owns (or controls) the I/O adapter, and a second logical partition desires to use (or share) the I/O adapter....

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: BILLAU RONALD LEROY, SRIKRISHNAN JAYA, KIEL HARVEY GENE, MEHTA CHETAN, SENDELBACH LEE ANTON, GRAHAM CHARLES SCOTT
Format: Patent
Sprache:eng
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Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:An I/O adapter sharing mechanism in a logically partitioned computer system allows sharing a network I/O adapter between logical partitions in an efficient manner. A first logical partition owns (or controls) the I/O adapter, and a second logical partition desires to use (or share) the I/O adapter. An I/O adapter device driver that includes a hardware interface is provided in the first logical partition. A virtual device driver is provided in the second logical partition that provides a set of functions that is at least partially defined by querying the I/O adapter device driver in the first logical partition. The I/O adapter sharing mechanism includes a transfer mechanism that allows data to be transferred directly from the virtual device driver in the second logical partition to the I/O adapter without passing through the I/O adapter device driver in the first logical partition.