METHOD AND SYSTEM TO CREATE A VIRTUAL TOPOLOGY
A method and system to create a virtual topology is provided. The system, in one example embodiment, comprises a network layer to receive a request to create a virtual Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Express device, a device type detector to determine, from the request, a type of the virtual PCI Express device, a virtual device generator to generate a configuration header, the configuration header being in a format of a PCI Express device configuration header, and a topology storage to store the configuration header.
1 . A system comprising:
a network layer to receive a request to create a virtual Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Express device;
a device type detector to determine, from the request, a type of the virtual PCI Express device;
a virtual device generator to generate a configuration header, the configuration header being in a format of a PCI Express device configuration header; and
a topology storage to store the configuration header.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the type of the virtual device is of a type corresponding to an endpoint device.
3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the virtual device is a virtual Network Interface Card (NIC).
4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the type of the virtual device is of a type corresponding to a connectivity device.
5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the virtual device is to provide I/O memory mapping unit (IOMMU) control interface.
6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the network layer is to receive the request to create the virtual PCI Express device from a remote administrator.
7 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a PCI Express interface to present the virtual device to a host server as a physical device.
8 . The system of claim 1 wherein the virtual device generator is to associate the virtual device with a service running on a host server.
9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the host server is a blade server.
10 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the host server is a rack unit server.
11 . A method comprising:
receiving a request to create a virtual Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Express device;
determining, from the request, a type of the virtual PCI Express device;
generating a configuration header, the configuration header being in a format of a PCI Express device configuration header; and
storing the configuration header.
12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the type of the virtual device is of a type corresponding to an endpoint device.
13 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the virtual device is a virtual Network Interface Card (NIC).
14 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the type of the virtual device is of a type corresponding to a connectivity device.
15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the virtual device is to provide I/O memory mapping unit (IOMMU) control interface.
16 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the network layer is to receive the request to create the virtual PCI Express device from a remote administrator.
17 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising a PCI Express interface to present the virtual device to a host server as a physical device.
18 . The method of claim 11 wherein the virtual device generator is to associate the virtual device with a service running on a host server.
19 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the host server is a blade server.
20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the host server is a rack unit server.
21 . A consolidated input/output (I/O) adaptor, the adaptor comprising:
a configuration module to generate virtual topology, the virtual topology comprising a plurality of virtual Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Express devices, a device from the plurality of virtual PCIe devices having an associated IP address, the IP address being owned by the consolidated I/O adaptor;
a memory to store the virtual topology;
a PCIe interface to communicate the virtual topology to a host computer system; and
a network layer to communicate the virtual topology to network entities.
22 . The system of claim 21 , wherein the configuration module is a management central processing unit (CPU).
23 . The system of claim 21 , wherein the configuration module is in communication with a remote system, utilizing a management communications protocol.
24 . The system of claim 21 , wherein the configuration module comprises dedicated hardware.
25 . A system comprising:
a host server, the host server comprising:
a central processing unit (CPU),
a host memory, and
a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Express bus; and
a consolidated input/output (I/O) adaptor connected to the host server via the PCI Express bus, the consolidated I/O adaptor comprising:
a management central processing unit (CPU) to generate virtual topology, the virtual topology comprising a plurality of virtual Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Express devices, a device from the plurality of virtual PCI Express devices having an associated IP address, the IP address being owned by the consolidated I/O adaptor,
a memory to store the virtual topology,
a PCI Express interface to communicate with a host computer system, and
a network layer to communicate with network entities.
26 . A machine-readable medium having stored thereon data representing sets of instructions which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:
receive a request to create a virtual Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Express device;
determine, from the request, a type of the virtual PCI Express device;
generate a configuration header, the configuration header being in a format of a PCI Express device configuration header; and
store the configuration header.
27 . A system comprising:
means for receiving a request to create a virtual Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Express device;
means for determining, from the request, a type of the virtual PCI Express device;
means for generating a configuration header, the configuration header being in a format of a PCI Express device configuration header; and
means for storing the configuration header.