Installation of virtual service processor to computer system having existing operating system

1. A non-transitory computer storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a processor of a computer system that has a physical drive having a first partition including an operating system (OS) and having a master boot record (MBR) with initial settings indicating the first partition as an active bootable partition, cause the processor to:

load and execute a hypervisor from the non-transitory computer storage medium, the hypervisor having a privileged domain and an unprivileged domain;

initiate a virtual service processor (VSP) in the privileged domain, the VSP being configured to manage at least one health, operation, or performance related aspect of the computer system;

configure the unprivileged domain to allow the operating system to run therein, the operating system (OS) being executable directly on the computer system;

load and execute the OS in the unprivileged domain;

create a second partition in the physical drive;

copy a VSP environment file including a hypervisor file and a VSP file from the non-transitory computer storage medium to the second partition of the physical drive, wherein the VSP environment file is a bootable file instructing the processor to initiate the hypervisor and to initiate the VSP in the privileged domain of the hypervisor; and

modify a partition table of the MBR of the physical drive to have settings indicating that the second partition of the physical drive is an active bootable partition.

2. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the processor to:

initiate a virtual drive in the unprivileged domain, the virtual drive having a virtual partition that includes a reference to the OS stored in the physical drive and a virtual MBR that indicates the virtual partition as an active bootable partition; and

instruct a virtue CPU of the hypervisor, in accordance with the virtual MBR, to load an OS from the virtual partition and execute that OS of the virtual partition in the unprivileged domain.

3. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 2 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the processor to:

load the OS from the first partition of the physical drive; and

execute the hypervisor to provide the loaded OS to the virtual CPU.

4. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 2 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the processor to:

configure the virtual MBR to have same settings as the initial settings of the MBR of the physical drive.

5. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 2 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the processor to:

configure the unprivileged domain to emulate hardware configurations of the computer system.

6. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the processor to:

store, in the physical drive, configurations of the virtual MBR in a configuration space for the unprivileged domain, such that in a next booting process the hypervisor initiates the virtual MBR to have the initial settings of the MBR of the physical drive and to indicate that the virtual partition having a reference to the OS in the physical drive is an active bootable partition.

7. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the processor to:

store, in the physical drive, configurations of the unprivileged domain in a configuration space for the unprivileged domain, such that in a next booting process the hypervisor initiates the unprivileged domain to emulate hardware configurations of the computer system.

8. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the non-transitory computer storage medium comprises a detachable bootable data storage medium.

9. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the detachable bootable data storage medium comprises a universal serial bus (USB) disk, a memory card, a soft disk drive, a portable hard drive, an optical disk drive, a data cartridge, or a network storage device.

10. A method for installation of a virtual service processor to a computer system that has a processor, a physical drive having a first partition including an operating system (OS) and having a master boot record (MBR) with initial settings indicating the first partition as an active bootable partition, comprising:

loading and executing a hypervisor from a non-transitory computer storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon, the hypervisor having a privileged domain and an unprivileged domain;

initiating a virtual service processor (VSP) in the privileged domain, the VSP being configured to manage at least one health, operation, or performance related aspect of the computer system;

configuring the unprivileged domain to allow the operating system to run therein, the operating system (OS) being executable directly on the computer system;

loading and executing the OS in the unprivileged domain;

creating a second partition in the physical drive;

copying a VSP environment file including a hypervisor file and a VSP file from the non-transitory computer storage medium to the second partition of the physical drive, wherein the VSP environment file is a bootable file instructing the processor to initiate the hypervisor and to initiate the VSP in the privileged domain of the hypervisor; and

modifying a partition table of the MBR of the physical drive to have settings indicating that the second partition of the physical drive is an active bootable partition.

11. The method of claim 10 , comprising:

initiating a virtual drive in the unprivileged domain, the virtual drive having a virtual partition that includes a reference to the OS stored in the physical drive and a virtual MBR that indicates the virtual partition as an active bootable partition;

instructing a virtue CPU of the hypervisor, in accordance with the virtual MBR, to load an OS from the virtual partition and execute that OS of the virtual partition in the unprivileged domain;

loading the OS from the first partition of the physical drive; and

executing the hypervisor to provide the loaded OS to the virtual CPU.

12. The method of claim 11 , comprising:

configuring the virtual MBR to have same settings as the initial settings of the MBR of the physical drive; and

configuring the unprivileged domain to emulate hardware configurations of the computer system.

13. The method of claim 11 , comprising:

storing, in the physical drive, configurations of the virtual MBR in a configuration space for the unprivileged domain, such that in a next booting process the hypervisor initiates the virtual MBR to have the initial settings of the MBR of the physical drive and to indicate that the virtual partition having a reference to the OS in the physical drive is an active bootable partition; and

storing, in the physical drive, configurations of the unprivileged domain in a configuration space for the unprivileged domain, such that in a next booting process the hypervisor initiates the unprivileged domain to emulate hardware configurations of the computer system.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the non-transitory computer storage medium is a detachable bootable data storage medium, wherein the detachable bootable data storage medium comprises a universal serial bus (USB) disk, a memory card, a soft disk drive, a portable hard drive, an optical disk drive, a data cartridge, or a network storage device.

15. A system for installation of a virtual service processor, comprising:

a computer system that has a processor, a physical drive having a first partition including an operating system (OS) and having a master boot record (MBR) with initial settings indicating the first partition as an active bootable partition; and

a non-transitory computer storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the processor, causing the processor to:

load and execute a hypervisor from the non-transitory computer storage medium, the hypervisor having a privileged domain and an unprivileged domain;

initiate a virtual service processor (VSP) in the privileged domain, the VSP being configured to manage at least one health, operation, or performance related aspect of the computer system;

configure the unprivileged domain to allow the operating system to run therein, the operating system (OS) being executable directly on the computer system;

load and execute the OS in the unprivileged domain;

create a second partition in the physical drive;

copy a VSP environment file including a hypervisor file and a VSP file from the non-transitory computer storage medium to the second partition of the physical drive, wherein the VSP environment file is a bootable file instructing the processor to initiate the hypervisor and to initiate the VSP in the privileged domain of the hypervisor; and

modify a partition table of the MBR of the physical drive to have settings indicating that the second partition of the physical drive is an active bootable partition.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the processor to:

initiate a virtual drive in the unprivileged domain, the virtual drive having (a) a virtual partition that includes a reference to the OS stored in the physical drive and (b) a virtual MBR that indicates the virtual partition as an active bootable partition;

instruct a virtue CPU of the hypervisor, in accordance with the virtual MBR, to load an OS from the virtual partition and execute that OS of the virtual partition in the unprivileged domain;

load the OS from the first partition of the physical drive; and

execute the hypervisor to provide the loaded OS to the virtual CPU.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the processor to:

configure the virtual MBR to have same settings as the initial settings of the MBR of the physical drive; and

configure the unprivileged domain to emulate hardware configurations of the computer system.

18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the processor to:

store, in the physical drive, configurations of the virtual MBR in a configuration space for the unprivileged domain, such that in a next booting process the hypervisor initiates the virtual MBR to have the initial settings of the MBR of the physical drive and to indicate that the virtual partition having a reference to the OS in the physical drive is an active bootable partition; and

store, in the physical drive, configurations of the unprivileged domain in a configuration space for the unprivileged domain, such that in a next booting process the hypervisor initiates the unprivileged domain to emulate hardware configurations of the computer system.

19. The system of claim 15 , wherein the non-transitory computer storage medium is a detachable bootable data storage medium, wherein the detachable bootable data storage medium comprises a universal serial bus (USB) disk, a memory card, a soft disk drive, a portable hard drive, an optical disk drive, a data cartridge, or a network storage device.