Abstract: Described herein are methods and system for sharing a wireless interface (102) among various multiple host processors in a multi-processor computing system (100) to provide simultaneous access of a wireless network to the host processors.

Abstract: File system sharing in multi-host computing system (100) running multiple operating systems is described herein. A file systems stored on different data partitions (110-1) and (110-1), of different operating systems (106-1) and (106-2), running on a multi-host computing system (100) may be shared based on file server-client architecture. According to the implementation, an operating system (106-1) may share its file system as file server and other operating system (106-2) may access the shared file system as file client. In one implementation, the sharing of data between multiple hosts is enabled by a dedicated high speed, low latency, inter processor communication bus, FiRE (124).

Abstract: Systems and methods to share a plurality of virtual network interface controllers (vNICs) amongst a plurality of hosts 104 are described. The described methods are implemented in a network sharing system (NISS) (102) including a programmable vNIC cluster (204) comprising the plurality of vNICs, where a set of vNICs from amongst the plurality of vNICs is dynamically configured to communicate with a host (104-1) from amongst the plurality of hosts (104). Further, the NISS (102) includes a multi-host peripheral component interconnect (PCI) express (PCIe) interface and mapper (MHIP) (202) coupled to the programmable vNIC cluster (204), to receive data packets from the set of vNICs, wherein the set of vNICs comprises one or more vNICs; and provide the data packets from the set of vNICs to the host (104-1) based on demultiplexing of the data packets.

Abstract: Described herein is a virtualized storage system (VSS), for sharing a storage cluster comprising a plurality of storage devices, among multiple hosts. The virtualized storage system comprises a plurality of virtual host bus adapters (vHBA), wherein each vHBA is connected to a host, though a standard based host bus interface. The VSS further comprises a storage fabric switch for connecting the plurality of the vHBAs with the storage cluster through a cluster of storage controllers to facilitate transfer of data and commands between the hosts and the storage devices, wherein the storage fabric switch provide storage services for each host, the storage services comprising at least one of backup, replication and thin-provisioning. The storage fabric switch further comprises a command processing engine (CPE) to map commands received from the plurality of vHBAs, in a virtual addressing domain, to a physical address of a mapped storage controller for execution.

Abstract: Described herein is a system having a multi-host Ethernet controller (102) configured to provide communication and control between two or more independent host processors (104) and a network device. In one implementation, the multi host Ethernet controller (102), having an integrated L2 switch (110) to enable a plurality of independent host systems to access same physical gigabit network port concurrently. Each host processor (104) sees the controller as PCI based independent network controller and accesses the controller using its own mini-port driver. The common programming parameters such as Link Speed or Inter Packet Gap (IPG) are programmed by a virtualization engine. Packets from network (LAN) are switched based on MAC destination address and sent to corresponding host based on MAC destination address. Packets from each host processor (104) are forwarded to network interface or other host processor (104) based on MAC destination address.

Abstract: Described herein is a system having a multi-host SATA controller (102) configured to provide communication and control between two or more independent host processors (104) and a single SATA device (108). In one implementation, the multi-host SATA controller (102) includes the device switching layer (206), the device control layer (208), the link layer (210), and the physical layer (212). The device switching layer (206) allows the host processors (104) to issue commands concurrently rather than in sequential order. For this, the device switching layer (206) has independent set of host device registers (214) corresponding to each of the host processors (104). The device switching layer (206) also has independent DMA engines (216) to perform a command pre-fetching from respective host system memories (105). Further, a command switch engine (220) may arbitrate commands in case both the host processors (104) wish to access the SATA device (108) simultaneously.

Abstract: Systems and methods to share a plurality of virtual network interface controllers (vNICs) amongst a plurality of hosts 104 are described. The described methods are implemented in a network sharing system (NISS) (102) including a programmable vNIC cluster (204) comprising the plurality of vNICs, where a set of vNICs from amongst the plurality of vNICs is dynamically configured to communicate with a host (104-1) from amongst the plurality of hosts (104). Further, the NISS (102) includes a multi-host peripheral component interconnect (PCI) express (PCIe) interface and mapper (MHIP) (202) coupled to the programmable vNIC cluster (204), to receive data packets from the set of vNICs, wherein the set of vNICs comprises one or more vNICs; and provide the data packets from the set of vNICs to the host (104-1) based on demultiplexing of the data packets.

Abstract: Described herein is a virtualized storage system (VSS), for sharing a storage cluster comprising a plurality of storage devices, among multiple hosts. The virtualized storage system comprises a plurality of virtual host bus adapters (vHBA), wherein each vHBA is connected to a host, though a standard based host bus interface. The VSS further comprises a storage fabric switch for connecting the plurality of the vHBAs with the storage cluster through a cluster of storage controllers to facilitate transfer of data and commands between the hosts and the storage devices, wherein the storage fabric switch provide storage services for each host, the storage services comprising at least one of backup, replication and thin-provisioning. The storage fabric switch further comprises a command processing engine (CPE) to map commands received from the plurality of vHBAs, in a virtual addressing domain, to a physical address of a mapped storage controller for execution.

Abstract: Described herein is a system having a multi-host low pin count (LPC) controller (100) configured to facilitate sharing of common peripheral devices by multiple hosts (115) of a multi-host computing system (110). In one implementation, the multi-host LPC controller (100) interfaces with the hosts (115) via an ON-chip bus or an LPC-IN-chip bus. Further, the multi-host LPC controller (100) includes a LPC-IN controller (160) and a microcontroller (155) to moderate among requests generated by the hosts (115). The requests can be target accesses, DMA accesses, and BM accesses. Also, the multi-host LPC controller (100) is configured to operate in a software mode and an auto mode. Based on the mode the multi-host LPC controller (100) is operating in, the requests generated by the various hosts are moderated.

Abstract: Described herein is a system (102) having a virtualization and switching system configured to virtualize I/O devices (108) and perform switching of the I/O devices (108) and I/O requests. The virtualization and switching system (102) includes a peripheral virtualization controller (PVC) (204), at least one device control module (206) connected to the PVC (204), and at least one command parser (210). The PVC (204) is configured to manage I/O virtualization and I/O command access of different I/O devices (108). The device control module (206) is configured to store configuration and I/O device registers, implemented by the PVC (204) to enable virtualization of I/O devices (108). The device control module (206) also implements the I/O command and switching logic to perform graceful handling of the I/O commands and virtualized I/O devices between multiple host processors (104).

Abstract: The present subject matter discloses methods and systems of sharing of peripheral devices in multi host computing systems (100). In one implementation, the method of sharing a peripheral device (116) amongst a plurality of hosts of the multi-host computing system (100) comprises receiving a request to switch the peripheral device (116) from a first operating system running on a first host from amongst the plurality of hosts to a second operating system running on a second host from amongst the plurality of hosts; generating a request for the first operating system to relinquish control of the peripheral device (116); determining the status of the relinquishment based on response generated by the first operating system; initiating a request for the second operating system to install a device driver for the peripheral device (116) upon determining successful relinquishment; and transferring ownership of the peripheral device (116) to the second operating system.

Abstract: Described herein are methods and systems for virtualization of a USB device to enable sharing of the USB device among a plurality of host processors in a multi-processor computing system. A USB virtualization unit for sharing of the USB device include a per-host register unit, each corresponding to a host processor includes one or more of a host register interface, host data interface, configuration registers, and host control registers, configured to receive simultaneous requests from one or more host processors from amongst the plurality of host processors for the USB device. The USB virtualization unit also includes a pre-fetch direct memory access (DMA) configured to pre-fetch DMA descriptors associated with the requests to store in a buffer. The USB virtualization unit further includes an endpoint specific switching decision logic (ESL) configured to schedule data access based on the DMA descriptors from the host processor's local memory corresponding to each request.

Abstract: Described herein is a system having a multi-host Ethernet controller (102) configured to provide communication and control between two or more independent host processors (104) and a network device. In one implementation, the multi host Ethernet controller (102), having an integrated L2 switch (110) to enable a plurality of independent host systems to access same physical gigabit network port concurrently. Each host processor (104) sees the controller as PCI based independent network controller and accesses the controller using its own mini-port driver. The common programming parameters such as Link Speed or Inter Packet Gap (IPG) are programmed by a virtualization engine. Packets from network (LAN) are switched based on MAC destination address and sent to corresponding host based on MAC destination address. Packets from each host processor (104) are forwarded to network interface or other host processor (104) based on MAC destination address.

Abstract: The present subject matter discloses methods and systems of sharing of peripheral devices in multi host computing systems (100). In one implementation, the method of sharing a peripheral device (116) amongst a plurality of hosts of the multi-host computing system (100) comprises receiving a request to switch the peripheral device (116) from a first operating system running on a first host from amongst the plurality of hosts to a second operating system running on a second host from amongst the plurality of hosts; generating a request for the first operating system to relinquish control of the peripheral device (116); determining the status of the relinquishment based on response generated by the first operating system; initiating a request for the second operating system to install a device driver for the peripheral device (116) upon determining successful relinquishment; and transferring ownership of the peripheral device (116) to the second operating system.

Abstract: Described herein are methods and system for sharing a wireless interface (102) among various multiple host processors in a multi-processor computing system (100) to provide simultaneous access of a wireless network to the host processors.

Abstract: Described herein is a system having a multi-host low pin count (LPC) controller (100) configured to facilitate sharing of common peripheral devices by multiple hosts (115) of a multi-host computing system (110). In one implementation, the multi-host LPC controller (100) interfaces with the hosts (115) via an ON-chip bus or an LPC-IN-chip bus. Further, the multi-host LPC controller (100) includes a LPC-IN controller (160) and a microcontroller (155) to moderate among requests generated by the hosts (115). The requests can be target accesses, DMA accesses, and BM accesses. Also, the multi-host LPC controller (100) is configured to operate in a software mode and an auto mode. Based on the mode the multi-host LPC controller (100) is operating in, the requests generated by the various hosts are moderated.

Abstract: Described herein are methods and systems for virtualization of a USB device to enable sharing of the USB device among a plurality of host processors in a multi-processor computing system. A USB virtualization unit for sharing of the USB device include a per-host register unit, each corresponding to a host processor includes one or more of a host register interface, host data interface, configuration registers, and host control registers, configured to receive simultaneous requests from one or more host processors from amongst the plurality of host processors for the USB device. The USB virtualization unit also includes a pre-fetch direct memory access (DMA) configured to pre-fetch DMA descriptors associated with the requests to store in a buffer. The USB virtualization unit further includes an endpoint specific switching decision logic (ESL) configured to schedule data access based on the DMA descriptors from the host processor's local memory corresponding to each request.

Abstract: File system sharing in multi-host computing system (100) running multiple operating systems is described herein. A file systems stored on different data partitions (110-1) and (110-1), of different operating systems (106-1) and (106-2), running on a multi-host computing system (100) may be shared based on file server-client architecture. According to the implementation, an operating system (106-1) may share its file system as file server and other operating system (106-2) may access the shared file system as file client. In one implementation, the sharing of data between multiple hosts is enabled by a dedicated high speed, low latency. inter processor communication bus, FiRE (124).

Abstract: Described herein is a system having a multi-host SATA controller (102) configured to provide communication and control between two or more independent host processors (104) and a single SATA device (108). In one implementation, the multi-host SATA controller (102) includes the device switching layer (206), the device control layer (208), the link layer (210), and the physical layer (212). The device switching layer (206) allows the host processors (104) to issue commands concurrently rather than in sequential order. For this, the device switching layer (206) has independent set of host device registers (214) corresponding to each of the host processors (104). The device switching layer (206) also has independent DMA engines (216) to perform a command pre-fetching from respective host system memories (105). Further, a command switch engine (220) may arbitrate commands in case both the host processors (104) wish to access the SATA device (108) simultaneously.