Patent ID: 8316377
Filing Date: 2012-11-20
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method for sharing legacy devices as virtual legacy devices in a multi-host environment, comprising: binding an instance of a legacy device between compute node gateways and a management node gateway with a descriptor block created and actively running with an associated software emulator driver; receiving device information from the legacy device, the device information identifying a target host within a virtual machine; encapsulating the device information into a corresponding bus transaction for a network switch fabric having a plurality of switches; initializing the network switch fabric so that data packets are routed through redundant paths identified through the plurality of switches during initializing, wherein after a valid configuration cycle all ports not yet coupled are identified as secondary ports, wherein if at least one port has not been identified as a secondary port, a path is designated as an active path within the bus hierarchy, and if both ports have been identified as secondary ports, the path is designated as a redundant or alternate path; and routing the bus transaction over the network switch fabric in the virtual machine through paths identified during initializing to the target host within the virtual machine.