Patent ID: 7197572
Filing Date: 2007-03-27
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A shared I/O subsystem for a plurality of computer systems comprising: a plurality of virtual I/O interfaces communicatively coupled to the computer systems, each of the computer systems including a virtual adapter that communicates with one of the virtual I/O interfaces; a plurality of I/O interfaces; and a forwarding function having a plurality of forwarding table entries that logically arrange the shared I/O subsystem into one or more logical switches, wherein each of the logical switches communicatively couples one or more of the virtual I/O interfaces to one of the I/O interfaces; wherein, for each one of the logical switches, the logical switch receives a first I/O packet from one of the virtual I/O interfaces and directs the first I/O packet to at least one of the I/O interface and one or more of other ones of the virtual I/O interfaces, and receives a second I/O packet from the I/O interface and directs the second I/O packet to one or more of the virtual I/O interfaces; wherein at least one I/O interface uses a shared physical network interface card (NIC) to couple a plurality of servers to the shared I/O subsystem, each of the plurality of servers having software installed thereon that implements a virtual NIC, wherein the virtual NIC on each given server allows the given server to communicate via the shared physical NIC as if the shared physical NIC was dedicated only to said given server.