Patent Publication Number: US-11036649-B2

Title: Network interface card resource partitioning

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present disclosure relates to network interface cards. 
     BACKGROUND 
     A network interface card (NIC), sometimes referred to as network adapter or network interface controller, is the component (e.g., card or circuit board) of a computing device that is used for communicating with other computing devices over a network. That is, a network interface card is a device that is capable of creating one or more network interfaces and exposes the programming interface for those network interfaces via, for example, Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCI-E), to a host. A network interface card includes the electronic circuitry for communication using a specific physical layer and data link layer standard (e.g., IEEE 802.3, IEEE 802.11, etc.). As such, network interface cards can be configured to enable communications over a wired or wireless network. 
     A virtual network interface card (VNIC), sometimes referred to as virtual network adapter or virtual network interface controller, is the logical or software abstraction of a physical network interface card. That is, a virtual network interface card is a logical instantiation of a network interface with, for example, a PCI-E programming interface exposed to a host. A virtual network interface card allows a host (e.g., virtual machine, container, or other entity) to connect to a network using different protocols and allows data transfer between nodes. A physical network interface card can support multiple virtual network interface cards. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a functional block diagram of a computing device having a network interface card configured according to an example embodiment. 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram illustrating the partitioning of network interface card resources, according to an example embodiment. 
         FIG. 3  is a sequence diagram illustrating operations performed for partitioning of network interface card resources, according to an example embodiment. 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram illustrating scheduling operations of a network interface card, according to an example embodiment. 
         FIG. 5  is a high-level flowchart of a method, according to an example embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS 
     Overview 
     Presented herein are techniques enable existing hardware input/output resources, such as the hardware queues (queue control registers), of a network interface card to be shared with different hosts (i.e., each queue mapped to many hosts) by logically segregating the hardware I/O resources using assignable interfaces each associated with a distinct Process Address Space Identifier (PASID). That is, different assignable interfaces are created and associated with different PASIDs, and these assignable interfaces each correspond to a different host (i.e., there is a mapping between a host, an assignable interface, a PASID, and a partition of a hardware queue). The result is that that the hosts can use the assignable interface to directly access the hardware queue partition that corresponds thereto. 
     EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS 
     A computing device generally includes one or more physical network interface cards (NICs) for communication via one or more computer networks. As noted, a physical network interface card can support multiple virtual network interface cards (VNICs), which are logical or software instances enabling a host (e.g., application, virtual machine, container, etc.) to connect to the computer network. Certain network interface cards can be configured to create different “personalities” to achieve converged network traffic flows and to support protocols which can benefit from such converged infrastructure. 
     For example, certain network interface cards support Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCI-E) and enable a policy-based, stateless, agile server infrastructure that can present up to, for example, 256 PCI-E standards-compliant interfaces to a host that can be dynamically configured as either Virtual network interface cards (VNICs) or host bus adapters (HBAs). In certain examples, it is possible to create various personalities on the PCI-E interfaces by allowing the creation of individual config spaces, BAR spaces, and also providing a host the option ROM (when needed per the PCI-E specification). Each of these PCI-E devices can be backed by different varieties of hardware input/output (I/O) resources (acceleration units) at a network interface card, such as Work Queues (WQs), Receive Queues (RQs), and Completion Queues. Network interface cards can also provide a set of interrupt resources which can be dynamically bound to different virtual network interface cards/PCI-E personalities created at the time of boot. 
     Despite these flexibilities, there are still physical limits on the number of queues and interrupt resources available in a single physical network interface card. As a result, there are also limits on the number of virtual network interface cards that can be created at the physical network interface card. For example, one illustrative physical network interface card is designed to support 512 virtual network interface cards, backed up by 1024 Queues and 2048 interrupt resources. There are also limitations presented by the PCI-E specification limits, namely: Bus (0 . . . 256), device (0 . . . 32), function (0.7) to create that many PCI-E functions. With these resource limitations, conventional physical network interface cards can only scale up to 512 virtual network interface cards and have been designed to support that many hosts (endpoint device) being visible to any operating system (OS) environment, including the system images in a virtualized setup. Moreover, in certain arrangements, other limitations (such as Memory-mapped input/output (MMIO) aperture availability, co-existing with other PCI-E devices in a system), it may not even able to enable a full configuration of 512 virtual network interface cards. 
     The above limitations are impediments to the scalable use of virtual network interface cards with virtual hosts, such as containers and virtual machines, which can scale into the thousands. Presented herein are techniques that break this scaling barrier through the use of Process Address Space Identifiers (PASIDs) in a virtualization enabled physical network interface card architecture. That is, as described further below, through the use of PASID technology coupled with virtualization and direct input/output (I/O) technology, it may be possible to enable a physical network interface card to support potentially thousands of hosts (e.g., virtual machines, containers, etc.), each having an independently associated virtual network interface card, without increasing the number of underlying physical hardware I/O resources. As described further below, the techniques presented utilize PASIDs to enable “assignable interfaces,” where each assignable interface corresponds to (i.e., is associated with) discrete and defined sections/partitions of, for example, Work Queues, Receive Queues, and Completion Queues without consuming excessive bus/device/function (BDF) resources. 
     In a conventional software virtualization infrastructure, a Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM) is involved for any network interface card hardware access (e.g., to move the data back and forth between a guest operating (OS) to and the network interface card, and vice versa, using the driver/kernel infrastructure). In this methodology, the whole network interface card is virtualized by software and for every transaction the guest OS initiates, the VMM will participate to complete the transaction requested. In accordance with the techniques presented herein, such interaction can be removed by directly assigning hardware input/output (I/O) resources of the network interface card (e.g., network interface card queues) to the guest OS and allowing the guest OS, or even a process within a guest OS, to access the hardware I/O resources with minimal interaction with the VMM. 
     As described further below, the techniques presented herein enable existing hardware I/O resources, such as the hardware queues (queue control registers), of a network interface card to be shared with different hosts (i.e., each queue mapped to many hosts) by logically segregating the hardware I/O resources using PASIDs. Different assignable interfaces are associated with each PASID, and these assignable interfaces each correspond to a different host (i.e., there is a mapping between a host, an assignable interface, a PASID, and a partition of a hardware queue). The result is that that the hosts can use the assignable interface to directly access the hardware queue partition that corresponds thereto. 
       FIG. 1  is schematic diagram representing the flow of data in accordance with techniques presented herein where a guest OS gets a direct assignment of input/output (I/O) hardware resources (e.g., queues) of a network interface card, or when a process within the guest OS gets a direct assignment of I/O resources. More specifically, shown in  FIG. 1  is a portion of a computing device  110  comprising a plurality of virtual machines  112 ( 1 )- 112 ( n ), an operating system (OS)  114 , a hardware block (hardware)  116 , a network interface card (network adapter)  118 , and a plurality of processors  125 ( 1 )- 125 (N). As used herein, the term “hardware block” or “hardware” refers to platform hardware of the computing device  10 , such as Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs). 
     The operating system  114  of the computing device  110  is a piece of software (stored in memory of the computing device) that, when executed one or more of the processors  125 ( 1 )- 125 (N), supports the computing device&#39;s basic functions, such as address space isolation to enable more tasks and the guest software (e.g., guest OS or containers), scheduling tasks, executing applications, and controlling peripherals. The operating system  114  includes, among other elements, a Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM)  128 , which acts on behalf of hosts and has full control of the processor(s) and other platform hardware. The VMM  128  presents the guest software with an abstraction of a virtual processor and allows it to execute directly on a logical processor. The VMM  128  is able to retain selective control of processor resources, physical memory, interrupt management, and I/O resources. There is a minimal version of a virtual network interface card driver (enic, fnic, snic, rnic, etc.) still integrated as part of the OS or VMM  128 , which has been omitted from  FIG. 1 . These drivers are responsible for initializing the network interface at the PCI-E level and also work to stich the guest OS or process container with assignable interfaces and an enabled PASID. 
     In the illustrative example of  FIG. 1 , the virtual machines  112 ( 1 )- 112 (N) include applications (apps)  120 ( 1 )- 120 (N), respectively, associated with host drivers  122 ( 1 )- 122 (N), respectively. The virtual machines  112 ( 1 )- 112 (N) also include process containers (containers)  124 ( 1 )- 124 (N), respectively, associated with host drivers  126 ( 1 )- 126 (N), respectively. The virtual machines  112 ( 1 )- 112 (N) are each sometimes referred to as guest software of a guest operating system (OS) of the computing device  110 . In other words, each virtual machine  112 ( 1 )- 112 (N) is a guest software environment that supports a stack consisting of an operating system and application software. 
     Each virtual machine  112 ( 1 )- 112 (N) operates independently of the other virtual machines and uses the same interface to processor(s), memory, storage, graphics, and input/output (I/O) resources provided by a physical platform. The software stack acts as if it were running on a platform with no VMM. Software executing in a virtual machine  112 ( 1 )- 112 (N) operates with reduced privilege so that the VMM  128  can retain control of platform resources. In the accordance with examples presented herein, the host drivers  122 ( 1 )- 122 (N) are pieces of software which, as described further below, exploit the resources of an assignable interface to achieve the purpose in a guest OS environment or an address space isolated process environment with in guest OS. 
     The hardware  116  includes, among other elements, Direct Memory Access (DMA) remapping hardware  130 , sometimes referred to as an input-output memory management unit (IOMMU). In general, DMA remapping refers to the translation of the address in a DMA request to a host physical address (HPA). 
     The network interface card  118  is a device that is configured to provide/create a plurality of virtual network interface cards (VNICs)  132  and to expose the programming interface for those network interface cards via PCI-E to the hosts. As such, the virtual network interface cards (VNICs)  132  are each a logical instantiation of a network interface with a PCI-E programming interface exposed to a host. A virtual network interface card  118  could be a general-purpose network interface card configured to run a well-known network stack and associated applications, or it could be a specialized interface which performs and accelerates a specific protocol (e.g., remote direct memory access (RDMA), RDMA over Converged Ethernet version 2 (RoCEv2), Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), etc.). 
     For ease of illustration,  FIG. 1  only illustrates four (4) virtual network interface cards (VNICs), referred to as VNIC  132 ( 1 ) (VNIC-q), VNIC  132 ( 2 ) (VNIC-p), VNIC  132 ( 3 ) (VNIC-n), and VNIC 1   132 ( 4 ) (VNIC-m) at network interface card  118 . However, it is to be appreciated that network interface cards in accordance with examples presented herein, such as network interface card  118 , may include/support other (e.g., significantly larger) numbers of VNICs (e.g., potentially thousands of VNICs), through implementation of the techniques presented herein. 
     The network interface card  118  also one or more processors  127 ( 1 )- 127 (N), firmware  134 , and hardware input/output (I/O) resources  135 . In general, firmware  134  is a piece of software embedded in the hardware memory of the network interface card executable by, for example, the one or more processors  127 ( 1 )- 127 (N). The firmware  134  is configured to, among other options, provides users with a method to enable the one or more virtual network interface cards and associate/configure the PCI-E resources so that a host could use a virtual network interface card to achieve an intended purpose. 
     The hardware input/output I/O resources  135  represent hardware resources of the network interface card  118  which, as described further below, can be shared by multiple hosts through the use of assignable interfaces and PASIDs. Merely for purposes of illustration, shown are I/O resources  137 ( 1 )- 137 (N). These I/O resources include queues  137 ( 1 )- 137 (N) may be, for example, posted/fetch index and error registers or queue control registers formed in memory, which include, for example, Work Queues (WQs), Receive Queues (RQs), Completion Queues (CQs), etc. It is to be appreciated that, in practice, hardware input/output resources  135  may include a plurality of different numbers and types of hardware resources. 
     It is to be appreciated that  FIG. 1  is a functional representation of elements of the computing device  110 . As such, it is to be appreciated that the logical/functional separations shown in  FIG. 1  are merely for purposes of illustration, and do not place a limit on the physical arrangement/structure of the computing device  110 . For example, the IOMMU function can be supported by maintaining some address mapping in the network interface card  118 . Additionally,  FIG. 1  illustrates and refers to different software or firmware elements. As used herein, operations performed by software elements refer to operations performed by one or more of the processors  125 ( 1 )- 125 (N) executing the OS/driver software, which is stored in memory of the computing device  110 . The operations performed by firmware refers to operations performed by one or more processors  127 ( 1 )- 127 )N) embedded in the network interface card executing the software, that is stored in the memory of the network interface card  118 . 
     As detailed above, there are physical limits on the number of queues and interrupt resources available in a single physical network interface card. As a result, in conventional arrangements, there are also limits on the number of virtual network interface cards that can be created at the physical network interface card. Therefore, in order to break the scaling barriers of conventional arrangements, the techniques presented herein make use of Process Address Space Identifier (PASID) in a virtualization enabled physical network interface card architecture to create so-called “assignable interfaces (AIs).” In accordance with embodiments presented herein, the assignable interfaces are associated with discrete and defined sections/partitions of hardware input/output (I/O) resources, for example, Work Queues, Receive Queues, and Completion Queues, of a network interface card without consuming excessive bus/device/function (BDF) resources. In this embodiment, an “assignable interface” corresponds to a slim down version of virtual network interface card (VNIC) that is exposed to, for example, the guest OS or to a container, and which is enabled by a host driver to independently function and achieve the purpose for which it is created. 
     A PASID is a unique identifier used in an OS environment to isolate the process address space used by a guest OS or container environment. The PASID is a key to identifying the DMA translation using paging structures setup by the OS environment. DMA requests with virtual address (or guest virtual address) are tagged with a PASID value that identifies the targeted virtual address space. Typically, a PASID is 20-bit identifier provided by a platform to characterize DMA transactions initiated by the device in order to resolve the physical address properly and to target the transaction to destination memory location. Next generation platforms and OS will be able to support thousands of containers, which is the primary use case for achieving direct IO pass through inside the container without impacting platform resources. As the supported scale increases, it becomes difficult to have those many  1 : 1  resources mapping of individual Bus/Device/Function (VNIC) for the containers. This inhibits the number of containers a network interface card can support to achieve the pass through. To avoid this, the use of the assignable interfaces as proposed here, each associated with only a portion/partition of the hardware (physical) I/O resources, enable a network interface card to utilize the existing set of hardware I/O resources to support large numbers of containers, virtual machines, or other hosts. 
     In particular, as noted, conventional arrangements utilize a 1:1 mapping of the VNIC and its associated queues to a given container or guest OS, which limits the scale of pass through on a given device. In contrast, the techniques presented herein use a 1:N mapping of PASIDs, and assignable interfaces, to a given queue (i.e., each queue can support N assignable interfaces, where each assignable interface is associated with a portion of the given queue). As such, the techniques presented herein enable a single queue to be split into multiple queues, and assigned as part of an assignable interface to a guest OS or container. The OS stack assigns a unique PASID for each such assignable interface. An assigned assignable interface is managed by one or more custom device drivers in its appropriate Guest OS or container environment to achieve a purpose using that interface. Thus, the techniques presented herein may support many PASIDs. For example, a queue with 16 K queue depth, could be split into 8 queues with depth of 2K each assigned as part of an assignable interface. The selection of queue depth for the split queue will dictate the scalability achieved in a NIC. 
     Shown in  FIG. 1  are arrows  138 ( 1 ),  138 ( 2 ),  138 ( 3 ), and  138 ( 4 ), which generally illustrate how device generated DMA transactions are isolated depending on the assignable interface to which a host has been directly assigned, in accordance with the techniques presented herein. In this case, the VMM  128  is not invoked for every transaction generated from guest OS. Instead, the VMM  128  is only invoked to complete some configuration and to perform interrupt management for getting an interrupt to the right domain after assignment of an assignable interface. Such direct assignment of devices to guest OS utilizes complete isolation of DMA from one device to another. Such DMA isolation is provided by the DMA Remapping Hardware  130  using the unique PASID assigned for each such assigned interfaces. 
     As noted, the techniques presented herein enable a hardware I/O resource (e.g., queue) of a network interface card to be shared efficiently with different assignable interfaces to achieve increased resource utilization. In particular, each queue can be partitioned or mapped dynamically across different assignable interfaces, thus increasing the granularity and scalability of existing resources. For example, assuming there are 2,000 queues at a network interface card. If, through implementation of the techniques presented herein, each queue me be partitioned in three different ranges with dynamic queue depth, then those 2,000 queues can be mapped to 6,000 assignable interfaces. As a result, the direct pass through capability increases threefold. 
     In one example of  FIG. 1 , the firmware  134  receives instructions from a management device  136  to create partitions in the hardware I/O resources, such as queues  140 ,  142 , and  144 , of the network interface card  118  (e.g., a user, via the management device  136 , assigns assignable interfaces to queue partitions). The OS  114  then maps the hardware I/O resources (control registers of the hardware input/output resources  135 ) of the network interface card  118 , as instructed by the management device  136  (i.e., the firmware  134  carves out the physical resources for each assignable interface). Once a partition region is created, it is then mapped to a specific PASID based on the request from guest OS or container to the VMM. 
     Referring next to  FIG. 2 , shown is a schematic diagram illustrating the partition of queues in accordance with embodiments presented herein. More specifically, shown in  FIG. 2  is a schematic representation of a portion of a control register of hardware input/output resources  135  that includes a Work Queue  140 , Receive Queue  142 , and Completion Queue  144 . As shown, each of the Work Queue  140 , Receive Queue  142 , and the Completion Queue  144  are logically segregated/partitioned into four segments/partitions, where each partition corresponds to an assignable interface and which will be provided with a unique PASID assigned by VMM to achieve address space isolation. 
     More specifically, assignable interface  146 ( 1 ) is associated with partitions  140 ( 1 ),  142 ( 1 ), and  144 ( 1 ) of the Work Queue  140 , Receive Queue  142 , and the Completion Queue  144 , respectively. Assignable interface  146 ( 2 ) is associated with partitions  140 ( 2 ),  142 ( 2 ), and  144 ( 2 ) of the Work Queue  140 , Receive Queue  142 , and the Completion Queue  144 , respectively. Assignable interface  146 ( 3 ) is associated with partitions  140 ( 3 ),  142 ( 3 ), and  144 ( 3 ) of the Work Queue  140 , Receive Queue  142 , and the Completion Queue  144 , respectively. Finally, assignable interface  146 ( 4 ) is associated with partitions  140 ( 4 ),  142 ( 4 ), and  144 ( 4 ) of the Work Queue  140 , Receive Queue  142 , and the Completion Queue  144 , respectively. 
     As noted, assignable interfaces in accordance with the techniques presented herein will be assigned a unique PASID by the host software (VMM, Guest OS or Container). As such, in the examples of  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the assignable interface  146 ( 1 ) is associated with PASID-11 (host driver  122 ( 1 )), the assignable interface  146 ( 2 ) is associated with PASID-12 (host driver  126 ( 1 )), the assignable interface  146 ( 3 ) is associated with PASID-n 2  (host driver  122 (N)), and the assignable interface  146 ( 4 ) is associated with PASID-n 1  (host driver  126 (N 1 )). As described further below, in the techniques presented herein, each partition of a queue has an associated configurable ring_base, ring_size, and PASID field associated to it such that it is possible to map the assignable interfaces to the descriptors and, accordingly support multiple PASIDs (via a single queue). 
     As noted, the setup of the assignable interfaces and associated partitions is performed in software, where the numbers and sizes of the partitions are received from the management device  136 . In general, the sizes of the partitions in a given queue do not have to be the same (i.e., management device  136  can assign different size partitions to different assignable interfaces). 
     Returning to the example of  FIG. 1 , a guest OS is able to directly write to is associated partition using the assigned PASID. For example, virtual network interface card  132 ( 1 ) may issue a DMA transaction (write transaction) to the host memory, based on a higher level request initiated by the host driver  122 ( 1 ), where the DMA transaction uses the assigned PASID, namely PASID-11. The hardware  116  will look up the mapping of guest physical address to a host physical address based on the PASID specific mapping table setup by the OS stack apriori and then divert the write transaction with the help of IOMMU( 130 ) to appropriate physical address. In another example, the transactions initiated by the host processor  125 ( 1 )- 125 (N) to the network controller/AI will be delivered to the appropriate physical address (based on the mapping setup by host software) without any support from the firmware  134 . It is also possible in some cases, the firmware  134  can be setup in such a way that the firmware  134  decodes any transaction on behalf of the assignable interface, namely assignable interface  146 ( 1 ), associated with PASID-11 and redirect the transaction to the corresponding queue partitions. Stated differently, the firmware  134  performs a translation process to determine which portion of the queue to which it should be allowed to write. 
     The decoding is performed using the information identified in Table 1, below, which is the write transaction is diverted to the firmware  134  (i.e., so the ring base and ring size can be decoded and used to identify the correct partition). In certain examples, the ring base is given by the software for the associated assignable interface  146 ( 1 ). The control registers of the hardware input/output resources  135  are then updated appropriately (e.g., the hardware  116  and the firmware  134  know which assignable interface is associated with the PASID-11 (i.e., where the host driver  122 ( 1 ) wants to write) and, accordingly, which specific partition (specific section of the shared resource) should be accessed and updated). 
     Table 1 is a description of each field in the control registers of network interface card to support the PASID and assignable interface mappings, in accordance with embodiments presented herein. 
     
       
         
           
               
               
               
             
               
                   
               
               
                 Register 
                 Size 
                 Description 
               
               
                   
               
             
            
               
                   
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
            
               
                 ring_base 
                 49 
                 The base address of the descriptor list. If bits [48:47] are 00 or 11, this 
               
               
                   
                   
                 is a host virtual address. If bits [48:47] are 10, this is a local physical 
               
               
                   
                   
                 address. 
               
               
                 ring_size 
                 12 
                 Size of the descriptor list, in units of descriptors. 
               
               
                 pasid_en 
                 1 
                 Indicates whether the PASID is enabled or not. 
               
               
                 pasid 
                 20 
                 PASID for given queue&#39;s descriptor range. 
               
               
                 Queue index 
                 12 
                 Indicates which queue index for which this ring is used. A Queue can be 
               
               
                   
                   
                 shared with multiple assignable interfaces. 
               
               
                 posted_index 
                 64 
                 Writes to this register indicate that new WQ descriptors are ready to be 
               
               
                   
                   
                 transmitted. In addition, writes to this register may indicate the address 
               
               
                   
                   
                 of the associated data buffer so that local can prefetch the data in parallel 
               
               
                   
                   
                 with the descriptor. 
               
               
                 cq_index 
                 10 
                 Number of the completion queue used by this work queue (zero based). 
               
               
                   
                   
                 This number is local to this vNIC, and is used by hardware to index into 
               
               
                   
                   
                 the completion queue array defined below. If this number is larger than 
               
               
                   
                   
                 the completion queue array size minus 1 for this vNIC, the last 
               
               
                   
                   
                 completion queue in this vNIC&#39;s array will be used. 
               
               
                 enable 
                 1 
                 1: Work queue is enabled, DMA operational 
               
               
                   
                   
                 0: Work queue is disabled, DMA will stop at next packet boundary 
               
               
                 running 
                 1 
                 1: Work queue DMA engine currently has operations pending for this WQ. 
               
               
                   
                   
                 0: Work queue DMA engine does not have operations pending for this WQ. 
               
               
                   
                   
                 After a WQ is disabled, the driver should poll this bit until cleared before 
               
               
                   
                   
                 changing any other control registers (except posted_index) or reclaiming 
               
               
                   
                   
                 active memory buffers. 
               
               
                 fetch_index 
                 12 
                 The index which hardware is currently using. Hardware will attempt to 
               
               
                   
                   
                 fetch descriptors when the fetch_index != posted_index. Software must 
               
               
                   
                   
                 not write to this register while the WQ is enabled. 
               
               
                 dca_value 
                 1 
                 When set, DCA is enabled for CQ writes. The numerical value placed in 
               
               
                   
                   
                 the DCA bits of the PCI-E header is specified by the PCI-E vNIC config; 
               
               
                   
                   
                 this bit enables DCA to be used. 
               
               
                 error_interrupt_enable 
                 1 
                 Enable an interrupt to be sent on a WQ error event. WQ errors will 
               
               
                   
                   
                 always disable the WQ and set the error_status, bit an interrupt will be 
               
               
                   
                   
                 sent only if this bit is set. 
               
               
                 error_interrupt_offset 
                 7 
                 Offset of this WQ&#39;s error interrupt within the vNIC&#39;s interrupt array, zero 
               
               
                   
                   
                 based. This number is local to this vNIC, and should not exceed the 
               
               
                   
                   
                 interrupt array size minus 1 for this vNIC, else it will be set to the last 
               
               
                   
                   
                 interrupt in this vNIC&#39;s array. This register is only 7 bits, not 11, so the 
               
               
                   
                   
                 error interrupt must fall within the lower 1128 interrupts for the vNIC. 
               
               
                 error_status 
                 5 
                 Error code status for this WQ. Any error will cause the enable bit to clear 
               
               
                   
                   
                 and the status to appear in this register. The driver may then read 
               
               
                   
                   
                 fetch_index to determine which descriptor caused the error. A WQ will 
               
               
                   
                   
                 not be processed if error_status is non-zero, Even after enable is written 
               
               
                   
                   
                 to 1. 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     Table 1, above, illustrates the concepts of the “ring base” and the “ring size.” As noted, the ring base is the base address for a logical partition in a shared resource (e.g., shared queue control registers). The ring size is the size of that logical partition in the shared resource (units of descriptors). As described further below, the ring base and the ring size are the pieces of information that are used to write to the specific/discrete section of the shared resource, in response to receipt of a write transaction from a host. 
     In operation, the one or more processors  125 ( 1 )- 125 (N) are host processor cores which can initiate transaction to write/read control registers pertaining to an assignable interface, which could be a partitioned control registers allowing to program the ring_base/ring_size for that partition. The control registers are made visible to host software using BAR MAP. In certain examples, writing descriptors to partitioned ring does not utilize firmware intervention from the host as the host is aware of the mapping and can redirect to appropriate physical address which is in host memory. Initiating a read/write from Network Interface card to host memory may utilize a PASID prefix based TLP transactions to be generated by network controller on behalf of an assignable interface, in which case the IOMMU helps to resolve and redirect to the right physical host memory address based on the floated PASID. 
     Read transactions issued by the host driver  122 ( 1 ) to the control register need not be tracked by software because there is no action happening on the registers themselves. As such, for performance reasons, read transactions are not tracked and instead handled by the hardware  116  alone. 
     In certain examples, transmit/receive queue control registers are modified as lookup windows each one with ring base and ring size with PASID enable field and 20-bit PASID. There are two different regions mapped as WQ/RQ control registers and associated posted index and fetch index. An advantage of decoupling queue processing indices and the control register default configuration is that it allows mapping of the control register rings per assignable interface. 
     In operation, the firmware  134  maps the control registers of the queue pairs to the assignable interfaces using an indirect transaction mechanism such that any write to the control register will divert the transaction to the firmware  134  through a predetermined interrupt. The firmware  134  then will analyze the field that is being operated upon and write the appropriate translated fields to the actual control register (i.e., associated queue partition). The queue processing indices (that will be updated, e.g., by the management device  136 ) will be mapped directly so that there is no firmware  134  interference, which reduces the performance by improving latency. Here, the fundamental assumption is that the queue control registers are updated rarely and only queue processing indices are updated in due course of the queue&#39;s life, from a host software point of view. 
     Additionally, when the host driver updates the ring addresses and size to the mapped to a queue, the firmware  134  programs the actual control registers in the fields given above in Table 1. Once the queue is setup, the host driver starts posting the packets to the descriptors which are residing in the host memory with appropriate posted indices. The hardware then acts on the descriptors and updates the fetch indices as it processes the queue. Here, the hardware does not have awareness that the queue is actually shared between multiple address domains (multiple PASIDS) as those details are hidden. As long as there is ring base and ring size, the hardware fetches the ring base and updates the fetch index that it&#39;s currently servicing. 
       FIG. 3  is a ladder/sequence diagram illustrating how a queue partition is initialized and operates, in accordance with embodiments presented herein.  FIG. 3  illustrates the following operational entities: hardware  116 , firmware  134 , a virtual network interface  132 ( 1 ), operating system  114 , and host driver  122 ( 1 ), each as described above with reference to  FIG. 1 . For ease of illustration, hardware  116  and firmware  134  are shown together. 
     As shown by arrow  150 , the flow of  FIG. 3  starts when the firmware  134  maps the queue control registers in indirect mode such that any write transactions will be diverted to the firmware  134  (e.g., processors  127 ( 1 )- 127 (N)). In other words, the firmware  134  configures the hardware such that any write transaction going to selected control registers will generate an interrupt). As shown by arrow  152 , the firmware  134  maps posted/fetch index and error registers in direct transaction mode such that these read transactions will not be intercepted/diverted (i.e., access directly by the host driver). 
     Once the virtual network interface card  132 ( 1 ) is presented, the operating system  114  will start the device enumeration. This is shown by arrow  154 . As used herein, the device enumeration means the discovery of the device (i.e., virtual network interface card  132 ( 1 )) and discovery of the associated resources. At  156 , the assignable interface  146 ( 1 ) is instantiated. Once the OS  114  has assigned the resources (enumeration), the assignable interface is ready (i.e., the address space is already assigned via a control mechanism). 
     As illustrated by arrow  158 , the assignable interface  146 ( 1 ) is presented to the host driver  122 ( 1 ). As illustrated by arrow  160 , the assignable interface  146 ( 1 ) gets mapped to virtual configuration space from the OS software stack. In response, as illustrated by arrow  162 , the host driver  122 ( 1 ) triggers the initialization of the resources (e.g., queue pairs) with a message to the virtual network interface card  132 ( 1 ). The ring base and ring size is programmed in the queue control registers of the hardware input/output resources  135 . 
     As illustrated by arrow  164 , the queue control writes are decoded (direct or indirect writes). In other words, the virtual network interface card  132 ( 1 ) pushes down to the hardware/firmware, which decodes the control registers depending on direct or indirect writes. At  166 , the hardware  116  and/or firmware  134  then updates the shared control registers on behalf of the host driver  122 ( 1 ). The shared control registers are the partition associated with the assignable interface  146 ( 1 ). 
     As illustrated by arrow  168 , the host driver  122 ( 1 ) requests a PASID for assignable interface  146 ( 1 ). As illustrated by arrow  170 , the operating system  114  provides the PASID for the given assignable interface  146 ( 1 ). As illustrated by arrow  172 , the host driver  122 ( 1 ) sets the PASID and pushes it down to the firmware  134 . At  174 , the PASID is updated in the shared control registers of the hardware input/output resources  135 . 
     Arrow  176  illustrates the issuance/posting of an I/O transaction by the host driver  122 ( 1 ) to an assignable interface  146 ( 1 ). In certain examples, a write to the control register can trigger an interrupt (e.g., assumed posted index write is indirect), represented by  178 , to processors  127 ( 1 )- 127 (N) which then maps the appropriate values to the WQ control registers with the ring size and ring base. Arrow  180  illustrates DMA transactions with the given PASID. 
     As noted, direct write to the control registers is not allowed since the queue is shared between multiple assignable interfaces. A possible ring size is already communicated by the firmware  134  to the host software through pre-determined software protocol. Thus, the queue gets setup in the hardware  116  as well as in the host software stack. 
     In certain examples, the host driver  122 ( 1 ) starts posting the work/descriptors in the virtual rings and increments the posted index. A write to the posted index triggers the work for the hardware  116  in case of the transmit queue. The hardware  116  then looks at the control registers, depending upon the queue numbers to which the work is posted. The hardware  116  determines current fetch index programmed for the given queue and decodes ring base, ring size and PASID. An untranslated request is generated to the host root port with the correct ring address and PASID as TLP prefix. The root port responds back with the data from real physical address mapped to the untranslated address. 
       FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram illustrating operations of hardware scheduling and control register elements. More specifically,  FIG. 4  illustrates Work Queues (WQs)  440 ( 0 )- 440 (N) that are each partitioned in accordance with embodiments presented herein.  FIG. 4  also schematically illustrates arbitration (arbitrators  481 ) and scheduling (scheduler  482 ) of hardware, such as hardware  116 . 
     The following is a description providing further details regarding the initialization of an assignable interface in accordance with one example presented herein. In particular, in this example, the VMM initiates a call (MACAddress, PasidEnFlag, PASID, protection flags), to allocate the number of WQs, RQs and CQs for the associated virtual network interface card functionality. There is an internal interaction with the hardware to set the forwarding table and other tables used for operation with the information provided. This returns the WQ, RQ and CQ numbers to the guest OS via the exported interface. The virtual network interface card identifier (ID) returned by this call clearly identifies the WQ, RQ, CQ allocated for this interface. This also informs the device whether PASID is enabled or not on a virtual network interface card and the PASID is provided for that Guest OS. 
     The output parameter the BAR Offset is also returned, where the control registers for the allocated WQ, RQ, CQ (assignable interface) are available. This BAR offset will be mapped at page boundary for the Guest OS to access with Guest Virtual Address (GVA). An init routine gets the list of interrupt resources available for the assignable interface. 
     The VMM sets up the BAR Offset returned (above) to be visible to the guest OS or process container, by setting up the first level or second level mapping and informs the mapping availability by using some of the yet to be developed OS API. This step assumes those APIs, when defined, will map the control portion of the BAR map for this assignable interface at some Guest Physical Address/Guest Virtual Address. The VMM also sets the interrupt remapping table to appropriately signal the guest OS or process environment when the attention is needed by the assignable interface. 
     Based on the above information, the host driver in the Guest OS or the process based user level host driver could initialize the rings allocated for the virtual network interface card/assignable interface and enable it for both transmission and reception. 
     The following is a description providing further details regarding the transmission steps with an assignable interface, in accordance with one example presented herein. In this example, if the guest OS host driver initiates any transmission of packets, it updates the WQ with the packet (in the descriptor format specified for the network interface card). Such updates of WQ descriptors are performed using Guest Virtual Address from the host driver in the guest virtual address space. However, when the ring is initialized or primed for operation, it is programmed with Guest Physical Address. 
     After creating the descriptor, the host driver updates the posted index on its control register which is mapped by the Guest Address Space, via the VMM. This Write transaction is a MMIO Transaction to the device. It is assumed that the mapping for such access has been already set so that final MMIO transaction is issued to the device on behalf of the PCI-E device, which is hosting this assignable interface. If it is a process container assignment, the ring base address is programmed with Guest Virtual Address that belongs to a PASID. In this case of process container assignment, the MMIO transaction initiated to update the control register is still resolved by the mapping setup, described above. Now, since the posted index is updated in the previous step, the hardware processes the descriptor. 
     In the case where the assignable interface is assigned to a guest OS and not to a process container within Guest OS, the device will float the Guest PA to fetch the descriptor data. In this case, the DMA transaction that is initiated will be a DMA request without address space identifier. Therefore, resolution of such address will be based on second level address translation set up for that BDF. 
     In the case of a process container enabled assignable interface, the device will float the Guest Virtual Address with PASID and expect the resolution of such address to be performed based on the PASID based first level address translations. In this case the DMA transaction initiated by the device will be DMA request with address space identifier. 
     The above step indicates how the descriptors are fetched from the ring. However, the address indicated in the descriptor as a transmission (TX) buffer will be used to obtain the actual data for packetizing. This DMA transaction also follow the same method and is able to determine the whether this transaction needs to be initiated with the PASID or without PASID, and then floats the transaction to obtain that data from host memory. 
     When the transmission is complete, the firmware will write the CQ directly using the Guest PA without PASID (in the case of assignable interface assigned to Guest OS without PASID) or Guest VA with PASID (in the case where assignable interface is assigned to a Process container with PASID). The hardware generates the interrupt based on the MSI-X vector configured on that BDF for that assignable interface. The VMM could remap the interrupt so that logical processor associated with that Guest OS or Process Container can be interrupted to indicate that a completion of transmission has been performed. 
     The following is a description providing further details regarding the reception steps with an assignable interface, in accordance with one example presented herein. In this example, each assignable interface is expected to use a different MAC address to steer the packet to an appropriate RQ. A packet addressed to the MAC address will go through the forwarding table associated with this MAC address to determine the logical interface associated with the traffic. This information will be set in the PIE headers and forwarded for onward processing in the network interface card. 
     Additionally, the classifier will be set for this destination MAC address. For this MAC address, the RQ # is a-priori knows for this MAC address and it is possible to fetch the RQ Base address using the same methodology used to generate the DMA addresses (with or without the PASID) and place the data received from the network wire using the Rx buffer described in the RQ descriptor. After the data is placed at the Rx buffers, the CQ entry is posted following the same methodology described for posting CQ entry in the case transmission, described above. The interrupt mechanism indicated in the transmission step is similar for the reception as well. 
     The following section provides an algorithm for a device initiated DMA Transaction. The key functionality is to identify the virtual network interface identifier (VNIC ID) either based on the Work Queue Number requesting this transaction for transmission of a packet, or based on the packet received on a MAC address. An implementation could identify the VNIC ID and the RQ that needs to be used for placing the received packet. 
     
       
         
           
               
             
               
                   
               
             
            
               
                 ------ 
               
               
                 typedef struct PASID_info_table { 
               
               
                 uint8_t bus; 
               
               
                 uint8_t device:5; 
               
               
                 uint8_t function:3; 
               
               
                 uint8_t reserved1; 
               
               
                 uint8_t reserved2; 
               
               
                 uint8_t reserved3; 
               
               
                 uint32_t pasiden:1 
               
               
                 uint32_t passid:20 
               
               
                 uint32_t flags:2 
               
               
                 uint32_t reserved: 9 
               
               
                 } pit_t; 
               
               
                 #define PIT_BASE_ADDRESS_REG 0xABCD0000 // TBD 
               
               
                 // This assumes the routine is called only for PCI based Host 
               
               
                 // Transactions initiated by the device. The caller already made 
               
               
                 // The determination to make sure this is a PCI-E transaction by checking 
               
               
                 // the bit 48 of the untranslated address. 
               
               
                 void 
               
               
                 generate_pci_dma(uint64_t untranslated_address, int size, int flag, 
               
               
                 uint16_t vnicid) 
               
               
                 { 
               
               
                 uint64_t pit_base_address; 
               
               
                 pit_t *pitinfop; 
               
               
                 pit_base_address = read_reg(PIT_BASE_ADDRESS_REG); 
               
               
                 // Sizeof pit_t is 64 bits each entry. 
               
               
                 pitinfop = pit_base_address + vnicid * sizeof(pit_t); 
               
               
                 if (pitinfop−&gt;pasiden) 
               
               
                 { 
               
               
                 generate dma transaction with PASID TLP Prefix 
               
               
                 using pitinfop−&gt;passID. 
               
               
                 Generate READ/WRITE transaction (indicated by flag) 
               
               
                 for the given size using the untranslated_address and 
               
               
                 the BDF as the source device. It can also incorporate the requested 
               
               
                 type of access by using information from pitinfop−&gt;flags. 
               
               
                 } else { 
               
               
                 generate dma transaction without PASID TLP prefix 
               
               
                 Generate READ/WRITE transaction (indicated by flag) 
               
               
                 for the given size using the untranslated_address and 
               
               
                 the BDF as the source device. 
               
               
                 } 
               
               
                 --------- 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     Table 2, below, provides scenarios under which the above algorithm could be applied for enabling PASID with associated assignable interfaces. 
     
       
         
           
               
               
               
             
               
                 TABLE 2 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 Scenarios 
                 Input Parameters 
                 Comments 
               
               
                   
               
             
            
               
                 WQ Descriptor Fetch 
                 Based on the WQ number, the 
                 If the PASID is not enabled on 
               
               
                   
                 implementation could decide 
                 that VNIC, then the DMA 
               
               
                   
                 which VNIC ID to which that 
                 request will be generated without 
               
               
                   
                 WQ belongs. Use that VNIC ID 
                 address space identifier. The 
               
               
                   
                 to decide whether it enables 
                 BDF will be identified from the 
               
               
                   
                 PASID by indexing to PIT and 
                 PIT. 
               
               
                   
                 identifying the information in 
                 If PASID is enabled, then the 
               
               
                   
                 the PIT entry. Also if the WQ 
                 DMA request is generated with 
               
               
                   
                 ring is located in the host 
                 address space identifier (PASID). 
               
               
                   
                 memory space (validated by bit 
                 This will also use the BDF 
               
               
                   
                 48 of the untranslated address). 
                 indicated in the PIT 
               
               
                   
                 It should use the algorithm to 
                 corresponding to the VNIC ID. 
               
               
                   
                 generate appropriate transaction. 
                 This Transaction will be READ 
               
               
                   
                   
                 transaction. It will use the flags 
               
               
                   
                   
                 as is to generate the appropriate 
               
               
                   
                   
                 type of transaction. 
               
               
                   
                   
                 This can be applied for any WQ 
               
               
                   
                   
                 type (Ethernet, Copy, Exchange 
               
               
                   
                   
                 WQ etc.) 
               
               
                 WQ Descriptor Pointed TX 
                 Input Parameters are decided 
                 Same as above. 
               
               
                 buffer address. 
                 using the same procedure 
               
               
                   
                 documented for the WQ 
               
               
                   
                 Descriptor fetch scenario. The 
               
               
                   
                 untranslated address provided by 
               
               
                   
                 the descriptor will be used to 
               
               
                   
                 generate the DMA transaction 
               
               
                   
                 with or without address space ID 
               
               
                   
                 depending on whether PASID is 
               
               
                   
                 enabled for that VNIC or not. 
               
               
                 RQ Descriptor Fetch 
                 The RQ number and VNIC ID 
                 Same as above. This transaction 
               
               
                   
                 are decided at that time of 
                 will be a READ transaction. 
               
               
                   
                 classifying a packet based on its 
               
               
                   
                 MAC address. Based on the 
               
               
                   
                 VNIC ID all of the decision 
               
               
                   
                 about the descriptor are in host 
               
               
                   
                 memory or local DDR memory 
               
               
                   
                 can be decided. Same procedure 
               
               
                   
                 for WQ Descriptor fetch is 
               
               
                   
                 applied once the vnic ID, 
               
               
                   
                 address and size have been 
               
               
                   
                 gathered. 
               
               
                 RQ Descriptor pointed Rx 
                 Same procedure as above 
                 Same as above. This will be a 
               
               
                 buffer address 
                   
                 write transaction. 
               
               
                 Completion Entry Posting 
                 The CQ number will identify the 
                 Same as above, This will be a 
               
               
                   
                 VNIC ID to which this belongs. 
                 Write transaction. 
               
               
                   
                 After that follow the same 
               
               
                   
                 procedure as defined in the RQ 
               
               
                   
                 rx buffer address writes. 
               
               
                 SGL Entry Addresses 
                 The FCoE Packet received will 
                 Same as above, depending on the 
               
               
                 provided for FCoE 
                 identify the VNIC number in the 
                 type of disk I/O, it can be a 
               
               
                 Exchanges, handled by FC 
                 case of READ Disk I/O. In the 
                 READ or Write transaction to 
               
               
                 Engine 
                 case of Write Disk I/O the 
                 memory. 
               
               
                   
                 previous XFER_RDY would 
               
               
                   
                 have posted the Exchange WQ 
               
               
                   
                 entry, this Exchange WQ would 
               
               
                   
                 identify the VNIC ID. Once the 
               
               
                   
                 VNIC ID is identified and 
               
               
                   
                 appropriate SGL entry to 
               
               
                   
                 transfer the data, the same 
               
               
                   
                 procedure is followed in the 
               
               
                   
                 previous scenarios to place or 
               
               
                   
                 fetch the data from host 
               
               
                   
                 memory. 
               
               
                 DMA Transactions initiated 
                 The rewrite rules are expected to 
                 Same as above, the transaction 
               
               
                 from rewrite engine 
                 identify the VNIC number. This 
                 can be read or write depending 
               
               
                   
                 is used for any DMA transaction 
                 on the rewrite rules logic. 
               
               
                   
                 to be initiated from DMA 
               
               
                   
                 engine. Once the VNIC ID is 
               
               
                   
                 identified, the same procedure as 
               
               
                   
                 indicated above can be used to 
               
               
                   
                 initiate the data placement or 
               
               
                   
                 data fetch. 
               
               
                 EDMA based Transaction 
                 Same as above 
                 Same as above, the transaction 
               
               
                 generated by internal 
                   
                 can be READ or Write 
               
               
                 processing elements other 
                   
                 depending on the application 
               
               
                 than rewrite engine. 
                   
                 logic. 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     The host can initiate configuration transactions and MMIO transactions to some BAR offsets either on behalf of the VMM or on behalf of the Guest OS or Process Container. In all cases, since the host software is responsible for setting all the mapping, it is assumed that mapping for all such transactions are appropriately set, so that the transactions would succeed. 
       FIG. 5  is a high-level flowchart of a method  590  in accordance with embodiments presented herein. Method  590  begins at  592  where instructions are received to create at least one logical partition in at least one queue control register of a network interface card for a computing device. The at least one logical partition is associated with an assignable interface and corresponds to only a section of the at least one queue control register. 
     At  594 , the at least one logical partition is mapped in the at least queue control register in indirect mode such that any write access to the at least one logical partition via an associated assignable interface will be diverted to firmware of the network interface card. In general, this mapping of a partition refers to the programming of the hardware and/or software of the computing device, including the network information card, to create/setup the logical partitions in the queue control registers for subsequent use by a host. This programming may include, for example, creation/instantiation of interrupts, tables with information as shown in Table 1, above, etc. The mapping process includes programming a ring base and ring size for the assignable interface, where the ring base and ring size identify the section of the at least one queue control register associated with the assignable interface. 
     At  596 , the assignable interface is mapped to a Process Address Space Identifier (PASID) to trigger the initialization of the at least one logical partition in the at least one queue control register for the assignable interface in association with the PASID. In general, this mapping of a assignable interface is mapped to a PASID refers to the programming of the hardware and/or software of the computing device, including the network information card, to create/setup the association between a PASID and assignable interface, for subsequent use thereof by a host. Collectively,  594  and  596  create a mapping or relationship between a host, an assignable interface, a PASID, and the at least one logical partition of the queue control register (hardware queue). The result is that that the hosts can use the assignable interface to directly access the hardware queue partition that corresponds thereto. 
     In one aspect a method is provided. The method comprises: receiving instructions to create at least one logical partition in at least one queue control register of a network interface card for a computing device, wherein the at least one logical partition is associated with an assignable interface and corresponds to only a section of the at least one queue control register; mapping the at least one logical partition in the at least one queue control register in indirect mode such that any write access to the at least one logical partition via an associated assignable interface will be diverted to firmware of the network interface card; and mapping the assignable interface to a Process Address Space Identifier (PASID) to trigger initialization of the at least one logical partition in the at least one queue control register for the assignable interface in association with the PASID. 
     In certain examples, the instructions to create the at least one logical partition in the at least one queue control register include instructions to create a plurality of partitions in the at least one queue control register, and the method further comprises: mapping each of the plurality of partitions to the at least one queue control register, wherein each of the plurality of partitions is associated with a separate assignable interface and corresponds to independent sections of the at least one queue control register. In certain such examples, two or more of the plurality of partitions have different sizes. 
     In certain examples, mapping the assignable interface to the PASID to trigger the initialization of the at least one logical partition in the at least one queue control register for the assignable interface in association with the PASID, includes: programming a ring base and ring size for the assignable interface, wherein the ring base and ring size identify the section of the at least one queue control register associated with the assignable interface and PASID. In certain such examples, the method further comprises: receiving, from a host in the computing device, a write transaction directed to the assignable interface; triggering, in response to the write transaction, an interrupt to firmware of the network interface card; determining the ring base and ring size for the assignable interface; and based on the ring base and ring size, updating the at least one logical partition in the at least one queue control register based on the write transaction. In further examples, prior to receiving the write transaction directed to the assignable interface, the method comprises: communicating a ring size associated with the at least one logical partition to the host. 
     In certain examples, prior to programming a ring base and ring size for the assignable interface, the method comprises: performing enumeration of a virtual network interface card provided by the network interface card; instantiating the assignable interface for the virtual network interface card; presenting the assignable interface to a host in the computing device; and initiating, by the host in the computing device, resources associated with the assignable interface. In certain such examples, the method further comprises: requesting, at the host in the computing device, the PASID for the assignable interface; at the host in the computing device, receiving, from an operating system of the computing device, the PASID for the assignable interface; and configuring the PASID for the at least one logical partition in the at least one queue control register associated with the assignable interface. 
     In certain examples, the method further comprises: mapping posted/fetch index and error registers in direct transaction mode such that any read transactions will not diverted to firmware of the network interface card. 
     In certain examples, the method further comprises: receiving the instructions to create the at least one logical partition in at least one queue control register of a network interface card from a separate management device. 
     In another aspect, an apparatus is provided. The apparatus comprises: a network interface card configured to provide a plurality of virtual network interface cards; one or more processors configured to: receive instructions to create at least one logical partition in at least one queue control register of a network interface card for a computing device, wherein the at least one logical partition is associated with an assignable interface and corresponds to only a section of the at least one queue control register; map the at least one logical partition in the at least one queue control register in indirect mode such that any write access to the at least one logical partition via an associated assignable interface will be diverted to firmware of the network interface card; and map the assignable interface to a Process Address Space Identifier (PASID) to trigger the initialization of the at least one logical partition in the at least one queue control register for the assignable interface in association with the PASID. 
     In another aspect, one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media encoded with instructions are provided. The instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: receive instructions to create at least one logical partition in at least one queue control register of a network interface card for a computing device, wherein the at least one logical partition is associated with an assignable interface and corresponds to only a section of the at least one queue control register; map the at least one logical partition in the at least one queue control register in indirect mode such that any write access to the at least one logical partition via an associated assignable interface will be diverted to firmware of the network interface card; and map the assignable interface to a Process Address Space Identifier (PASID) to trigger the initialization of the at least one logical partition in the at least one queue control register for the assignable interface in association with the PASID. 
     The above description is intended by way of example only. Although the techniques are illustrated and described herein as embodied in one or more specific examples, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.