Patent ID: 8055838

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for reconfiguring an identified Input/Output (I/O) resource in a computer system that includes a plurality of logical partitions managed by a partition manager executing separately from the plurality of logical partitions, the plurality of logical partitions comprising at least one logical partition that owns the identified I/O resource and at least one logical partition that does not own the identified I/O resource, the method comprising the steps of: (1) the partition manager detecting a hardware state in the computer system that requires reconfiguration of the identified I/O resource; (2) the partition manager suspending all of the plurality of logical partitions by inhibiting dispatch of tasks to all of the plurality of logical partitions and waiting until all pending tasks in all of the plurality of logical partitions are complete; (3) the partition manager reconfiguring the identified I/O resource; and (4) the partition manager resuming all of the plurality of logical partitions by enabling dispatch of tasks to all of the plurality of logical partitions.