Patent ID: 7685321

Claim:
A computer program product, which is stored in a computer readable medium, for identification of an input/output transaction source in a data processing system that includes a plurality of different system images, each one of the plurality of system images independently executing an operating system, the computer program product comprising: instructions for assigning a different first unique identifier to each one of the plurality of system images, wherein each first unique identifier identifies only one system image; instructions for creating a plurality of different virtual adapters that each contain a different set of resources of a physical adapter; instructions for associating each one of the plurality of virtual adapters with one of the plurality of system images; for each one of the plurality of virtual adapters: instructions for assigning a second unique identifier to the virtual adapter, wherein the set of resources contained by the virtual adapter is identified using the second unique identifier; and instructions for collectively manipulating the set of resources contained by the virtual adapter using the second unique identifier that identifies the virtual adapter; instructions for originating, from a particular one of the plurality of system images an input/output transaction that is directed to a particular one of the plurality of virtual adapters that is associated with the particular one of the plurality of system images; instructions for adding, to the input/output transaction, a particular first identifier that is assigned to the one of the plurality of system images; and instructions that convey the input/output transaction to the physical adapter for processing, wherein the first unique identifier that is included in the input/output transaction is used by the physical adapter to identify the particular one of the plurality of system images.