Patent ID: 7054985

Claim:
An apparatus for partitioning hardware in a computer system, the computer system including a plurality of input/output (I/O) paths, each of the I/O paths coupled to a host input/output (I/O) bridge, wherein at least one partition encompasses the plurality of I/O paths, the apparatus comprising: a hierarchy of outbound queues, comprising: a lowest hierarchy of lowest outbound queues, wherein a lowest outbound queue in the lowest hierarchy of outbound queues is assigned to a unique I/O path, a plurality of higher levels of higher outbound queues, wherein a higher outbound queue in the plurality of higher levels of outbound queues comprises a plurality of virtual queue sections, wherein each lowest outbound queue receives data from and sends data to a specified one of the one or more virtual queue sections; and an I/O path controller that assigns a partition identification (ID) to transactions originating on a specific I/O path, the partition ID corresponding to a partition in which the specific I/O path is assigned.