Patent ID: 8918568

Claim:
An apparatus for use in an IO virtualization environment, comprising: a first plurality of virtual function clusters positioned in a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) configuration space, each cluster comprising one or more virtual functions and operative to aid in managing linking virtual functions to a physical function by dividing virtual functions of said PCIe configuration space into groups of virtual functions, wherein once the virtual functions are clustered, each virtual function forfeits one degree of freedom such that they are not reconfigurable in the PCIe configuration space and the clusters of virtual functions move as a unit from one physical function to another; a second plurality of physical functions positioned in the PCIe configuration space; and an extended virtual function shell positioned in the PCIe configuration space and configured to select one of the physical functions and one of the available virtual function clusters, and to associate the selected virtual function cluster with the selected the physical function.