Fibre channel controller shareable by a plurality of operating system domains within a load-store architecture
US7512717B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 27, 2005 |
| Grant date | Mar 31, 2009 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 28, 2026 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F13/12
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A Fiber Channel (FC) controller shareable by a plurality of operating system domains (OSDs) within a load-store architecture is disclosed. The controller includes a plurality of control/status register (CSR) banks. A respective one of the CSR banks is used by each OSD to request the controller to perform I/O operations with remote FC devices. A load-store bus interface receives from a load-store bus load and store transactions from each OSD. Each transaction includes an OSD identifier identifying the OSD that initiated the transaction. The bus interface directs the transactions to the respective CSR bank based on the OSD identifier. A FC port obtains a distinct FC port identifier for each OSD and transceives FC frames with the remote FC devices using the distinct FC port identifier for each OSD in response to the I/O operation requests. In one embodiment, the controller includes a shared I/O switch coupling the OSDs thereto.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.