Virtual input-output connections for machine virtualization

A computing apparatus, comprising:

• an interface, which is operative to communicate with a physical computer system that includes at least one physical packet switching element;
• and
• a processor, which is coupled to accept a specification of a virtual computer system comprising at least one virtual or physical compute node, which produces data packets having respective source attributes, to accept a definition of at least one Virtual Input-Output Connection (VIOC) that is uniquely associated with the values of the source attributes, to accept a policy specifying an operation to be performed with regard to the VIOC, to implement the virtual computer system on the physical computer system, and to configure the physical packet switching element to identify the data packets whose source attributes have the values that are associated with the VIOC and to perform the operation on the identified data packets, so as to enforce the policy on the VIOC.

A computer software product, comprising a computer-readable medium in which program instructions are stored, which instructions, when read by a processor, cause the processor to communicate with a physical computer system that includes at least one physical packet switching element, to accept a specification of a virtual computer system comprising at least one virtual or physical compute node, which produces data packets having respective source attributes, to accept a definition of at least one Virtual Input-Output Connection (VIOC) that is uniquely associated with the values of the source attributes, to accept a policy specifying an operation to be performed with regard to the VIOC, to implement the virtual computer system on the physical computer system, and to configure the physical packet switching element to identify the data packets whose source attributes have the values that are associated with the VIOC and to perform the operation on the identified data packets, so as to enforce the policy on the VIOC.