Resource Reservation for an External Device that is Not Available at Startup of a Host Computer

A system comprising:

• a host computer system including one or more processors and memory storing program instructions;
• and
• an external device;
• wherein the program instructions are executable by the one or more processors of the host computer system to:
• at a startup of the host computer system, reserve one or more resources for the external device, wherein the external device is not available at the startup of the host computer system, wherein the external device is configured to be coupled to an expansion bus of the host computer system;
• detect that the external device becomes available subsequently to reserving the one or more resources;
• and
• enable the external device to use the one or more resources that were previously reserved at the startup of the host computer system, wherein enabling the device to use the one or more resources configures the device to operate on the expansion bus.

A computer-implemented method comprising:

• at a startup of a host computer, reserving one or more resources for an external device that is not available at the startup of the host computer, wherein the external device is configured to be coupled to an expansion bus of the host computer;
• detecting that the external device becomes available subsequently to reserving the one or more resources;
• and
• enabling the external device to use the one or more resources that were previously reserved at the startup of the host computer, wherein enabling the device to use the one or more resources configures the device to operate on the expansion bus.

A method comprising:

• a host computer assigning a plurality of resources to a device coupled to an expansion bus of the host computer;
• powering off the device after assigning the plurality of resources;
• re-configuring the device after powering off the device;
• powering on the device after re-configuring the device;
• and
• the host computer determining resource requirements of the re-configured device and assigning at least a subset of the previously assigned resources to the re-configured device.