Configurable mapping of devices to bus functions

A computer-implemented method for use in a computer system including a plurality of physical devices coupled to a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus associated with a configuration space including a plurality of functions, each of the plurality of physical devices implementing at least one of a plurality of logical devices coupled to the bus, the method comprising steps of:

• (A) determining whether an operating system selected to be executed in the computer system supports mapping of multiple logical devices to a single function;
• (B) if it is determined in step (A) that the operating system selected to be executed in the computer system does not support mapping of multiple logical devices to a single function, then for each physical device D in the plurality of physical devices, performing steps of:
• (1) identifying a first set S of logical devices implemented by physical device D;
• and
• (2) mapping each of the logical devices in the first set S to a separate function associated with the physical device D;
• and
• (C) otherwise, for each physical device D in the plurality of physical devices, performing steps of:
• (1) identifying a second set S of logical devices implemented by physical device D;
• and
• (2) mapping all of the logical devices in the second set S to a single function associated with the physical device D.

A device for use in a computer system including a plurality of logical devices coupled to a bus associated with a configuration space including a plurality of functions, the device comprising:

• determination means for determining whether an operating system selected to be executed in the computer system supports mapping of multiple logical devices to a single function;
• first mapping means for mapping each of the plurality of logical devices to a distinct one of the plurality of functions if the determination means determines that the operating system selected to be executed in the computer system does not support mapping of multiple logical devices to a single function;
• and
• second mapping means for mapping at least two of the plurality of logical devices to a single one of the plurality of functions if the determination means determines that the operating system selected to be executed in the computer supports mapping of multiple logical devices to a single function.

A computer-implemented method for use in a computer system comprising a plurality of logical devices coupled to a bus associated with a configuration space including a plurality of functions, the method comprising steps of:

• (A) determining whether a predetermined criterion is satisfied that indicates whether to map each of the plurality of logical devices to a distinct one of the plurality of functions;
• (B) mapping each of the plurality of logical devices to a distinct one of the plurality of functions if the predetermined criterion is satisfied;
• and
• (C) mapping at least two of the plurality of logical devices to a single one of the plurality of functions if the predetermined criterion is not satisfied.