US 7,260,664 B2 · Interrupt mechanism on an IO adapter that supports virtualization

Abstract

A mechanism for handling event notifications or interrupts in a logically partitioned computing system having IO adapters that support adapter virtualization are provided. A virtual adapter associated with a physical IO adapter detects an event, identifies a logical partition associated with the event, and writes an event notification entry in a partition interrupt control block (PICB) of the logical partition memory space. The virtual adapter notifies shared control point logic on the physical IO adapter of the update to the PICB which may then write an entry to a logical partition manager interrupt control block (LPAR manager ICB) identifying the update to the PICB and the operating system associated with the PICB. The LPAR manager may then inform the operating system of the logical partition of the updates to the PICB which may then read the entries in the PICB, process them and inform appropriate application instances of the events.

Claims21

Dependent claims

A method, in a logically partitioned data processing system, for processing event notifications, the method comprising the steps, performed by an input/output (IO) adapter, of:

detecting an event for which an application is to be notified;
identifying a logical partition, from a plurality of logical partitions, associated with the event;
updating a partition interrupt control block in a memory space within the identified logical partition to identify event information associated with the event, wherein the updating step writes an event notification associated with the event to the partition interrupt control block;
and
informing an operating system associated with the identified logical partition of the update to the partition interrupt control block.

2 more elements

A computer program product in a computer readable storage-type medium for processing event notifications in a logically partitioned data processing system, the computer program product comprising instructions, performed by an input/output (IO) adapter of:

first instructions for detecting an event for which an application is to be notified;
second instructions for identifying a logical partition, from a plurality of logical partitions, associated with the event;
third instructions for updating a partition interrupt control block in a memory space within the identified logical partition to identify event information associated with the event, wherein the third instructions writes an event notification associated with the event to the partition interrupt control block;
and
fourth instructions for informing an operating system associated with the identified logical partition of the update to the partition interrupt control block.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Interrupt mechanism on an IO adapter that supports virtualization

Life of this patent

Interrupt mechanism on an IO adapter that supports virtualization

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims21