Method and system for enabling an application in a virtualized environment to communicate with multiple types of virtual servers

A processing system comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory coupled to the processor, the memory storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processing system to perform a process comprising:
• executing an application on a guest operating system, wherein the guest operating system controls a virtual machine installed on a virtual server, and wherein the virtual server is installed on a virtualized processing system;
• executing a virtual server adapting module in the guest operating system, wherein the virtual server adapting module is configured for:
• receiving a request, by an interface, from the application on the guest operating system to get information regarding a physical hardware device on the virtualized processing system associated with the guest operating system,
• automatically determining, by a virtual server type detector, a type of virtual server from a plurality of virtual servers,
• selecting and instantiating, by an initialization module, an implementation module from a plurality of implementation modules according to the determined type of the virtual server, wherein each implementation module implements the interface to receive the request from the application on the guest operating system and communicates with a different type of virtual server on the virtualized processing system.

An apparatus comprising:

• a first physical hardware device and a second physical hardware device, wherein the first and second physical hardware devices are installed in a virtualized processing system;
• a virtual server to present the first physical hardware device as a virtual hardware device to a virtual machine, wherein the virtual server does not present the second physical hardware device as a virtual hardware device;
• a guest operating system installed on the virtual machine;
• a virtual server adapting module running in the guest operating system, the virtual server adapting module including:
• an interface to receive a request from an application on the guest operating system to get information regarding the second physical hardware device installed in the virtualized processing system;
• a virtual server type detector to determine a type of the virtual server,
• a plurality of implementation modules, each implementation module implementing the interface to receive the request from the application on the guest operating system and communicating with a different type of virtual server on the virtualized processing system, and
• an initialization module to select and instantiate an implementation module from the plurality of implementation modules according to the determined type of the virtual server on the virtualized processing system.

A non-transitory machine-readable medium having sequences of instructions stored therein which, when executed by a processor of a processing system, cause the processor to perform a process comprising:

• executing an application on a guest operating system, wherein the guest operating system controls a virtual machine installed on a virtual server running on the processing system, and wherein the virtual server is installed on a virtualized processing system, the virtualized processing system including a plurality of physical hardware devices;
• and
• enabling communication between the application and the virtual server through a virtual server adapting module in the guest operating system, wherein the virtual server adapting module is configured for:
• receiving a request, by an interface, from the application on the guest operating system to get information regarding a physical hardware device on the virtualized processing system associated with the guest operating system,
• automatically determining, by a virtual server type detector, a type of virtual server from a plurality of virtual servers,
• selecting and instantiating, by an initialization module, an implementation module from a plurality of implementation modules according to the determined type of the virtual server, wherein each implementation module implements the interface to receive the request from the application on the operating system and communicates with a different type of virtual server on the virtualized processing system.