Inline PCI-IOV adapter

An apparatus comprising:

• an inline PCI virtualizing device configured for connecting to a host CPU via a front-side bus and a physical back-side device via a back-side bus;
• and
• a Soft Register Unit for facilitating register access, wherein register data is stored in an embedded RAM of the Soft Register Unit,
• wherein the inline PCI virtualizing device and the physical back-side device are different devices,
• wherein the host CPU is configured for running a plurality of system images, each of the system images assigned a particular virtualized function (VF),
• wherein the inline PCI virtualizing device is configured for retrofitting input/output (I/O) virtualization on the physical back-side device for sharing the physical back-side device by the plurality of system images, and
• wherein the inline PCI virtualizing device comprises one or more virtualized functions.

A method comprising:

• connecting an inline PCI virtualizing device to a multi-root switch, wherein the multi-root switch is configured for connecting to each of a plurality of host CPUs via respective buses;
• connecting the inline PCI virtualizing device to a physical device, wherein the inline PCI virtualizing device and the physical device are different devices;
• retrofitting, via the inline PCI virtualizing device, input/output (I/O) virtualization on the physical device for sharing the physical device by the plurality of host CPUs;
• generating one or more virtualized functions within the inline PCI virtualizing device;
• and
• storing register data in an embedded RAM of a Soft Register Unit for facilitating register access.

A method comprising:

• connecting an inline PCI virtualizing device to a host CPU;
• generating one or more virtualized functions within the inline PCI virtualizing device, wherein the host CPU is configured for running a plurality of system images, each of the system images assigned a particular virtualized function (VF) of the one or more virtualized functions;
• connecting the inline PCI virtualizing device to a physical device, wherein the inline PCI virtualizing device and the physical device are different devices;
• retrofitting, via the inline PCI virtualizing device, input/output (I/O) virtualization on the physical device for sharing the physical device by the plurality of system images;
• and
• storing register data in an embedded RAM of a Soft Register Unit for facilitating register access.