Dynamically managing a serial port interface of virtualization software

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016170786-A1
Application number	US-201414570154-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 15, 2014
Priority date	Dec 15, 2014
Publication date	Jun 16, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

One or more examples provide techniques to dynamically manage serial port interface(s) of virtualization software executing in a host device. In an example, a method of managing a serial port interface of a virtualization software executing on a host device includes: receiving input characters through the serial port interface to a serial port of the host device; parsing the input characters to detect a character sequence; and connecting the serial port interface to a first service executing in the virtualization software in response to the character sequence and during execution of the virtualization software on the host device.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A method of managing a serial port interface of virtualization software executing on a host device, comprising:
receiving input characters through the serial port interface to a serial port of the host device; parsing the input characters to detect a character sequence; and connecting the serial port interface to a first service executing in the virtualization software in response to the character sequence and during execution of the virtualization software on the host device.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the host device is a headless device not supporting connection to any human interface device.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first service is one of a plurality of services executable in the virtualization software, the plurality of services including a console user interface service, a shell service, a logging service, and a debugging service.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
connecting the serial port interface to a second service executing in the virtualization software in response to execution of a configuration application by the virtualization software.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the configuration application is executed by the virtualization software in response to user input to a command line interface of the virtualization software, or an application programming interface of the virtualization software, received through a network port of the host device.

6 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the configuration application disconnects the serial port interface from the first service and connects the serial port interface to the second service.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
connecting the serial port interface to an initial service during a boot sequence of the virtualization software based on data stored in firmware of the host device.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the data stored in the firmware comprises at least one of a headless flag and serial port parameter data.

9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
connecting the serial port interface to an initial service during a boot sequence of the virtualization software based on boot options that are parametric input to the boot sequence.

10 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a request to connect the serial port interface to a second service executing in the virtualization software; and refusing the request in response to another serial port interface being connected to the second service.

11 . A computing device executing virtualization software, the computing device comprising:
a serial port; a memory having a program for managing a serial port interface of the virtualization software to the serial port; and a processor configured to execute the program to:
receive input characters through the serial port interface;
parse the input characters to detect a character sequence; and
connect the serial port interface to a first service executing in the virtualization software in response to the character sequence and during execution of the virtualization software on the computing device.

12 . The computing device of claim 11 , wherein the computing device is a headless device not supporting connection to any human interface device.

13 . The computing device of claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute the program to:
connect the serial port interface to a second service executing in the virtualization software in response to execution of a configuration application by the virtualization software.

14 . The computing device of claim 13 , further comprising:
a network port; wherein the configuration application is executed by the virtualization software in response to user input to a command line interface of the virtualization software, or an application programming interface of the virtualization software, received through the network port.

15 . The computing device of claim 11 , further comprising:
another serial port; wherein the processor is further configured to execute the program to:
receive a request to connect the serial port interface to a second service executing in the virtualization software; and
refuse the request in response to another serial port interface of the virtualization software to the other serial port being connected to the second service.

16 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions, which when executed in a computer system, causes the computer system to carry out a method of managing a serial port interface of virtualization software executing on a host device, the method comprising:
receiving input characters through the serial port interface to a serial port of the host device; parsing the input characters to detect a character sequence; and connecting the serial port interface to a first service executing in the virtualization software in response to the character sequence and during execution of the virtualization software on the host device.

17 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the host device is a headless device not supporting connection to any human interface device.

18 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , further comprising:
connecting the serial port interface to a second service executing in the virtualization software in response to execution of a configuration application by the virtualization software.

19 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , further comprising:
connecting the serial port interface to an initial service during a boot sequence of the virtualization software based on data stored in firmware of the host device.

20 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , further comprising:
receiving a request to connect the serial port interface to a second service executing in the virtualization software; and refusing the request in response to another serial port interface being connected to the second service.

Assignees

• Vmware Inc

Inventors

• Gulam Nagib

Classifications

• G06F2009/45579

  I/O management, e.g. providing access to device drivers or storage · CPC title

• G06F9/45533

  Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors · CPC title

• G06F9/4411 Primary

  Configuring for operating with peripheral devices; Loading of device drivers · CPC title

• G06F9/45558 Primary

  Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects · CPC title

• G06F9/44521 Primary

  Dynamic linking or loading; Link editing at or after load time, e.g. Java class loading · CPC title