Method to use PCIe device resources by using unmodified PCIe device drivers on CPUs in a PCIe fabric with commodity PCI switches

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9875208-B2
Application number	US-201514873995-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 2, 2015
Priority date	Oct 3, 2014
Publication date	Jan 23, 2018
Grant date	Jan 23, 2018

Abstract

A method for accessing a device in a primary peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) domain from a secondary PCIe domain includes determining which one or more virtual functions of the device in the primary PCIe domain are to be made available to the secondary PCIe domain. A virtual function driver is installed in the primary PCIe domain associated with the one or more virtual functions. Information corresponding to the one or more virtual functions is provided to the secondary PCIe domain. A virtual function driver associated with the one or more virtual functions is installed in the secondary PCIe domain from the information. The virtual function driver in the secondary PCIe domain has same properties as the virtual function driver in the primary PCIe domain. The device in the primary PCIe domain is accessed from the virtual function driver in the secondary PCIe domain.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for accessing a device in a primary peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) domain from a secondary PCIe domain, the method comprising:
determining, by a shared manager application executable in a central processing unit, one or more virtual functions of a device in the primary PCIe domain to be made available to the secondary PCIe domain for a configuration of the secondary PCIe domain, the shared manager application providing one or more interfaces enabling an exchange of information between the primary and secondary PCIe domains;
installing, by the central processing unit, a first virtual function driver in the primary PCIe domain associated with the one or more virtual functions;
communicating, by the central processing unit, the information corresponding to the one or more virtual functions to the secondary PCIe domain, the information used to install a second virtual function driver in the secondary PCIe domain associated with the one or more virtual functions in the primary PCIe domain, the second virtual function driver in the secondary PCIe domain having common properties as the first virtual function driver in the primary PCIe domain, and the second function driver running as an unchanged virtual function driver as the first virtual function driver; and
accessing, by the central processing unit, the device in the primary PCIe domain from a request by the second virtual function driver in the secondary PCIe domain.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information corresponding to the one or more virtual functions provided to the secondary PCIe domain includes a base address register.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information corresponding to the one or more virtual functions provided to the secondary PCIe domain includes a part of a base address register.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information corresponding to the one or more virtual functions provided to the secondary PCIe domain includes a physical function associated with the device in the primary PCIe domain.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
establishing address translations between the primary PCIe domain and the secondary PCIe domain for accessing the device in the primary PCIe domain.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the primary PCIe domain and the secondary PCIe domain are connected by a first primary endpoint coupled to a second primary endpoint such that the information is provided from the first PCIe domain to the secondary PCIe domain.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the first primary endpoint and the secondary endpoint are Non Transparent Bridges (NTBs).

8. An apparatus for accessing a device in a separate domain, the apparatus comprising:
a memory storing executable instructions; and
a first peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) domain including a Central Processing Unit (CPU) host have a shared manager application, a memory, and a first bridge device, the first bridge device coupled to a second bridge device of a second PCIe domain, the CPU host executing the instructions to:
receive information corresponding to one or more virtual functions of an endpoint device in the second PCIe domain made available to the first PCIe domain for a configuration of the first PCIe domain, the shared manager application providing one or more interfaces enabling an exchange of information between the primary and secondary PCIe domains;
install a virtual function driver associated with the one or more virtual functions, the virtual function driver in the first PCIe domain having common properties as a virtual function driver in the second PCIe domain and the second virtual function driver running as an unchanged virtual function driver as the first virtual function driver; and
access the endpoint device in the second PCIe domain from the virtual function driver in the first PCIe domain.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the information corresponding to the one or more virtual functions received by the CPU host includes a base address register.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the information corresponding to the one or more virtual functions received by the CPU host includes a part of a base address register.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the information corresponding to the one or more virtual functions received by the CPU host includes a physical function associated with the device in the first second PCIe domain.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the CPU host further executes the instructions to establish address translations within the first bridge device and the second bridge device between the first PCIe domain and the second PCIe domain for accessing the device in the first PCIe domain.

13. An apparatus for accessing a device in a separate domain, the apparatus comprising:
a memory storing executable instructions;
a primary peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) domain including a first Central Processing Unit (CPU) host having a shared manager application, an endpoint device, and a first bridge device; and
a secondary PCIe domain including a second CPU host and a second bridge device;
wherein the first CPU host executes the instructions to:
determine one or more virtual functions of the endpoint device in the primary PCIe domain to be made available to the secondary PCIe domain for a configuration of the secondary PCIe domain, the shared manager application providing one or more interfaces enabling an exchange of information between the primary and secondary PCIe domains;

install a first virtual function driver in the primary PCIe domain associated with the one or more virtual functions of the endpoint device; and
communicate the information corresponding to the one or more virtual functions in the primary PCIe domain through the first and second bridge devices to the secondary PCIe domain; and
wherein the second CPU host executes the instructions to:
install a second virtual function driver associated with the one or more virtual functions, wherein the second virtual function driver in the secondary PCIe domain having common properties as the first virtual function driver in the primary PCIe domain and running as an unchanged virtual function driver as the first virtual function driver; and
access the endpoint device in the primary PCIe domain from the second virtual function driver in the secondary PCIe domain through the first and second bridge devices.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the information corresponding to the one or more virtual functions provided to the secondary PCIe domain includes a base address register.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the information corresponding to the one or more virtual functions provided to the secondary PCIe domain includes a part of a base address register.

16. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the information corresponding to the one or more virtual functions provided to the secondary PCIe domain includes a physical function associated with the endpoint device in the primary PCIe domain.

17. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the first and second CPU hosts establish address translations within the first and second bridge devices for accessing the endpoint device in the primary PCIe domain.

Assignees

• Futurewei Technologies Inc

Inventors

• Boyle Thomas
• Yu Chang
• Shao Wesley
• Chen Ligang

Classifications

• G06F13/4072 Primary

  Drivers or receivers (G06F13/4086 takes precedence; for multistate logic circuits H03K19/0002) · CPC title

• G06F13/4282

  on a serial bus, e.g. I2C bus, SPI bus (on daisy chain buses G06F13/4247) · CPC title