METHODS AND SYSTEMS TO PERMIT MULTIPLE VIRTUAL MACHINES TO SEPARATELY CONFIGURE AND ACCESS A PHYSICAL RESOURCE

摘要

Methods and systems to permit multiple virtual machines (VMs) to separately configure and access a physical resource, substantially outside of a virtual machine monitor (VMM) that hosts the VMs. Each of a plurality of virtual machines (VMs) may access and configure the physical device through corresponding instances of a device driver that exposes controllable functions of the physical device within the VMs. VM-specific configuration parameters and connection information may be maintained for each of the VMs, outside of a VMM, to reconfigure or virtualize the physical device for each of the VMs with the corresponding VM-specific configuration parameters and connection information. Physical device virtualization augmentation features may be implemented within a combination of a physical device controller and a host device driver that executes outside of the VM.