Sharing network adapter among multiple logical partitions in a data processing system

摘要

A data processing system comprising a set of logical partitions and at least one hardware resource that is shared by two or more of the partitions is disclosed. The hardware resource is typically a network communication device such as a conventional network adapter. A first logical partition will generally take control or ownership of the resource through resource driver software that is part of the first partition. The other partitions that want to share the resource typically then register themselves with the first partition. In one embodiment, the registration of each subsequent partition is achieved by registering a set of low level network identifiers with the resource driver software. In one embodiment, a Media Access Control (MAC) address is assigned to each logical partition and the logical partition registers this address with the resource driver to identify itself from other logical partitions. The first partition will then typically configured the resource to prevent any hardware filtering of packets or other information that the resource might otherwise engage in. Once the hardware filtering is deactivated, the resource can receive and accept any and all packets on the connected medium. The driver software can then compare the destination MAC address against the list of registered MAC addresses and forward the packet to the appropriate LPAR if a match is detected. The driver can typically also accommodate broadcast packets that are intended to be delivered to every node on the network.