Zoning data to a virtual machine

Abstract

In a method to zone data to a virtual machine, support information is exchanged between a physical controller and an expander, the support information comprising an indication of an ability of the physical controller and the expander to support thereon a set of virtual controllers and a set of virtual physical layers (virtual PHYs), respectively. In response to a positive indication sending a list of SAS addresses to the expander, a list of SAS addresses is sent to the expander. Then, a first SAS address of the list of SAS addresses is assigned to a first virtual PHY of the set of virtual PHYs, wherein the assigning is performed by the expander, and wherein the first virtual PHY at an assigned SAS address corresponds to a first virtual controller of the set of virtual controllers.

1 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions stored which, when executed by an expander of a serial attached small computer system interface (SAS) switch, cause the expander to:
 exchange support information between the expander and a physical controller, the physical controller coupled to a server, the support information comprising an indication of an ability of the physical controller to support a set of virtual controllers and an indication of an ability of the expander to support a set of virtual PHYs;   receive a list of SAS addresses at the expander from the physical controller, the SAS addresses representing virtual controllers of the set of virtual controllers; and   assign a first SAS address of the list of SAS addresses to a first virtual PHY of the set of virtual PHYs by the expander based upon virtual PHY to physical controller PHY mapping information, the first virtual PHY at an assigned SAS address corresponding to a first virtual controller of the set of virtual controllers.   
     
     
         2 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , the instructions to further cause the expander to:
 receive data via the first virtual PHY.   
     
     
         3 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 2 , the instructions to further cause the expander to:
 couple a storage drive with the first virtual PHY.   
     
     
         4 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , the instructions to further cause the expander to:
 access a virtual to physical mapping table having virtual to physical mapping table information comprising the virtual PHY to physical controller PHY mapping information.   
     
     
         5 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 4 , the instructions to further cause the expander to:
 determine a target physical controller PHY of at least one physical controller PHY for received data based on the virtual PHY to physical controller PHY mapping information, the at least one physical controller PHY being coupled with the physical controller.   
     
     
         6 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 5 , the instructions to further cause the expander to:
 send the received data from the expander to the target physical controller PHY.   
     
     
         7 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , the instructions to further cause the expander to:
 receive zoning instructions via a graphical user interface, the zoning instructions comprising the virtual PHY to physical controller PHY mapping information.   
     
     
         8 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , the instructions to further cause the expander to:
 assign a second SAS address of the list of SAS addresses to a second virtual PHY of the set of virtual PHYs, the second virtual PHY at a second assigned SAS address representing a second virtual controller of the set of virtual controllers.   
     
     
         9 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 8 , the instructions to further cause the expander to:
 receive data at the second virtual PHY.   
     
     
         10 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , the instructions to further cause the expander to:
 determine expander PHYs on the expander, the expander PHYs comprising at least one of a set of expander physical PHYs and the set of virtual PHYs.   
     
     
         11 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 10 , the instructions to further cause the expander to:
 access information about a device coupled with one of the expander PHYs.   
     
     
         12 . A serial attached small computer system interface (SAS) switch comprising:
 an expander coupled with a physical controller having at least one physical controller PHY, the expander comprising:
 a virtual to physical mapping table comprising virtual PHY to physical controller PHY mapping information; and 
 a set of virtual PHYs to receive data to be routed to a first virtual machine; and 
   a set of expander PHYs coupled with the expander to relay the data to a physical controller PHY of the at least one physical controller PHY, the expander to exchange support information with the physical controller, the support information comprising an indication of an ability of the physical controller to support a set of virtual controllers and an indication of an ability of the expander to support the set of virtual PHYs.   
     
     
         13 . The SAS switch of  claim 12 , the expander further to:
 receive a list of SAS addresses from the physical controller, the SAS addresses of the list of SAS addresses representing virtual controllers of the set of virtual controllers.   
     
     
         14 . The SAS switch of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 a SAS address list assigner coupled with the expander to assign a first SAS address of the list of SAS addresses to a first virtual PHY of the set of virtual PHYs, the first virtual PHY at the first SAS address corresponding to a first virtual controller of the set of virtual controllers on the first virtual machine.   
     
     
         15 . The SAS switch of  claim 14 , further comprising:
 a virtual to physical mapping table information accessor coupled with the expander to access the virtual PHY to physical controller PHY mapping information.   
     
     
         16 . The SAS switch of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 a target PHY determiner coupled with the virtual to physical mapping table information accessor to determine a target physical controller PHY of the at least one physical controller PHY to which to send the data based on the virtual PHY to physical controller PHY mapping information.   
     
     
         17 . The SAS switch of  claim 12 , the virtual to physical mapping table is based upon zoning instructions for the expander from a graphical user interface, the zoning instructions comprising at least one virtual PHY to physical controller mapping direction. 
     
     
         18 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions stored which, when executed by a physical controller of a server, cause the physical controller to:
 communicate with an expander that is coupled with a serial attached small computer system interface (SAS) switch to determine that the expander is enabled to support a set of virtual PHYs;   send a list of SAS addresses via at least one physical controller PHY coupled with the physical controller to the expander when the expander is determined to be enabled to support the set of virtual PHYs, the SAS addresses of the list of SAS addresses representing virtual controllers; and   receive target physical controller PHY data at a target physical controller PHY of the at least one physical controller PHY from the expander.   
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 18 , the instructions to further cause the physical controller to:
 access the target physical controller PHY data received at the target physical controller PHY.   
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 19 , the instructions to further cause the physical controller to:
 send the target physical controller PHY data to a first virtual controller of the virtual controllers that is associated with the target physical controller PHY.