Configuration capability for devices in an open system having the capability of adding or changing devices by user commands

摘要

A screen-oriented process is used for configuring devices in an open computer system. The computer system includes an operating system having device drivers, and the operating system can be run as a virtual machine on a virtual resource manager wherein a procedure is used to bind the device drivers of the operating system and the virtual resource manager and an attached device on a particular port of an adapter using device dependent information. The configuring process initially requires the creation of device dependent information files for a plurality of devices and device types, and these files are installed in the computer system. Each file includes adpater specific information and device specific information consolidated in a single file. The user may invoke a configuration command, and the system responds by displaying a plurality of commands such as add, change, delete and show and prompts the user to choose a command. If the add command is chosen, the system displays a list of predefined devices and adapters of the device type specified by the user and prompts the user to choose from among the predefined devices and adapters in the list. When the user makes a choice, the system then asks the user whether the device dependent information for the chosen device and adapter should be displayed so that the user has the option of changing either or both the adapter specific information and the device specific information in one step. Similarly, if the change command is chosen, the information for the previously installed device specified by the user is displayed so that the user has the option of changing either or both the adapter specific information and the device specific information in one step.