USB Device Sharing over IP Network

News

• 2005.12.06

  The usbip drivers are now experimentally included 2.6.15-rc5-mm1 kernel patch.

• 2005.10.28

  This server has been down until October 28 because of hardware failure.

• 2005.10.17

  This server will be down from October 21 to 24 for maintenance.

• 2005.04.19

  My paper about USB/IP got the best paper award of the USENIX'05 FREENIX track!

• 2005.03.04

  A technical paper will be available soon in the proceedings of USENIX'05. Please catch me in the conference.

• 2004.11.30

  Initial release! This is a pre-alpha release for experts.

• 2004.11.19

  Thank you for your contacts. I am now preparing for the initial release of USB/IP. It will be released until the end of November 2004. Please wait just for a moment.

The latest release is available for download.

Overview

The USB/IP Project aims to develop a general USB device sharing system over IP network. To share USB devices between computers with their full functionality, USB/IP encapsulates "USB protocols" into IP packets and transmits them between computers. Original USB device drivers and applications can be also used for remote USB devices without any modification of them.

• USB storage devices: fdisk, mkfs, mount/umount, file operations, play a DVD movie and record a DVD-R media.
• USB keyboards and USB mice: use with linux console and X Window System.
• USB webcams and USB speakers: view webcam, capture image data and play some music.
• USB printers, USB scanners, USB serial converters and USB Ethernet interfaces: ok, use fine.

In a client host, the VHCI (Virtual Host Controller Interface) driver is implemented as a USB host controller driver. The VHCI driver emulates a real USB host controller interface for virtual attachment/detachment, enumeration and initialization of remote USB devices. It encapsulates USB request blocks and then transmits USB/IP packets to remote server hosts. In a server host, the Stub driver is implemented as a USB per-device driver. The Stub driver decapsulates USB/IP packets into USB requests and then submit them to real USB devices.

USB/IP Design Overview

We have implemented USB/IP in Linux Kernel 2.6 series. The I/O performance is enough practical in local area network with original USB device drivers, including isochronous devices. The USB/IP implementation is available under the open source license GPL.

Documentation

• USB/IP - a Peripheral Bus Extension for Device Sharing over IP Network. Takahiro Hirofuchi, Eiji Kawai, Kazutoshi Fujikawa, and Hideki Sunahara. In the Proceedings of the FREENIX Track: USENIX Annual Technical Conference, pp. 47-60, April 2005. (Awarded FREENIX Track Best Paper!)
• USB/IP: A Transparent Device Sharing Technology over IP Network. Takahiro Hirofuchi, Eiji Kawai, Kazutoshi Fujikawa, and Hideki Sunahara. IPSJ Transactions on Advanced Computing Systems, Vol. 46, No. SIG11(ACS11), pp. 349-361, August 2005. (Also appeared in IPSJ Digital Courier.)

Anyway, if you have any question or comment, please contact me.

Screenshots

usbview Screenshot

A remote USB webcam with an ov511 chip is virtually attached to a computer. We can see ov511 under USB VHCI Root Hub.

Desktop Screenshot

xawtv is working for a remote USB webcam. A remote USB-HDD is also attached to the computer. Click the picture to enlarge.

Downloads

Download is available from sourceforge.net. Please visit our project page.

Please note that this is a pre-alpha release.

• The USB/IP Project in sourceforge.net

Links

• The USB/IP Project in sourceforge.net
• NAIST (Nara Institute of Science and Technology)
  • inet-lab (Laboratory for Internet Architecture and Systems)
    • Network-Attached Device Group
  • about me

Contact