Physical memory management for virtual machines

A system comprising:

• a non-transitory memory storing data;
• one or more memories storing computer executable instructions for execution by one or more microprocessors;
• the one or more microprocessors in communication with the non-transitory memory and the one or more memories;
• wherein
• the computer executable instructions when executed by the one or more microprocessors configure the one or more microprocessors to:
• execute a virtual machine comprising at least a virtual processor;
• execute a plurality of guest operating system (guest OS) processes upon one or more virtual machines comprising a plurality of virtual processors;
• inject a guest hardware interrupt into a virtual processor of the plurality of virtual processors executing a first guest OS process of the plurality of guest OS processes to transfer the virtual processor of the plurality of virtual processors to another guest OS process of the plurality of guest OS processes and execute the another guest OS process of the plurality of guest OS processes;
• and
• provide a virtual machine monitor (VMM) which controls the virtual machine;
• a first portion of the computer executable instructions relate to a kernel and managing communications with the non-transitory memory;
• and
• a second portion of the computer executable instructions when executed by the one or more microprocessors configure the one or more microprocessors to:
• generate an indication of a first fault relating to an instruction of a first guest OS process of the plurality of guest OS processes;
• communicate the indication of the first fault to the kernel;
• execute the first guest OS process of a plurality of guest OS processes;
• establish a read request by the first guest OS process of the plurality of guest OS processes to read a page from the non-transitory memory;
• generate an asynchronous request to the non-transitory memory for the page;
• switch to the second guest OS process of the plurality of guest OS processes;
• establish receipt of a hardware interrupt from the non-transitory memory;
• halt the second guest OS process of the plurality of guest OS processes;
• complete the read request;
• and
• restart execution of the first guest OS process of the plurality of first guest OS processes.

A system comprising:

• a non-transitory memory storing data;
• one or more memories storing computer executable instructions for execution by one or more microprocessors;
• the one or more microprocessors in communication with the non-transitory memory and the one or more memories;
• wherein
• the computer executable instructions when executed by the one or more microprocessors configure the one or more microprocessors to:
• execute a virtual machine comprising at least a virtual processor;
• execute a first guest operating system (OS) process of a plurality of guest OS processes with the virtual machine;
• inject a guest hardware interrupt into the virtual processor executing the first guest OS process of the plurality of guest OS processes to switch the virtual processor to execute another guest OS process of the plurality of guest OS processes whilst the first guest OS process of the plurality of guest OS processes waits for data requested by a previous instruction or the current instruction to become available to the first guest OS process of the plurality of guest OS processes;
• provide a hypervisor or virtual machine monitor;
• generate a first fault exception from the first guest OS process of the plurality of guest OS processes, the first fault exception associated with a page fault established in dependence upon a read request by the first guest OS process of the plurality of guest OS processes to read a page from the non-transitory memory, the page having a virtual address within the first guest OS process of the plurality of guest OS processes and a physical address associated with the non-transitory memory;
• execute an operating system kernel in dependence upon the first fault exception;
• generate a second fault exception from the first guest OS process of the plurality of guest OS processes;
• handle the second fault exception through a virtualization event loop;
• initiate an asynchronous memory allocation request from the virtualization event loop to an operating system of a computer system comprising the second microprocessor to allocate memory to store the page;
• generate a synthetic interrupt from the virtualization event loop;
• add the allocated memory into a virtual machine working set of the hypervisor or virtual machine monitor;
• map the virtual machine working set to a set of cache tables associated with the hypervisor or virtual machine monitor;
• and
• restart the instruction associated with the first guest OS process of the plurality of guest OS processes which generated the second fault exception;
• and
• the hypervisor or virtual machine monitor controls the virtual machine.

A system comprising:

• a non-transitory memory storing data;
• one or more memories storing computer executable instructions for execution by one or more microprocessors;
• the one or more microprocessors in communication with the non-transitory memory and the one or more memories;
• wherein
• the computer executable instructions when executed by the one or more microprocessors configure the one or more microprocessors to:
• execute a virtual machine comprising at least a virtual processor;
• execute a plurality of guest operating system (guest OS) processes upon one or more virtual machines comprising a plurality of virtual processors;
• inject a guest hardware interrupt into a virtual processor of the plurality of virtual processors executing a first guest OS process of the plurality of guest OS processes to transfer the virtual processor of the plurality of virtual processors to another guest OS process of the plurality of guest OS processes and execute the another guest OS process of the plurality of guest OS processes;
• and
• provide a virtual machine monitor (VMM) which controls the virtual machine;
• a first portion of the computer executable instructions relate to the first guest OS process of the plurality of guest OS processes and to the VMM;
• and
• a second portion of the computer executable instructions configure the one or more microprocessors to:
• generate an indication of a first fault relating to an instruction of a first guest OS process of the plurality of guest OS processes;
• communicate the indication of the first fault to the VMM;
• handle the first fault with a virtualization event loop forming part of the VMM;
• initiate an asynchronous memory allocation request to a host operating system (OS) from the virtualization event loop;
• generating a synthetic guest interrupt with the virtualization event loop;
• restart the instruction of the first guest OS process of the plurality of guest OS processes with either a pending guest hardware interrupt or an emulated switch to a synthetic hardware interrupt handler in accordance with a set of guest emulation rules associated with the first computer system;
• inject a synthetic hardware interrupt into a guest interrupt descriptor table forming part of the first memory;
• execute a guest operating system kernel which:
• handles with a synthetic interrupt handler the synthetic hardware interrupt;
• establishes a scheduling operation;
• transmits a request to the non-transitory storage memory a request for a page of data;
• and
• interrupts the first process of the plurality of processes;
• switches execution from the first process of the plurality of processes to a second process of the plurality of processes;
• and
• receives a hardware interrupt from the non-transitory storage memory;
• add allocated memory established in dependence by the host OS in dependence upon the memory allocation request to a virtual machine working set forming part of the VMM;
• map that portion of the virtual machine working set related to the allocated memory to a set of cache tables forming part of the VMM;
• and
• restart the first process of the plurality of processes based upon rescheduling established by the scheduling operation.

A system comprising:

• a non-transitory memory storing data;
• one or more memories storing computer executable instructions for execution by one or more microprocessors;
• the one or more microprocessors in communication with the non-transitory memory and the one or more memories;
• wherein
• the computer executable instructions when executed by the one or more microprocessors configure the one or more microprocessors to:
• execute a virtual machine comprising at least a virtual processor;
• execute a plurality of guest operating system (guest OS) processes upon one or more virtual machines comprising a plurality of virtual processors;
• inject a guest hardware interrupt into a virtual processor of the plurality of virtual processors executing a first guest OS process of the plurality of guest OS processes to transfer the virtual processor of the plurality of virtual processors to another guest OS process of the plurality of guest OS processes and execute the another guest OS process of the plurality of guest OS processes;
• and
• provide a virtual machine monitor (VMM) which controls the virtual machine;
• a first portion of the computer executable instructions relate to the first guest OS process of the plurality of guest OS processes and to the VMM;
• and
• a second portion of the computer executable instructions configure the one or more microprocessors to:
• generate an indication of a first fault relating to an instruction of a first guest OS process of the plurality of guest OS processes;
• communicate the indication of the first fault to the VMM;
• handle the first fault with a virtualization event loop forming part of the VMM;
• initiate an asynchronous memory allocation request to a host operating system (OS) from the virtualization event loop;
• generate a synthetic guest interrupt with the virtualization event loop;
• restart the instruction of the first guest OS process of the plurality of guest OS processes with either a pending guest hardware interrupt or an emulated switch to a synthetic hardware interrupt handler in accordance with a set of guest emulation rules associated with the first computer system;
• inject a synthetic hardware interrupt into a guest interrupt descriptor table forming part of the first memory;
• execute a guest operating system kernel which:
• establishes a synthetic driver helper
• switches execution from the first guest OS process of the plurality of guest OS processes to a second guest OS process of the plurality of guest OS processes;
• and
• receives a hardware interrupt from the non-transitory storage memory;
• add allocated memory established in dependence by the host OS in dependence upon the memory allocation request to a virtual machine working set forming part of the VMM;
• mapping that portion of the virtual machine working set related to the allocated memory to a set of cache tables forming part of the VMM;
• and
• restart the first guest OS process of the plurality of guest OS processes based upon rescheduling established by the scheduling operation.