Operating system capable of supporting a customized execution environment

A method comprising:

• an operating system of a computer system receiving information regarding a customized execution environment (CE2);
• the operating system partitioning system resources of the computer system, including one or more processors and one or more ranges of physical memory, by (i) determining which of the system resources, if any, are to remain under control of the operating system and which of the system resources are to be placed under control of the CE2, and (ii) associating a first partition of the system resources with the CE2;
• and
• the operating system surrendering full control of the first partition of the system resources to the CE2.

A system comprising:

• one or more storage devices having stored thereon software images of a resident operating system and customized control environment and services associated with one or more custom execution environments (CE2);
• one or more processors, coupled to the one or more storage devices, to execute the resident operating system and the customized control environment and services, where:
• a determination is made with respect to which portion, if any, of resources of the system, including the one or more processors and memory of the system, are to remain under control of the resident operating system and which portion of the resources are to be placed under control of the one or more CE2s;
• and
• the resources are partitioned among the resident operating system and the one or more CE2s by associating one or more portions of the resources with the one or more CE2s.

A server comprising:

• one or more storage devices having stored thereon software images of an operating system and customized control environment and services associated with a concurrent custom execution environment (C2E2), the operating system capable of establishing a first partition of system resources for use and control by the operating system and a second partition of system resources for use and control by the C2E2;
• one or more processors, coupled to the one or more storage devices, to execute the operating system and the customized control environment and services, where:
• a first portion of the one or more storage devices, a first portion of the one or more processors, a first portion of memory, and a first portion of one or more input/output (I/O) devices are associated with the first partition by the operating system;
• a second portion of the one or more storage devices, a second portion of the one or more processors, a second portion of the memory, and a second portion of the one or more input/output (I/O) devices are associated with the second partition by the operating system;
• the first partition is isolated to protect the system resources associated with the operating system from the C2E2 by employing hardware-based security measures;
• and
• full control of the second partition is surrendered to the C2E2 by the operating system initializing and invoking the customized control environment and services in the second portion of memory.

An operating system comprising:

• a means for partitioning system resources into at least a first partition to remain under the control of the operating system and a second partition that is to be placed under the full control of a concurrent custom execution environment (C2E2);
• an interface means to hardware-based isolation features for protecting the system resources of the first partition against access by the C2E2;
• a means for transferring full control of the system resources of the second partition to the C2E2, including initializing and invoking customized control and services associated with the C2E2;
• and
• a means for providing communication between the first partition and the second partition.