US 2014/0164718 A1 · METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR SHARING MEMORY BETWEEN MULTIPLE PROCESSES OF A VIRTUAL MACHINE

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for sharing memory between multiple processes of a virtual machine are disclosed. A hypervisor associates a plurality of guest user memory regions with a first domain and assigns each associated user process an address space identifier to protect the different user memory regions from the different user processes. In addition, the hypervisor associates a global kernel memory region with a second domain. The global kernel region is reserved for the operating system of the virtual machine and is not accessible to the user processes, because the user processes do not have access rights to memory regions associated with the second domain. The hypervisor also associates a global shared memory region with a third domain. The hypervisor allows user processes associated with the third domain to access the global shared region. Using this global shared memory region, different user processes within a virtual machine may share data without the need to swap the shared data in and out of each processes respective user region of memory.

Claims39

Dependent claims

A method of sharing memory between multiple processes of a first virtual machine, the method comprising:

associating a first region of a memory with a first domain indicative of a user region of the first virtual machine;
associating a second different region of the memory with the first domain indicative of the user region of the first virtual machine;
associating a first address space identifier with a first user process of the first virtual machine and the first region of the memory;
associating a second different address space identifier with a second different user process of the first virtual machine and the second region of the memory, wherein the first address space identifier protects the first region of the memory from access by the second user process, and the second address space identifier protects the second region of the memory from access by the first user process;
associating a third different region of the memory with a second domain indicative of a kernel region of the first virtual machine, wherein the first user process and the second user process each do not have access to the third region of the memory;
and
associating a fourth region of the memory with a third domain indicative of a shared region within the kernel region of the first virtual machine, wherein the first user process and the second user process each have access to the fourth region of the memory.

4 more elements

An apparatus for sharing memory between multiple processes of a first virtual machine, the apparatus comprising:

a hypervisor;
and
at least one physical processor operatively coupled to the hypervisor;
wherein the hypervisor is structured to:
associate a first region of a memory with a first domain indicative of a user region of the first virtual machine;
associate a second different region of the memory with the first domain indicative of the user region of the first virtual machine;
associate a first address space identifier with a first user process of the first virtual machine and the first region of the memory;
associate a second different address space identifier with a second different user process of the first virtual machine and the second region of the memory, wherein the first address space identifier protects the first region of the memory from access by the second user process, and the second address space identifier protects the second region of the memory from access by the first user process;
associate a third different region of the memory with a second domain indicative of a kernel region of the first virtual machine, wherein the first user process and the second user process each do not have access to the third region of the memory;
and
associate a fourth region of the memory with a third domain indicative of a shared region within the kernel region of the first virtual machine, wherein the first user process and the second user process each have access to the fourth region of the memory.

8 more elements

A computer readable memory storing instructions structured to cause an electronic device to:

associate a first region of a memory with a first domain indicative of a user region of the first virtual machine;
associate a second different region of the memory with the first domain indicative of the user region of the first virtual machine;
associate a first address space identifier with a first user process of the first virtual machine and the first region of the memory;
associate a second different address space identifier with a second different user process of the first virtual machine and the second region of the memory, wherein the first address space identifier protects the first region of the memory from access by the second user process, and the second address space identifier protects the second region of the memory from access by the first user process;
associate a third different region of the memory with a second domain indicative of a kernel region of the first virtual machine, wherein the first user process and the second user process each do not have access to the third region of the memory;
and
associate a fourth region of the memory with a third domain indicative of a shared region within the kernel region of the first virtual machine, wherein the first user process and the second user process each have access to the fourth region of the memory.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Methods and apparatus for sharing memory between multiple processes of a virtual machine

Life of this patent

Methods and apparatus for sharing memory between multiple processes of a virtual machine

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims39