Categorizing Memory Pages Based On Page Residences

A computer program product for providing hints for page stealing by prioritizing pages based on the number of residences for the pages in a virtual environment comprising:

• one or more computer-readable tangible storage media;
• and
• program instructions stored on the one or more computer-readable tangible storage media, the program instructions comprising:
• program instructions to receive a plurality of pages that are candidates to be hinted to a hypervisor for page stealing;
• program instructions to determine at least two page types from the plurality of pages;
• program instructions to determine whether any of the at least two page types have a total number of residences less than a total number of potential residences in a virtual environment for all page types and have a total number of residences less than a threshold;
• and
• program instructions, responsive to determining a first page type of the at least two page types has a total number of residences less than a total number of potential residences in a virtual environment for all page types and has a total number of residences less than a threshold, to notify the hypervisor of at least one page, from the plurality of pages, that is of the first page type.

A computer system for providing hints for page stealing by prioritizing pages based on the number of residences for the pages in a virtual environment comprising:

• one or more computer processors;
• one or more computer-readable tangible storage media;
• and
• program instructions, stored on the one or more computer-readable tangible storage media for execution by at least one of the one or more computer processors, the program instructions comprising:
• program instructions to receive a plurality of pages that are candidates to be hinted to a hypervisor for page stealing;
• program instructions to determine at least two page types from the plurality of pages;
• program instructions to determine whether any of the at least two page types have a total number of residences less than a total number of potential residences in a virtual environment for all page types and have a total number of residences less than a threshold;
• and
• program instructions, responsive to determining a first page type of the at least two page types has a total number of residences less than a total number of potential residences in a virtual environment for all page types and has a total number of residences less than a threshold, to notify the hypervisor of at least one page, from the plurality of pages, that is of the first page type.