Efficient disk cache management for virtual machines

A method comprising:

• storing, as dirty memory, data from a virtual machine (VM) executing on a hypervisor at least until the data is written out to a data storage;
• selecting a persistence setting for managing write out of the dirty memory of the VM into the data storage;
• based on the persistence setting being a first setting, periodically triggering write out of at least a portion of the dirty memory to the data storage;
• and
• based on the persistence setting being a second setting, disabling periodic triggering, by the hypervisor, of the write out of the dirty memory into the data storage.

A non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a computer system, cause the computer system to:

• store, as dirty memory, data from a virtual machine (VM) at least until the data is written to a data storage;
• select a persistence setting for managing the dirty memory of the VM;
• based on the persistence setting being a first setting, periodically trigger writing at least a portion of the dirty memory to the data storage;
• and
• based on the persistence setting being a second setting, prevent periodic triggering, by a hypervisor, of the writing of the dirty memory into the data storage.