System for recovery from a virtual machine monitor failure with a continuous guest dispatched to a nonguest mode

A system for recovery from a hypervisor failure of a logical partition system having operation modes including a guest mode in which logical partitions are operated and a nonguest mode in which a hypervisor for controlling said logical partitions is operated, the system comprising:

• a main storage which is connected with said logical partition system including,
• a continuous guest area having the same host absolute address as a guest absolute address, and being occupied by a continuous guest which is a logical partition which continues to operate even if a failure due to a program error of said hypervisor has occurred, and
• an area in which is stored a program module for dispatching said continuous guest in the nonguest mode in response to detection of said failure;
• means for allocating said continuous guest to said guest area;
• means for detecting the occurrence of said failure due to said program error of said hypervisor;
• and
• means for starting said program module for dispatching said continuous guest in response to the detection of the occurrence of said failure by said detecting means.

A method of recovery from a virtual machine monitor failure of a virtual machine system, having operation modes including a guest mode in which virtual machines are operated and a nonguest mode in which a virtual machine monitor for controlling said virtual machines is operated, connected with a main storage including,

• a continuous guest area having the same host absolute address as a guest absolute address, and being occupied by a continuous guest virtual machine which continues to operate even if a failure due to a program error of said virtual machine monitor has occurred, and
• an area in which is stored a program module for dispatching said continuous guest virtual machine in the nonguest mode in response to detection of said failure, the method comprising the steps of:
• allocating said continuous guest virtual machine to said guest area;
• detecting the occurrence of said failure due to said program error of said virtual machine monitor;
• and
• starting said program module for dispatching said continuous guest virtual machine in response to the detection of the occurrence of said failure by said detecting means.

A method of recovery from a hypervisor failure of a logical partition system connected to a main storage said logical partition system, having operation modes including a guest mode in which logical partitions are operated and a nonguest mode in which a hypervisor for controlling said logical partitions is operated including,

• a continuous guest area having the same host absolute address as a guest absolute address, and being occupied by a continuous guest which is a logical partition which continues to operate even if a failure due to a program error of said hypervisor has occurred, and an area in which is stored a program module for dispatching said continuous guest in the nonguest mode in response to detection of said failure, the method comprising the steps of:
• allocating said continuous guest to said guest area;
• detecting the occurrence of said failure due to said program error of said hypervisor;
• and
• starting said program module for dispatching said continuous guest in response to the detection of the occurrence of said failure by said detecting means.

A method for recovery from a failure of a virtual machine system, said system including a real machine having operation modes including a guest mode in which virtual machines implemented by control of a control program are operated and a nonguest mode in which said control program is operated, and a main memory connected to said real machine, the method comprising the steps:

• allocating a continuous guest virtual machine to an area of said main memory having the same absolute address as a 1.0 continuous guest virtual machine which executes a program to be continued for execution even if a failure has occurred in said control program;
• operating said virtual machine including said continuous guest virtual machine under control of said control program;
• detecting the occurrence of said failure due to a program error of said control program;
• stopping operation of said continuous guest virtual machine and said control program in response to the detection of the occurrence of said failure by said detecting step;
• and
• re-starting processings having been performed on said continuous guest virtual machine in the nonguest mode.