System and method for starting virtual machine monitor in common with already installed operating system

A computer system comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory;
• a Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM) running on the processor with system level privileges;
• a primary Virtual Machine (VM) without system level privileges and having a host operating system (HOS) running inside the primary VM;
• and
• a secondary Virtual Machine running without system level privileges,
• wherein the VMM uses the HOS to access at least some I/O devices.

A method of virtualizing a computer system comprising:

• on the computer system having an installed host operating system (HOS) with system privileges, starting a Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM);
• creating a primary Virtual Machine (VM);
• transferring the HOS to inside the primary VM, the HOS, after the transfer, having direct access to at least some hardware devices;
• giving the VMM system privileges;
• and
• launching a secondary VM without system privileges.

A method of virtualizing a bare computer system comprising:

• installing a Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM) with system privileges on the bare computer system;
• prior to installing a host operating system (OS), creating a primary Virtual Machine (VM);
• and
• installing a host operating system (HOS) inside the primary VM.

A computer system comprising:

• a hardware processor having a Virtual Machine treatment mode;
• a hardware memory accessed by the hardware processor;
• a Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM) running on the processor in the Virtual Machine treatment mode;
• a primary Virtual Machine (VM) running as a user application and having a host operating system (HOS) running inside the primary VM;
• and
• a secondary Virtual Machine running as a user application.

A computer program product for virtualizing a bare computer system, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer useable medium having computer program logic recorded thereon for controlling at least one processor, the computer program logic comprising:

• computer program code means for installing a Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM) with system privileges on the bare computer system;
• computer program code means for creating a primary Virtual Machine (VM);
• and
• computer program code means for installing a host operating system (HOS) inside the primary VM.

A virtualization system for a computer, the computer comprising a host processor, physical system devices, and a host operating system (HOS), and wherein the computer is operationally divided into a system level and a user level, the virtualization system comprising:

• the host processor;
• a memory;
• computer code loaded into the memory to implement the following functionality
• at least one Virtual Machine monitor (VMM) at the system level and interfacing to the processor and physical system devices;
• a primary Virtual Machine (VM) operatively connected with the VMM,
• wherein the HOS is at the user level running inside the primary VM,
• wherein the primary VM and the HOS have direct access to at least some of the physical system devices, and
• wherein the VMM accesses the physical system devices via the primary VM and the HOS.

A computer system comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory;
• computer code loaded into the memory to implement the following functionality:
• a Hypervisor having the highest privilege level;
• a Primary Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM) running with the same or fewer privileges than the Hypervisor;
• a Primary Virtual Machine (PVM) without system level privileges and having a Primary operating system (POS) running the PVM as a host OS inside,
• wherein the POS is the same operating system that ran on the computer system prior to activation of the Hypervisor and having direct access to at least some hardware of the computer system.

A computer cluster comprising:

• a plurality of hardware computing nodes, each node having a Hypervisor with the highest privilege level, and a Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM) running with same or fewer privileges than the Hypervisor, and a Virtual Machine (VM) running on a user level;
• and
• each node also having a Primary operating system (POS) running inside the corresponding VM and as a host operating system,
• wherein the POS is the same operating system that ran on the computer system prior to activation of the Hypervisor and having direct access to at least some hardware devices of its node.

A computer system comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory;
• computer code loaded into the memory to implement the following functionality:
• a Hypervisor running on the processor and having the highest privilege level;
• a plurality of Virtual Machine Monitors (VMMs) running with the same or fewer privileges than the Hypervisor;
• a plurality of Virtual Machines (VMs) without system level privileges and each having a Primary operating system (POS) running a corresponding inside VM,
• wherein each POS is the same operating system that ran on the computer system prior to activation of the Hypervisor but having direct access to a subset of physical hardware devices of the computer system, and wherein one of the POS's is acting as a host operating system.

A method of virtualization comprising:

• on a computer system having a host operating system, initiating a Hypervisor having the highest privilege level;
• initiating a Primary Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM) running with the same or fewer privileges than the Hypervisor;
• initiating a Virtual Machine (VM) without system level privileges, the VMM controlling the VM;
• and
• migrating the host operating system inside the VM, wherein the host operating system, after the migration, has more privileges than a user application but fewer privileges than the VMM.

A method of computer system crash recovery comprising:

• on a computer system having a host operating system, initiating a Hypervisor having the highest privilege level;
• initiating a plurality of Virtual Machine Monitors (VMMs) running with some system level privileges but with fewer privileges than the Hypervisor;
• initiating a Virtual Machine (VM) without system level privileges corresponding to each VMM;
• migrating the host operating system inside one of the VMs and activating it as a Primary OS;
• maintaining at least one quiescent Primary OS inside one of the other VMs;
• and
• upon failure of the Primary OS, upgrading the quiescent Primary OS to active Primary OS having more privileges than a user application and acting as the host operating system.

A method of computer system crash recovery comprising:

• on a computer system having a host operating system, initiating a Hypervisor having the highest privilege level;
• initiating a plurality of Virtual Machine Monitors (VMMs) running with some system level privileges but with fewer or same privileges than the Hypervisor;
• initiating a Virtual Machine (VM) on the user level corresponding to each VMM;
• and
• migrating the host operating system inside one of the VMs and activating it as a Primary OS having more privileges than a user application;
• initiating Guest OS's inside the other VMs;
• and
• upon failure of the Primary OS, upgrading one of the Guest OS's to Primary OS having more privileges than a user application and acting as the host operating system the reserved VM.

A method of computer system crash recovery comprising:

• on a computer system having a host operating system, initiating a Hypervisor having the highest privilege level;
• initiating a plurality of Virtual Machine Monitors (VMMs) running with the same or fewer privileges as the Hypervisor;
• initiating a Virtual Machine (VM) on the user level corresponding to each VMM, and reserving at least one of the VMs and an operating system inside the reserved VM as a reserved Primary VM and a reserved Primary OS;
• and
• upon failure of the Primary OS, activating the reserved Primary OS having the same privileges as the failed Primary OS and running as the host operating system.