Check-point based high availability: network packet buffering in hardware

A data processing device comprising:

• a processor;
• an input/output (I/O) interface coupled to an external network;
• a physical network adapter implementing Single Root Input/Output Virtualization Technology (SR-IOV) technology;
• and
• a memory coupled to the processor that memory includes:
• a hypervisor;
• a checkpoint application;
• a plurality of operating system (OS) partitions;
• a plurality of virtual machines (VMs);
• and
• a utility that when executed on the processor enables the physical network adapter to:
• preconfigure, before transmission of one or more outgoing network packets from a first virtual machine of a plurality of virtual machines on a primary host, the physical network adapter of the data processing system to buffer outgoing packets of virtual machines employing a checkpointing technology, wherein the physical network adapter is represented to the primary host as a plurality of virtual input/output (I/O) adapters, wherein each virtual I/O adapter of the plurality of virtual I/O adapters is assigned to a virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines, wherein each virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines of the plurality of virtual I/O adapters is assigned a unique media access control (MAC) address;
• receive, from one or more virtual machines of the plurality of virtual machines, configuration information associated with the one or more virtual machines that provides an indication that the one or more virtual machines employ a checkpointing technology;
• receive at the physical network adapter the one or more outgoing network packets originating from a first virtual machine on the primary host;
• in response receiving the one or more outgoing network packets from the first virtual machine:
• determine whether the first virtual machine employs the checkpointing technology;
• and
• in response to determining the first virtual machine employs the checkpointing technology, buffer the one or more outgoing network packets from the first virtual machine within a dedicated buffer at the physical network adapter;
• receive a notification that a checkpointing operation has successfully completed;
• and
• in response receiving the notification that the checkpointing operation has successfully completed, trigger, using a checkpoint command, transmission of the buffered one or more outgoing network packets from the physical network adapter to a destination within a corresponding network;
• wherein the physical network adapter is aware of the existence of the plurality of virtual machines and individual traffic originating from the plurality of virtual machines.

A computer program product comprising:

• a non-transitory computer readable storage device;
• and
• program code on the non-transitory computer readable storage device that when executed by a processor within a data processing system enables a physical network adapter of data processing system to perform a functions comprising:
• preconfiguring, before transmission of one or more outgoing network packets from a first virtual machine of a plurality of virtual machines on a primary host, the physical network adapter of the data processing system to buffer outgoing packets of virtual machines employing a checkpointing technology, wherein the physical network adapter is configured with Single Root IO Virtualization technology (i.e., SR-IOV), wherein the physical network adapter is represented to the primary host as a plurality of virtual input/output (I/O) adapters, wherein each virtual I/O adapter of the plurality of virtual I/O adapters is assigned to a virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines, and wherein each virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines of the plurality of virtual I/O adapters is assigned a unique media access control (MAC) address;
• receiving, from one or more virtual machines of the plurality of virtual machines, configuration information associated with the one or more virtual machines that provides an indication that the one or more virtual machines employ a checkpointing technology;
• receiving the one or more outgoing network packets originating from a first virtual machine on the primary host;
• in response to receiving the one or more outgoing network packets from the first virtual machine, the physical network adapter:
• determining whether the first virtual machine employs the checkpointing technology;
• and
• in response to determining the first virtual machine employs the checkpointing technology, buffering the one or more outgoing network packets from the first virtual machine within a dedicated buffer at the physical network adapter;
• receiving a notification that the checkpointing operation has successfully completed;
• and
• in response to the physical network adapter receiving the notification that the checkpointing operation has successfully completed, triggering, using a checkpoint command, transmission of the buffered one or more outgoing network packets from the physical network adapter to a destination within a corresponding network;
• wherein the physical network adapter is aware of the existence of the plurality of virtual machines and individual traffic originating from the plurality of virtual machines.