Virtual machine data structures corresponding to nested virtualization levels

A method comprising:

• initializing a first virtual machine data structure, by a root hypervisor running on a processor providing hardware virtualization, the first virtual machine data structure corresponding to a first nested virtualization level in which a plurality of first nested virtual machines are located;
• initializing a second virtual machine data structure, by a first nested virtualization level hypervisor running within the first nested virtual machines, the second virtual machine data structure corresponding to a second nested virtualization level in which a plurality of second nested virtual machines are located;
• permitting the root hypervisor to access the first virtual machine data structure or the second virtual machine data structure;
• and,
• permitting the first nested virtualization level hypervisor to access the second virtual machine data structure but not the first virtual machine data structure,
• wherein the first virtual machine data structure is to assist management of the hardware virtualization provided by the processor for all the first nested virtual machines, and the second virtual machine data structure is to assist management of the hardware virtualization provided by the processor for all the second nested virtual machines,
• wherein the first virtual machine data structure includes a privilege violation variable indicating which hypervisor of the hypervisors to which execution is to proceed responsive to a privilege violation by any first nested virtual machine,
• wherein the second virtual machine data structure includes a privilege violation variable indicating which hypervisor of the hypervisors to which execution is to proceed responsive to a privilege violation by any second nested virtual machine,
• wherein each virtual machine data structure comprises a bit mask corresponding to privileges of the nested virtual machines located within the nested virtualization level to which the virtual machine data structure corresponds, the privileges indicating which hardware virtualization instructions of the processor the nested virtual machines are permitted to execute.

A computer program product comprising:

• a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable code embodied therein, the computer-readable code executable by a processor providing hardware virtualization, the computer-readable code comprising:
• first computer-readable code encompassing a root hypervisor to initialize a first virtual machine data structure corresponding to a first nested virtualization level in which a plurality of first nested virtual machines are located;
• second computer-readable code encompassing a first nested virtualization level hypervisor running within the first nested virtual machines to initialize a second virtual machine data structure corresponding to a second nested virtualization level in which a plurality of second nested virtual machines are located;
• third computer-readable code permit to the root hypervisor to access the first virtual machine data structure or the second virtual machine data structure, and to permit the first nested virtualization level hypervisor to access the second virtual machine data structure but not the first virtual machine data structure,
• wherein the first virtual machine data structure is to assist management of the hardware virtualization provided by the processor for all the first nested virtual machines, and the second virtual machine data structure is to assist management of the hardware virtualization provided by the processor for all the second nested virtual machines,
• wherein the first virtual machine data structure includes a privilege violation variable indicating which hypervisor of the hypervisors to which execution is to proceed responsive to a privilege violation by any first nested virtual machine,
• wherein the second virtual machine data structure includes a privilege violation variable indicating which hypervisor of the hypervisors to which execution is to proceed responsive to a privilege violation by any second nested virtual machine,
• wherein each virtual machine data structure comprises a bit mask corresponding to privileges of the nested virtual machines located within the nested virtualization level to which the virtual machine data structure corresponds, the privileges indicating which hardware virtualization instructions of the processor the nested virtual machines are permitted to execute.