Cooperated interrupt moderation for a virtualization environment

A system comprising, one or more storage mediums having stored thereon, individually or in combination, instructions for moderating interrupts in a virtualization environment supported by a host system, the host system comprising a host processor, and a guest executed on the host processor, the guest comprising a virtual processor and a guest process executed on the virtual processor, the guest process comprising a network application associated with a packet flow, said instruction, when executed by one or more processors, result in the following operations comprising:

• defining an overflow interrupt interval for a device in communication with the host system, the overflow interrupt interval related to a receive buffer overflow event in said host system when said guest is inactive, the receive buffer overflow event related to said network application;
• defining a latency interrupt interval for the device;
• when the guest is inactive, moderating interrupts from the device based on the overflow buffer interval so that a first interrupt is generated from the device to the host when the overflow interrupt interval expires and a packet associated with the network application has been received by the device, said first interrupt configured to activate said guest so that said guest may respond to said receive buffer overflow event;
• and
• when the guest is active on the host system, moderating interrupts from the device based on the latency interrupt interval so that a second interrupt is interrupted from the device to the host when the latency interrupt interval expires and a packet associated with the network application has been received by the device.

A system comprising:

• a host comprising a host processor coupled to host memory, wherein the host memory is configured to store a guest executed on the host processor, the guest comprising a virtual processor and a guest process executed on the virtual processor, the guest process comprising a network application associated with a packet flow;
• and
• a network adapter coupled to the host, the network adapter comprising interrupt moderation circuitry configured to:
• store an overflow interrupt interval for the network adapter in communication with the host system, the overflow interrupt interval related to a receive buffer overflow event in the host when said guest is inactive, the receive buffer overflow event related to said network application;
• store a latency interrupt interval for the network adapter;
• when the guest is inactive, moderating interrupts from the device based on the overflow buffer interval so that a first interrupt is generated from the network adapter to the host when the overflow interrupt interval expires and a packet associated with the network application has been received by the network adapter, said first interrupt configured to activate said guest so that said guest may respond to said receive buffer overflow event;
• and
• when the guest is active on the host system, moderate interrupts from the network adapter based on the latency interrupt interval so that a second interrupt is interrupted from the network adapter to the host when the latency interrupt interval expires and a packet associated with the network application has been received by the network adapter.