Indexed page address translation to reduce memory footprint in virtualized environments
AssigneeIntel Corporation
InventorSebastian Schoenberg
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Embodiments of systems, apparatuses, and methods for performing guest logical memory address to host physical memory address translation are described. In some embodiments, a system receives the guest logical memory address and determines an index page reference from the guest logical memory address. The system further retrieves a page index corresponding to the virtual machine. In addition, the system retrieves a first part of the host physical memory address from index page using the page index and a second part of the host physical memory address from the guest logical memory address. The system generates the host physical memory address from the first and second parts of the host physical memory address.
Claims18
A method of converting a memory address, comprising:
- receiving a guest logical memory address for a virtual machine;
- determining an index page reference from the guest logical memory address, wherein an index page allows a plurality of virtual machines to share an extended page table;
- retrieving a page index corresponding to the virtual machine from a virtual machine control structure of the virtual machine;
- retrieving a first part of the host physical memory address from an index page identified by the index page reference using the page index;
- retrieving a second part of the host physical memory address from the guest logical memory address;
- and
- generating the host physical memory address from the first and second parts of the host physical memory address.
A device, comprising:
- a receive guest logical memory address module configured to receive the guest logical memory address;
- a determine index page entry module adapted to determine an index page reference from the guest logical memory address, wherein an index page allows a plurality of virtual machines to share an extended page table;
- a retrieve index page module adapted to retrieve a page index corresponding to the virtual machine from a virtual machine control structure of the virtual machine;
- a retrieve first part of the host physical memory address module adapted to retrieve a first part of the host physical memory address from an index page using the page index identified by the index page reference;
- a retrieve second part of the host physical memory address module adapted to retrieve a second part of the host physical memory address from the guest logical memory address;
- and
- a generate host physical memory address module adapted to generate the host physical memory address from the first and second parts of the host physical memory address.
A non-transitory machine-readable medium having executable instructions to perform a method to convert a memory address, the method comprising:
- receiving a guest logical memory address for a virtual machine;
- determining an index page reference from the guest logical memory address, wherein an index page allows a plurality of virtual machines to share an extended page table;
- retrieving a page index corresponding to the virtual machine from a virtual machine control structure of the virtual machine;
- retrieving a first part of the host physical memory address from an index page identified by the index page reference using the page index;
- retrieving a second part of the host physical memory address from the guest logical memory address;
- and
- generating the host physical memory address from the first and second parts of the host physical memory address.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.