Using a virtual machine instance as the basic unit of user execution in a server environment

• US 20050132368A1
• Filed: 01/10/2005
• Published: 06/16/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: David Rosenberg, David Unietis, Harlan Sexton, Mark Jungerman, Scott Meyer
• Original Assignee: David Rosenberg, David Unietis, Harlan Sexton, Mark Jungerman, Scott Meyer
• Inventors: Rosenberg, David, Unietis, David, Meyer, Scott, Jungerman, Mark, Sexton, Harlan
• Granted Patent: US 7,490,330 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4493 Object persistence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/485 Task life-cycle, e.g. stopping, restarting, resuming execution G06F9/4881 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99938 Concurrency, e.g. lock management in shared database

Abstract

Techniques are provided for instantiating separate Java virtual machines for each session established by a server. Because each session has its own virtual machine, the Java programs executed by the server for each user connected to the server are insulated from the Java programs executed by the server for all other users connected to the server. The separate VM instances can be created and run, for example, in separate units of execution that are managed by the operating system of the platform on which the server is executing. For example, the separate VM instances may be executed either as separate processes, or using separate system threads. Because the units of execution used to run the separate VM instances are provided by the operating system, the operating system is able to ensure that the appropriate degree of insulation exists between the VM instances.

Claims

1. A method for servicing requests received by a database system in a multiple-user environment, the method comprising the steps of:

spawning a first process executing a first virtual machine instance in response to establishing a first database session between the database system and a first user;

spawning a second process executing a second virtual machine instance in response to establishing a second database session between the database system and a second user;

responding to requests that are received by the database system in said first session by executing virtual machine code using the first virtual machine instance; and

responding to requests that are received by the database system in said second session by executing the virtual machine code using a the second virtual machine instance;

wherein said first virtual machine instance and said second virtual machine instance share access to data stored in a shared state area allocated in volatile memory associated with said server the database system.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of sharing, between said first virtual machine instance and said second virtual machine instance, a set of one or more resources within said shared state area.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the step of sharing a set of one or more resources includes sharing data associated with an object class.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said plurality of virtual machine instances share read-only access to said data stored in said shared state area allocated in volatile memory within the database system.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein:

said shared state area stores data associated with an object class; and

said first virtual machine instance stores, in session-specific memory associated with said first virtual machine instance, a first value for a static variable associated with said object class; and

said second virtual machine instance stores, in session-specific memory associated with said second virtual machine instance, a second value for said static variable associated with said object class.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

responding to a call associated with a particular session with the database system by allocating a call memory for the particular virtual machine instance associated with said particular database session; and

discarding said call memory upon termination of said call.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

responding to a call associated with a particular session with the database system by scheduling, for execution in a system thread, the particular virtual machine instance associated with said particular database session.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

spawning the first virtual machine instance by instantiating a data structure; and

changing the state of said first virtual machine instance during execution of said virtual machine code by manipulating data within said data structure.

9. A computer-readable medium carrying instructions for servicing requests received by a server in a multiple-user environment, the instructions comprising instructions for performing the steps of claim 1.

10-16. -16. (canceled)