Sharing resources of a partitioned system

• US 20070294689A1
• Filed: 06/14/2006
• Published: 12/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Garney, John I.
• Granted Patent: US 8,146,089 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455

Abstract

In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for allocating at least one dedicated core and at least one shareable core to a first partition of a system, where the cores are owned by the first partition. During operation, the shareable core(s) may be made dynamically available for use in one or more other partitions of the system, while the first partition retains ownership of the shared core(s). Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

allocating at least one dedicated core and at least one shareable core to a first partition of a system, wherein the at least one dedicated core and the at least one shareable core are owned by the first partition; and

dynamically using the at least one shareable core in a second partition of the system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein allocating the at least one shareable core includes identifying the at least one shareable core in a management interface coupled to the first partition and the second partition.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising loading a private state of the second partition stored in a second save area of the management interface into the at least one shareable core.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising loading a public state of the second partition stored in the second partition into the at least one shareable core.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

storing a public state of the first partition in a storage of the first partition; and

storing a private state of the first partition in a first save area of the management interface before loading the private state of the second partition.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising establishing a sharing relationship between the first partition and the second partition with respect to the at least one shareable core.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising indicating arrival or departure of the at least one shareable core in an interface of the first partition and in an interface of the second partition.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising dynamically instructing return of the at least one shareable core from the second partition back to the first partition during execution of a process on the second partition.

9. An apparatus comprising:

a first partition having ownership of a plurality of cores, wherein at least one core comprises a dedicated core of the first partition and at least one other core comprises a leasable core usable by the first partition or a second partition.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising an interface coupled to the first partition and the second partition to store state information of the leasable core for the first partition if the leasable core is made available for use by the second partition.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the interface is to store private state information that is not visible to the first partition or the second partition.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising a storage in the interface to store contractual information regarding sharing relationships of the leasable core.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the first partition includes a storage to store visible state information of the leasable core if the leasable core is made available for use by the second partition.

14. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising a first interface of the first partition, wherein the first interface is to indicate availability of the leasable core for use by the second partition.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising a second interface of the second partition, wherein the second interface is to indicate arrival or departure of the leasable core from the second partition.

16. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the first partition is to control availability of the leasable core by the second partition.

17. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the leasable core is to be dynamically returned from the second partition to the first partition during execution of a process on the second partition.

18. An article comprising a machine-readable storage medium including instructions that if executed enable the system to:

indicate availability of a shareable core owned by an owner partition for use by a sharer partition;

record a private state of the shareable core for the owner partition in a management interface, the private state invisible to the owner partition; and

load a state into the shareable core for the sharer partition.

19. The article of claim 18, wherein the owner partition and the sharer partition are to each execute an independent operating system (OS).

20. The article of claim 19, wherein the independent OS of the sharer partition is to schedule non-OS tasks for execution by the shareable core.

21. The article of claim 18, further comprising instructions that when executed enable the system to execute operations of a process of the sharer partition via the shareable core.

22. The article of claim 21, further comprising instructions that when executed enable the owner partition to instruct return of the shareable core to the owner partition, wherein the return is to occur during execution of the process of the sharer partition.

23. The article of claim 18, further comprising instructions that when executed enable the system to allocate the shareable core for sharing via establishment of a sharing relationship between the owner partition and the sharer partition.

24. The article of claim 23, further comprising instructions that when executed enable the system to record the sharing relationship in the management interface.

25. A system comprising:

a first partition including a first dedicated core, a first shareable core, and a first interface to indicate availability of the first shareable core if the first shareable core is made available for sharing;

a second partition including a second interface to indicate availability of the first shareable core for use by the second partition if the first shareable core is made available for sharing;

a controller coupled to the first partition and the second partition, the controller to store private state of the first shareable core with respect to the first partition and the second partition; and

a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) coupled to the first partition and the second partition.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the first partition is to control the availability of the first shareable core for sharing, wherein the first partition is owner of the first shareable core.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the controller is to store a sharing relationship between the first partition and the second partition with respect to the first shareable core.

28. The system of claim 25, wherein the first partition includes a first storage to store a public state of the first shareable core with respect to the first partition if the first shareable core is made available for sharing.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the first shareable core is to reload the public state of the first shareable core and the private state of the first shareable core with respect to the first partition on return of the first shareable core to the first partition.