METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR USING A DISTRIBUTABLE VIRTUAL ADDRESS SPACE

• US 20080086620A1
• Filed: 10/06/2006
• Published: 04/10/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Scenera Technologies LLC (Scenera Research LLC)
• Original Assignee: Okralabs LLC
• Inventors: Morris, Robert P.
• Granted Patent: US 7,734,890 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0284 Multiple user address space allocation, e.g. using different base addresses interprocessor communication G06F15/163
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/1072 Decentralised address translation, e.g. in distributed shared memory systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/656 Address space sharing

Abstract

A method and system are disclosed for using a distributable virtual address space. According to an exemplary embodiment, a method for using a distributable virtual address space includes providing a distributable virtual address space shared between a plurality of network nodes, the distributable virtual address space including a virtual address mapped to a first physical memory location of a first network node of the plurality of network nodes, wherein the first physical memory location is accessible by a first processor of the first network node when processing a first machine code instruction using the virtual address. The method also includes remapping the virtual address to a second physical memory location of a second network node of the plurality of network nodes, wherein the second physical memory location is accessible by a second processor of the second network node when processing a second machine code instruction using the virtual address.

Claims

1. A method for using a distributable virtual address space comprising:

providing a distributable virtual address space shared between a plurality of network nodes, the distributable virtual address space including a virtual address mapped to a first physical memory location of a first network node of the plurality of network nodes, wherein the first physical memory location is accessible by a first processor of the first network node when processing a first machine code instruction using the virtual address; and

remapping the virtual address to a second physical memory location of a second network node of the plurality of network nodes, wherein the second physical memory location is accessible by a second processor of the second network node when processing a second machine code instruction using the virtual address.

2. The method of claim 1 comprising sending a message including a request for remapping the virtual address to a physical memory location of the second network node.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the message is sent to a dynamic memory mapping system (DMMS) for maintaining an association between a virtual address and one of the plurality of network nodes, the association indicating a mapping between the associated virtual address and a physical memory location of the one network node.

4. The method of claim 1 comprising sending a message including a request to a dynamic memory mapping system (DMMS) for address information for a network node associated with a virtual address, the network node address information determined from an association maintained by the DMMS indicating a mapping between the associated virtual address and a physical memory location of the network node.

5. The method of claim 4 comprising receiving from the dynamic memory mapping system (DMMS) the address information for the network node having the physical memory location mapped to the associated virtual address.

6. The method of claim 1 comprising sending a message including a request to a dynamic memory mapping system (DMMS) for permission to remap the virtual address to a physical memory location on the network node.

7. The method of claim 1 comprising

providing a memory region for storing an association between a virtual address and one of the plurality of network nodes indicating a mapping between the associated virtual address and a physical memory location of the one network node;

and

querying the memory region using an identifier corresponding to the associated virtual address for address information for the network node having the physical memory location mapped to the virtual address using the stored association.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the physical memory location of each of the first and second nodes includes at least one of a random access memory (RAM) location, a read-only memory (ROM) location, and a location in a secondary memory medium.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the virtual address corresponds to an addressable entity.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the distributable virtual address space is at least one of a non-sequential distributable virtual address space and a structured distributable virtual address space.

11. The method of claim 1 comprising detecting an identifier corresponding to the virtual address in processing the first or second machine code instruction.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein processing the first or second machine-code instruction includes determining whether the identifier corresponds to a virtual address from the distributable virtual address space.

13. The method of claim 12 comprising determining the virtual address is mapped to the physical memory location by performing a lookup using the identifier in a region of memory for maintaining a mapping between an identifier corresponding to a virtual address and a physical memory location.

14. The method of claim 1 comprising relocating content stored in the first physical memory location to the second physical memory location.

15. The method of claim 1 comprising sending a message including a request for binding the virtual address to the second network node, wherein binding the virtual address to the second network node reserves the virtual address for use by the second network node for mapping a physical memory location of the second network node to the virtual address.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the message is sent to a dynamic memory binding system (DMBS) for maintaining an association between the virtual address and the second network node, the association indicating the binding between the virtual address and the second network node.

17. The method of claim 1 comprising sending a message including a request to a dynamic memory binding system (DMBS) for address information for a network node bound to a virtual address, the address information determined from an association maintained by the DMBS indicating that the virtual address is reserved for use by the bound network node for mapping a physical memory location of the bound network node to the virtual address.

18. The method of claim 17 comprising receiving from the dynamic memory binding system (DMBS) the address information for the network node bound to the virtual address.

19. The method of claim 1 comprising

providing a memory region for storing an association between a virtual address and one of the plurality of network nodes indicating a binding between the associated virtual address and the one network node, wherein binding the associated virtual address to the one network node reserves the associated virtual address for use by the one network node for mapping a physical memory location of the one network node to the associated virtual address;

and

querying the memory region using an identifier corresponding to the associated virtual address for address information for the network node bound to the associated virtual address using the stored association.

20. A method for using a distributable virtual address space comprising:

receiving a message including a request for mapping a virtual address to a first physical memory location of a first network node of a plurality of network nodes;

determining node identification information indicating a second network node of the plurality of network nodes hosting a second physical memory location mapped to the virtual address; and

transmitting a message including mapping information to at least one of the first network node and the second network node, allowing remapping of the virtual address from the second physical memory location of the second network node to the first physical memory location of the first network node.

21. The method of claim 20 comprising receiving a message including a request for binding the virtual address to the first network node, wherein binding the virtual address to the first network node reserves the virtual address for use by the first network node for mapping a physical memory location of the first network node to the virtual address.

22. The method of claim 20 comprising:

receiving a message including a request for address information for a network node bound to a virtual address,

determining address information from an association indicating that the virtual address is reserved for use by the bound network node for mapping a physical memory location of the bound network node to the virtual address.

23. The method of claim 20 comprising:

providing a memory region for storing an association between a virtual address and one of the plurality of network nodes indicating a binding between the associated virtual address and the one network node, wherein binding the associated virtual address to the one network node reserves the associated virtual address for use by the one network node for mapping a physical memory location of the one network node to the associated virtual address;

and

querying the memory region using an identifier corresponding to the associated virtual address for address information for the network node bound to the associated virtual address using the stored association.

24. The method of claim 20 wherein the mapping information includes the node identification information allowing the first network node to transmit a message including a request for mapping the virtual address to a first physical memory location of the first to the second network node.

25. The method of claim 20 wherein the mapping information includes an indicator representing that the virtual address is available to be remapped, allowing the first network node to remap the virtual address to a first physical memory location.

26. The method of claim 20 wherein the mapping information includes a request for the second network node to disassociate from the virtual address, allowing the first network node to remap the virtual address to a first physical memory location.

27. A system for using a distributable virtual address space comprising:

a first network node of a plurality of network nodes using a distributable virtual address space, the first network node including;

a first physical memory location mapped to a virtual address in the distributable virtual address space;

a first processor of the first network node having access to the first physical memory location using the virtual address when processing a first machine code instruction on the first network node; and

a second network node of the plurality of network nodes sharing the distributable virtual address space, the second network node comprising;

a second physical memory location capable of being mapped to the virtual address in the distributable virtual address space;

a second processor of the second network node having access to the second physical memory location;

a distributable memory manager (DMM) configured to remap the virtual address to the second physical memory location, wherein the second processor can access the second physical memory location using the virtual address when processing a second machine code instruction on the second network node.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein the distributable memory manager (DMM) is configured to send a message including a request for remapping the virtual address to a physical memory location of the second network node.

29. The system of claim 28 comprising:

a dynamic memory mapping system (DMMS) in communication with the plurality of network nodes, the DMMS including;

an association between a virtual address and one of the plurality of network nodes including address information of the one network node, the association indicating a mapping between the associated virtual address and a physical memory location of the one network node; and

a message handler configured to receive a request for remapping the virtual address to a physical memory location of the second network node.

30. The method of claim 29 wherein the dynamic memory mapping system (DMMS) is configured to determine address information for a network node associated with a virtual address, the address information determined from an association maintained by the DMMS indicating a mapping between the associated virtual address and a physical memory location of the network node.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein the dynamic memory mapping system (DMMS) is configured to send the address information for the network node having the physical memory location mapped to the associated virtual address to the second network node.

32. The system of claim 27 comprising:

a virtual address mapping (VAM) table stored in a memory region of the second network node, the virtual address mapping table including an association between a virtual address and one of the plurality of network nodes indicating a mapping between the associated virtual address and a physical memory location of the one network node; and

wherein the distributable memory manager (DMM) is configured to query the VAM table using an identifier corresponding to the associated virtual address for the stored association for address information for the network node having the physical memory location mapped to the virtual address.

33. The system of claim 27 wherein the physical memory location of each of the first and second nodes includes at least one of a random access memory (RAM) location, a read-only memory (ROM) location, and a location in a secondary memory medium.

34. The system of claim 27 wherein the virtual address corresponds to an addressable entity.

35. The system of claim 27 wherein the distributable virtual address space is at least one of a non-sequential distributable virtual address space and a structured distributable virtual address space.

36. The system of claim 27 wherein the second processor of the second network node includes an instruction set pointer (ISP) for storing an identifier corresponding to the virtual address for loading the first or second machine code instruction for execution by the first or second processor.

37. The system of claim 36 wherein the distributable memory manager (DMM) is configured to perform using an identifier corresponding to the virtual address a lookup in a region of memory including a mapping between the identifier and a network node to identify a physical memory location mapped to the virtual address.

38. The system of claim 27 comprising sending a message including a request for binding the virtual address to the second network node, wherein binding the virtual address to the second network node reserves the virtual address for mapping a physical memory location of the second network node to the virtual address.

39. The system of claim 27 comprising a dynamic memory binding system (DMBS) for maintaining an association between the virtual address and the second network node, the association indicating the binding between the virtual address and the second network node.

40. The system of claim 39 wherein the dynamic memory binding system (DMBS) is configured to receive a message including a request for address information for a network node bound to a virtual address and configured to determine the address information from an association maintained by the DMBS indicating that the virtual address is reserved for use by the bound network node for mapping a physical memory location of the bound network node to the virtual address.

41. The system of claim 39 wherein the dynamic memory binding system (DMBS) is configured to send the address information for the network node bound to the virtual address to at least one of the first and second network nodes.

42. The system of claim 39 comprising

a virtual address binding (VAB) table of the dynamic memory binding system (DMBS) including an association between a virtual address and one of the plurality of network nodes indicating a binding between the associated virtual address and the one network node, wherein binding the associated virtual address to the one network node reserves the associated virtual address for mapping a physical memory location of the one network node to the associated virtual address;

and

wherein the DMBS is configured to query the VAB table using an identifier corresponding to the associated virtual address for address information for the network node bound to the associated virtual address using the stored association.

43. A computer program product embodied in a computer-readable medium for using a distributable virtual address space, the computer program product comprising instructions for:

receiving a message including a request for mapping a virtual address to a first physical memory location of a first network node of a plurality of network nodes;

determining node identification information indicating a second network node of the plurality of network nodes hosting a second physical memory location mapped to the virtual address; and

transmitting a message including mapping information to at least one of the first network node and the second network node, allowing remapping of the virtual address from the second physical memory location of the second network node to the first physical memory location of the first network node.