Administering Registered Virtual Addresses In A Hybrid Computing Environment Including Maintaining A Watch List Of Currently Registered Virtual Addresses By An Operating System

• US 20100191917A1
• Filed: 01/23/2009
• Published: 07/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Archer, Charles J., Ricard, Gary R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,527,734 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/135
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0864 using pseudo-associative means, e.g. set-associative or hashing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/126 with special data handling, e.g. priority of data or instructions, handling errors or pinning

Abstract

Administering registered virtual addresses in a hybrid computing environment that includes a host computer and an accelerator, the accelerator architecture optimized, with respect to the host computer architecture, for speed of execution of a particular class of computing functions, the host computer and the accelerator adapted to one another for data communications by a system level message passing module, where administering registered virtual addresses includes maintaining, by an operating system, a watch list of ranges of currently registered virtual addresses; upon a change in physical to virtual address mappings of a particular range of virtual addresses falling within the ranges included in the watch list, notifying the system level message passing module by the operating system of the change; and updating, by the system level message passing module, a cache of ranges of currently registered virtual addresses to reflect the change in physical to virtual address mappings.

Claims

1. A method of administering registered virtual addresses in a hybrid computing environment, the hybrid computing environment comprising a host computer having a host computer architecture, an accelerator having an accelerator architecture, the accelerator architecture optimized, with respect to the host computer architecture, for speed of execution of a particular class of computing functions, the host computer and the accelerator adapted to one another for data communications by a system level message passing module, the method comprising:

maintaining, by an operating system, a watch list of ranges of currently registered virtual addresses;

upon a change in physical to virtual address mappings of a particular range of virtual addresses falling within the ranges of the currently registered virtual addresses included in the watch list, notifying the system level message passing module by the operating system of the change; and

updating, by the system level message passing module, a cache of ranges of currently registered virtual addresses to reflect the change in physical to virtual address mappings.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the cache comprises entries associating a range of currently registered virtual addresses, a handle representing physical addresses mapped to the range of currently registered virtual addresses, and a counter.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein:

notifying the system level message passing module of the change further comprises providing, to the system level message passing module, a current handle representing the changed virtual to physical address mappings for the particular range of virtual addresses; and

updating the cache of ranges of currently registered virtual addresses to reflect the change further comprises removing from the cache a previous entry for the particular range of virtual addresses and adding, to the cache, a new entry for the particular range of virtual addresses including associating in the cache with the particular range of virtual addresses, the current handle.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein updating the cache of ranges of currently registered virtual addresses to reflect the change further comprises:

evicting from the cache a previous entry for the particular range of virtual addresses including deregistering the particular range of virtual addresses; and

adding, to the cache, a new entry for the particular range of virtual addresses including registering again the particular range of virtual addresses.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein maintaining, by an operating system, a watch list of ranges of currently registered virtual addresses further comprises:

specifying in a page table for virtual memory management whether ranges of virtual addresses are currently registered.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the host computer and the accelerator are adapted to one another for data communications by two or more data communications fabrics of at least two different fabric types.

7. A hybrid computing environment for administering registered virtual addresses, the hybrid computing environment comprising a host computer having a host computer architecture, an accelerator having an accelerator architecture, the accelerator architecture optimized, with respect to the host computer architecture, for speed of execution of a particular class of computing functions, the host computer and the accelerator adapted to one another for data communications by a system level message passing module, the hybrid computing environment further comprising a computer processor, a computer memory operatively coupled to the computer processor, the computer memory having disposed within it computer program instructions capable of:

maintaining, by an operating system, a watch list of ranges of currently registered virtual addresses;

upon a change in physical to virtual address mappings of a particular range of virtual addresses falling within the ranges of the currently registered virtual addresses included in the watch list, notifying the system level message passing module by the operating system of the change; and

updating, by the system level message passing module, a cache of ranges of currently registered virtual addresses to reflect the change in physical to virtual address mappings.

8. The hybrid computing environment of claim 7 wherein the cache comprises entries associating a range of currently registered virtual addresses, a handle representing physical addresses mapped to the range of currently registered virtual addresses, and a counter.

9. The hybrid computing environment of claim 7 wherein:

notifying the system level message passing module of the change further comprises providing, to the system level message passing module, a current handle representing the changed virtual to physical address mappings for the particular range of virtual addresses; and

updating the cache of ranges of currently registered virtual addresses to reflect the change further comprises removing from the cache a previous entry for the particular range of virtual addresses and adding, to the cache, a new entry for the particular range of virtual addresses including associating in the cache with the particular range of virtual addresses, the current handle.

10. The hybrid computing environment of claim 7 wherein updating the cache of ranges of currently registered virtual addresses to reflect the change further comprises:

evicting from the cache a previous entry for the particular range of virtual addresses including deregistering the particular range of virtual addresses; and

adding, to the cache, a new entry for the particular range of virtual addresses including registering again the particular range of virtual addresses.

11. The hybrid computing environment of claim 7 wherein maintaining, by an operating system, a watch list of ranges of currently registered virtual addresses further comprises:

specifying in a page table for virtual memory management whether ranges of virtual addresses are currently registered.

12. The hybrid computing environment of claim 7 wherein the host computer and the accelerator are adapted to one another for data communications by two or more data communications fabrics of at least two different fabric types.

13. A computer program product for administering registered virtual addresses in a hybrid computing environment, the hybrid computing environment comprising a host computer having a host computer architecture, an accelerator having an accelerator architecture, the accelerator architecture optimized, with respect to the host computer architecture, for speed of execution of a particular class of computing functions, the host computer and the accelerator adapted to one another for data communications by a system level message passing module, the computer program product disposed in a computer readable, signal bearing medium, the computer program product comprising computer program instructions capable of:

maintaining, by an operating system, a watch list of ranges of currently registered virtual addresses;

upon a change in physical to virtual address mappings of a particular range of virtual addresses falling within the ranges of the currently registered virtual addresses included in the watch list, notifying the system level message passing module by the operating system of the change; and

updating, by the system level message passing module, a cache of ranges of currently registered virtual addresses to reflect the change in physical to virtual address mappings.

14. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein the cache comprises entries associating a range of currently registered virtual addresses, a handle representing physical addresses mapped to the range of currently registered virtual addresses, and a counter.

15. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein:

notifying the system level message passing module of the change further comprises providing, to the system level message passing module, a current handle representing the changed virtual to physical address mappings for the particular range of virtual addresses; and

updating the cache of ranges of currently registered virtual addresses to reflect the change further comprises removing from the cache a previous entry for the particular range of virtual addresses and adding, to the cache, a new entry for the particular range of virtual addresses including associating in the cache with the particular range of virtual addresses, the current handle.

16. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein updating the cache of ranges of currently registered virtual addresses to reflect the change further comprises:

evicting from the cache a previous entry for the particular range of virtual addresses including deregistering the particular range of virtual addresses; and

adding, to the cache, a new entry for the particular range of virtual addresses including registering again the particular range of virtual addresses.

17. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein maintaining, by an operating system, a watch list of ranges of currently registered virtual addresses further comprises:

specifying in a page table for virtual memory management whether ranges of virtual addresses are currently registered.

18. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein the host computer and the accelerator are adapted to one another for data communications by two or more data communications fabrics of at least two different fabric types.

19. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein the signal bearing medium comprises a recordable medium.

20. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein the signal bearing medium comprises a transmission medium.