EFFICIENT LOADING OF DATA INTO MEMORY OF A COMPUTING SYSTEM

• US 20110145534A1
• Filed: 12/13/2009
• Published: 06/16/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Meth, Kalman Z., Factor, Michael E.
• Granted Patent: US 8,489,799 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/170
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45579 I/O management, e.g. providing access to device drivers or storage
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0667 at data level, e.g. file, record or object virtualisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

A method for deploying one or more virtual machines on a host computing system is provided. The method comprises receiving mapping information from a data storage system. The mapping information associates a first data chunk stored in the data storage system with a unique identifier to support deployment of a first virtual machine on a host computing system. Once the mapping information is received, the mapping information is utilized to determine whether any copies of the first data chunk have already been loaded into a memory of the host computing system in association with deployment of the first virtual machine or a second virtual machine on the host computing system. If no copies of the first data chunk have already been loaded into the memory, the first data chunk is retrieved from the data storage system, loaded into the memory, and utilized to deploy the first virtual machine on the host computing system.

Claims

1. A method for deploying one or more virtual machines on a host computing system, the method comprising:

receiving mapping information from a data storage system, wherein the mapping information associates a first data chunk stored in the data storage system with a unique identifier to support deployment of a first virtual machine on a host computing system;

utilizing the mapping information to determine whether any copies of the first data chunk have already been loaded into a memory of the host computing system in association with deployment of the first virtual machine or a second virtual machine on the host computing system; and

in response to determining that no copies of the first data chunk have already been loaded into the memory;

retrieving the first data chunk from the data storage system;

loading the first data chunk into the memory; and

utilizing the first data chunk to deploy the first virtual machine on the host computing system.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising utilizing a first copy of the first data chunk already loaded into the memory to deploy the first virtual machine on the host computing system, in response to determining that at least the first copy of the first data chunk has already been loaded into the memory.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising utilizing a second copy of the first data chunk generated from a first copy of the first data chunk already loaded into the memory, in response to determining that at least the first copy of the first data chunk has already been loaded into the memory.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data chunk is stored in the data storage system according to a space-efficient storage scheme.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data chunk is stored in the memory according to a space-efficient memory scheme.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the unique identifier associated with the first data chunk is generated based on a storage location of the first data chunk.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the unique identifier associated with the first data chunk comprises an identifier for a first storage volume in the data storage system and a location of the first data chunk within the first storage volume, if the first data chunk is not modified after a certain point in time.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the unique identifier associated with the first data chunk comprises an identifier for a second storage volume in the data storage system and a location of the first data chunk within the second storage volume, if the first data chunk is modified after a certain point in time.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the unique identifier associated with the first data chunk comprises a physical address of the first data chunk.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the unique identifier is generated based on content of the first data chunk.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the unique identifier comprises a hash value generated from the content of the first data chunk.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data chunk is stored in the data storage system using copy-on-write and shared by the first virtual machine and the second virtual machine.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein a copy of the first data chunk is generated prior to modifying the first data chunk in the data storage system so that the unmodified copy of the first data chunk is available to deploy the second virtual machine.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the unique identifier associated with the first data chunk is updated in the data storage system, in response to modifying the first data chunk in the data storage system.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data chunk is stored in the memory using copy-on-write and shared by the first virtual machine and the second virtual machine.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein a copy of the first data chunk is generated in the memory prior to modifying the first data chunk in the memory so that the unmodified copy of the first data chunk is available to deploy the second virtual machine.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the unique identifier associated with the first data chunk is updated in the memory, in response to modifying the first data chunk in the memory.

18. A method for loading a set of data into a memory of a computing system, the method comprising:

receiving mapping information from a data storage system, wherein the mapping information associates a first data chunk stored in the data storage system with a unique identifier to support loading a first set of data comprising the first data chunk into a memory of a computing system;

utilizing the mapping information to determine whether a copy of the first data chunk has already been loaded into the memory in association with loading a second set of data from the data storage system into the memory;

retrieving the first data chunk from the data storage system, in response to determining that no copies of the first data chunk have already been loaded into the memory; and

loading the first data chunk into the memory, in response to determining that no copies of the first data chunk have already been loaded into the memory.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising utilizing a first copy of the first data chunk already loaded into the memory, in response to determining that at least the first copy of the first data chunk has already been loaded into the memory.

20. A system for loading a set of data into a memory of a computing system, the system comprising:

a logic unit for receiving mapping information from a data storage system, wherein the mapping information associates a first data chunk stored in the data storage system with a unique identifier to support loading a first set of data comprising the first data chunk into a memory of a computing system;

a logic unit for utilizing the mapping information to determine whether a copy of the first data chunk has already been loaded into the memory in association with loading a second set of data from the data storage system into the memory;

a logic unit for retrieving the first data chunk from the data storage system, in response to determining that no copies of the first data chunk have already been loaded into the memory; and

a logic unit for loading the first data chunk into the memory, in response to determining that no copies of the first data chunk have already been loaded into the memory.

21. The system of claim 20, further comprising a logic unit for utilizing a first copy of the first data chunk already loaded into the memory, in response to determining that at least the first copy of the first data chunk has already been loaded into the memory.

22. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to:

receive mapping information from a data storage system, wherein the mapping information associates a first data chunk stored in the data storage system with a unique identifier to support loading a first set of data comprising the first data chunk into a memory of the computer;

utilize the mapping information to determine whether a copy of the first data chunk has already been loaded into the memory in association with loading a second set of data from the data storage system into the memory;

retrieve the first data chunk from the data storage system, in response to determining that no copies of the first data chunk have already been loaded into the memory; and

load the first data chunk into the memory, in response to determining that no copies of the first data chunk have already been loaded into the memory.

23. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer further causes the computer to utilize a first copy of the first data chunk already loaded into the memory, in response to determining that at least the first copy of the first data chunk has already been loaded into the memory.