Use of multiple virtual machine monitors to handle privileged events

• US 7,424,709 B2
• Filed: 09/15/2003
• Issued: 09/09/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Anderson, Andrew V., Neiger, Gilbert, Bennett, Steven M., Uhlig, Richard, Jeyasingh, Stalinselvaraj, Kagi, Alain, Cota-Robles, Erik, Smith, Lawrence, Rodgers, Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): An; Meng-Ai
• Assistant Examiner(s): Truong; Camquy
• Application Number:
  US10/663,206
• Publication Number:
  US 20050071840A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,821 Days
• Field of Search: 709/1, 395/182.08, 718/1, 719/318
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method for handling privileged events in a virtual machine environment includes detecting an occurrence of a privileged event, determining which one of multiple virtual machine monitors (VMMs) is to handle the privileged event, and transitioning control to this VMM.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

detecting an occurrence of one of a plurality of privileged events in a virtual machine (VM) environment having guest software and a plurality of virtual machine monitors (VMMs), wherein the plurality of VMMs is designated to handle the plurality of privileged events that cannot be handled by the guest software in the VM environment;

determining which one of the plurality of VMMs is to handle the detected privileged event based on at least one of a characteristic of the detected privileged event or characteristics of the VMMs; and

transitioning control to said one of the plurality of VMMs.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of VMMs includes a main VMM and one or more parallel VMMs.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein determining which one of a plurality of VMMs is to handle the detected privileged event comprises:

determining a type of the detected privileged event; and

identifying one of the plurality of VMMs that is designated to handle privileged events of the determined type.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein determining which one of a plurality of VMMs is to handle the detected privileged event comprises:

accessing a field associated with the detected privileged event in a resource; and

identifying one of the plurality of VMMs tat is designated to handle the detected privileged event based on a value of the field.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the field associated with the detected privileged event is a field associated with a type of the detected privileged event.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the field associated with the detected privileged event is a field associated with an input-output address range to which an input-output address of the detected privileged event belongs.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein the value of the field associated with the detected privileged event is either predetermined or dynamically configurable.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein determining which one of a plurality of VMMs is to handle the detected privileged event comprises:

evaluating resource usage parameters of the plurality of VMMS; and

identifying one of the plurality of VMMs that is designated to handle the detected privileged event based on evaluation of the resource usage parameters.

9. The method of claim 4 wherein the resource resides in any one of a memory, a processor, a chipset, and an input-output device.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the detected privileged event represents any one of an interrupt, an exception, an execution of a privileged instruction, and a platform event.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the detected privileged event occurs during an operation of guest software.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the detected privileged event occurs during an operation of one of the plurality of VMMs.

13. A system comprising:

a memory having stored therein a plurality of virtual machine monitors (VMMs) designated to handle a plurality of privileged events; and

a processor, coupled to the memory, the processor comprising routing logic to detect an occurrence of one of the plurality of privileged events that cannot be handled by guest software, to determine which one of the plurality of VMMs is to handle the detected privileged event based on at least one of a characteristic of the detected privileged event or characteristics of the VMMs, and to transition control to said one of the plurality of VMMs.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the plurality of VMMs includes a main VMM and one or more parallel VMMs.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein the routing logic is to determine which one of the plurality of VMMs is to handle the detected privileged event by determining a type of the privileged event, and identifying one of the plurality of VMMs that is designated to handle privileged events of the determined type.

16. The system of claim 13 wherein the routing logic is to determine which one of the plurality of VMMs is to handle the detected privileged event by evaluating resource usage parameters of the plurality of VMMs, and identifying one of the plurality of VMMs that is designated to handle the detected privileged event based on evaluation of the resource usage parameters.

17. The system of claim 13 wherein the detected privileged event represents any one of an interrupt, an exception, an execution of a privileged instruction, and a platform event.

18. The system of claim 13 wherein the detected privileged event occurs during an operation of guest software.

19. The system of claim 13 wherein the detected privileged event occurs during an operation of one of the plurality of VMMs.

20. A system comprising:

a memory having stored therein guest software and a plurality of virtual machine monitors (VMMs) designated to handle a plurality of privileged events; and

a processor, coupled to the memory, to execute the guest software, to detect an occurrence of one of the plurality of privileged events that cannot be handled by the guest software, to determine which one of the plurality of VMMs is to handle the detected privileged event based on at least one of a characteristic of the detected privileged event or characteristics of the VMMs, and to transition control to said one of the plurality of VMMs.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the plurality of VMMs includes a main VMM and one or more parallel VMMs.

22. The system of claim 20 wherein the processor is to determine which one of the plurality of VMMs is to handle the detected privileged event by determining a type of the privileged event, and identifying one of the plurality of VMMs that is designated to handle privileged events of the determined type.

23. The system of claim 20 wherein the processor is to determine which one of the plurality of VMMs is to handle the detected privileged event by evaluating resource usage parameters of the plurality of VMMs, and identifying one of the plurality of VMMs that is designated to handle the detected privileged event based on evaluation of the resource usage parameters.

24. The system of claim 20 wherein the privileged event represents any one of an interrupt, an exception, an execution of a privileged instruction, and a platform event.

25. The system of claim 20 wherein the detected privileged event occurs during operation of any one of guest software and one of the plurality of VMMs.

26. A machine-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by a processing system, cause the processing system to perform a method, the method comprising:

detecting an occurrence of one of a plurality of privileged events in a virtual machine (VM) environment having guest software and a plurality of virtual machine monitors (VMMs), wherein the plurality of VMMs is designated to handle the plurality of privileged events that cannot be handled by the guest software in the VM environment;

determining which one of the plurality of VMMs is to handle the detected privileged event based on at least one of a characteristic of the detected privileged event or characteristics of the VMMs; and

transitioning control to said one of the plurality of VMMs.

27. The machine-readable medium of claim 26 wherein the plurality of VMMs includes a main VMM and one or more parallel VMMs.

28. The machine-readable medium of claim 26 wherein the detected privileged event represents any one of an interrupt, an exception, an execution of a privileged instruction, and a platform event.

29. The machine-readable medium of claim 26 wherein the detected privileged event occurs during operation of any one of guest software and one of the plurality of VMMs.