Virtualization event processing in a layered virtualization architecture

• US 8,271,978 B2
• Filed: 08/18/2010
• Issued: 09/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Bennett, Steven M., Anderson, Andrew V., Neiger, Gilbert, Rodgers, Dion, Uhlig, Richard A., Smith, Lawrence O., Huntley, Barry E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wu, Qing
• Application Number:
  US12/858,461
• Publication Number:
  US 20110047547A1
• Time in Patent Office: 762 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/24 using interrupt G06F13/32 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45566 Nested virtual machines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/3861 Recovery, e.g. branch miss-prediction, exception handling error detection or correction G06F11/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4812 by interrupt, e.g. masked
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications

Abstract

Embodiments of apparatuses and methods for processing virtualization events in a layered virtualization architecture are disclosed. In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a event logic and evaluation logic. The event logic is to recognize a virtualization event. The evaluation logic is to determine whether to transfer control from a child guest to a parent guest in response to the virtualization event.

Claims

1. A method of processing events in a layered virtualization architecture, comprising:

recognizing a virtualization event as a top-down virtualization event or a bottom-up virtualization event;

checking a control structure of a child guest before checking a control structure of an intervening virtual machine monitor hosting the child guest if the virtualization event is recognized as a top-down virtualization event;

checking a control structure of the intervening virtual machine monitor hosting the child guest before checking the control structure of the child guest if the virtualization event is recognized as a bottom-up virtualization event; and

determining whether to transfer control from the child guest to the intervening virtual machine monitor hosting the child guest in response to the recognized virtualization event.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, if the virtualization event is recognized as a top-down virtualization event, determining whether to transfer control from the child guest to a host of the intervening virtual machine monitor hosting the child guest if control is not transferred from the child guest to the intervening virtual machine monitor hosting the child guest.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising, if the virtualization event is recognized as a top-down virtualization event, determining whether to transfer control from the child guest to a root mode host if control is not transferred from the child guest to the intervening virtual machine monitor hosting the child guest.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising, if the virtualization event in recognized as a top-down virtualization event, determining whether to transfer control from the child guest to a root mode host before determining whether to transfer control from the child guest to the intervening virtual machine monitor hosting the child guest.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising checking the control structure of the child guest for an indication of whether the intervening virtual machine monitor hosting the child guest is to receive control.

6. A system comprising:

a memory configured to store a control structure for a virtual machine; and

a processor including;

event logic to recognize a virtualization event as a top-down virtualization event or a bottom-up virtualization event when a guest is running in non-root mode; and

evaluation logic to respond to the virtualization event by determining whether control is to be transferred from the guest to a host of the guest, wherein the host is one of an intervening monitor and a root mode monitor, and wherein the determination is made by checking a control structure of the guest before checking a control structure of the host if the virtualization event is a top-down virtualization event and by checking the control structure of the host before checking the control structure of the guest if the virtualization event is a bottom-up virtualization event.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein if the event logic recognizes the virtualization event as a top-down virtualization event and the guest is a child guest, the evaluation logic is to determine whether to transfer control from the child guest to a host of the intervening monitor if the evaluation logic determines not to transfer control from the child guest to the intervening monitor.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein if the event logic recognizes the virtualization event as a top-down virtualization event and the guest is a child guest, the evaluation logic is to determine whether to transfer control from the child guest to the root mode monitor before determining whether to transfer control from the child guest to the intervening monitor.