Framework for domain-specific run-time environment acceleration using virtualization technology

• US 8,762,991 B2
• Filed: 10/14/2011
• Issued: 06/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Johnson, Erik J., Kunze, Aaron R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tang, Kenneth
• Application Number:
  US13/273,468
• Publication Number:
  US 20120036508A1
• Time in Patent Office: 984 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4843 by program, e.g. task dispatcher, supervisor, operating system

Abstract

In some embodiments, the invention involves a framework for using virtualization technology to efficiently support a domain-specific run-time environment. In at least one embodiment, a framework is utilized to take advantage of virtualization technology (VT) to partition performance critical and non-performance critical tasks of the same domain-specific application. An embodiment of the invention utilizes a general-purpose operating system to execute non-performance critical aspects of a domain, and uses a privileged VT-root mode to execute performance critical aspects of the domain. Another embodiment uses one or more guest VMs to execute the performance critical aspects of the domain-specific run-time environment. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a platform having virtualization capabilities;

at least one processor coupled to the platform, the at least one processor to run a general-purpose operating system (GPOS) in a first virtual machine (VM) on the platform; and

a domain specific run-time environment (DSRTE) partitioned into a plurality of portions, wherein a first portion comprises non-performance critical processes to run under the GPOS in the first VM, and wherein at least one additional portion comprises at least one performance critical process on the platform outside of the first VM running the GPOS,

wherein the at least one additional portion comprises a second VM including a non-privileged VM, wherein a privileged virtual machine monitor (VMM) controls execution of each VM on the platform, wherein the privileged VMM comprises a privileged root domain comprising a virtual machine monitor (VMM), wherein the at least one performance critical process is to run in a second virtual machine, wherein at least one additional portion is customized to execute the at least one performance critical process, and

wherein the at least one performance critical process is to run in the privileged root domain, wherein the privileged root domain operates in virtualization technology (VT) mode on the platform and is to be entered in response to a VM-EXIT event, and is to return control to a VM in response to a VM-ENTER event, and wherein initiating a performance critical task is to generate a VM-EXIT from the GPOS in the first VM, wherein the VT mode includes a VT-root mode to enable a VT-root execution of the performance critical process, wherein an unmodified GPOS is loaded and run in a non-VT-root mode.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the first VM and the second VM communicate via at least one communication method selected from the group of communication methods consisting of mailboxes, shared memory, and network packets.

3. The system as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

at least one additional virtual machine to run one or more processes, wherein each of the one or more processes comprise one of a performance critical process and a non-performance critical process.

4. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein virtual memory facilities are disabled for the performance critical process.

5. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the performance critical process executes in a non-privileged VM and accesses at least one device directly, wherein the non-privileged VM has access to memory address offsets to enable direct access to the at least one device.

6. A computer implemented method comprising:

partitioning a domain specific run-time environment (DSRTE) customized as a network packet processing environment into a plurality of partitions, a first partition comprising non-performance critical tasks to run under a general-purpose operating system (GPOS) in a virtual machine (VM) and at least one additional partition comprising performance critical tasks, the DSRTE to reside on a platform having virtualization capabilities, wherein the at least one additional partition is performed outside of the VM running the GPOS; and

executing the performance critical task in the at least one additional partition,

wherein the performance critical task comprises a network communication task for sending or receiving network packets to or from an external network via at least one network interface device, wherein the at least one additional partition comprises a second VM including a non-privileged VM, wherein a privileged virtual machine monitor (VMM) controls execution of each VM on the platform, and

wherein the at least one performance critical process is to run in the privileged root domain, wherein the privileged root domain operates in virtualization technology (VT) mode on the platform and is to be entered in response to a VM-EXIT event, and is to return control to a VM in response to a VM-ENTER event, and wherein initiating a performance critical task is to generate a VM-EXIT from the GPOS in the first VM, wherein the VT mode includes a VT-root mode to enable a VT-root execution of the performance critical process, wherein an unmodified GPOS is loaded and run in a non-VT-root mode.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the at least one additional partition comprises two or more partitions, each of the two or more partitions to run a performance critical operation corresponding to a specific input/output (I/O) device.

8. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the at least one additional partition comprises a privileged root domain running on the platform.

9. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the at least one additional partition comprises at least one additional corresponding non-privileged VM, wherein a privileged virtual machine monitor (VMM) controls the execution of each VM on the platform.

10. A non-transitory machine readable medium having instructions that when executed on a machine cause the machine to:

execute a domain specific run-time environment (DSRTE) customized as a network packet processing environment having a plurality of partitions, wherein a first partition of the domain specific run-time environment (DSRTE) comprises non-performance critical tasks to run under a general-purpose operating system (GPOS) in a virtual machine (VM), and wherein at least one additional partition comprises performance critical tasks, and wherein the DSRTE is to reside on a platform having virtualization capabilities, wherein the at least one additional partition is performed outside of the VM running the GPOS; and

execute the performance critical tasks in the at least one additional partition, wherein the performance critical task comprises a network communication task for sending or receiving network packets to or from an external network via at least one network interface device, wherein at least one additional portion comprises a second VM including a non-privileged VM, wherein a privileged virtual machine monitor (VMM) controls execution of each VM on the platform, and

wherein the at least one performance critical process is to run in the privileged root domain, wherein the privileged root domain operates in virtualization technology (VT) mode on the platform and is to be entered in response to a VM-EXIT event, and is to return control to a VM in response to a VM-ENTER event, and wherein initiating a performance critical task is to generate a VM-EXIT from the GPOS in the first VM, wherein the VT mode includes a VT-root mode to enable a VT-root execution of the performance critical process, wherein an unmodified GPOS is loaded and run in a non-VT-root mode.

11. The medium as recited in claim 10, wherein the at least one additional partition comprises two or more partitions, each of the two or more partitions to run a performance critical operation corresponding to a specific input/output (I/O) device.

12. The medium as recited in claim 10, wherein the non-performance critical tasks include a user interface.

13. The medium as recited in claim 10, wherein the at least one additional partition comprises a privileged root domain running on the platform.

14. The medium as recited in claim 10, wherein the at least one additional partition comprises at least one additional corresponding non-privileged VM, wherein a privileged virtual machine monitor (VMM) controls the execution of each VM on the platform.

15. A system comprising:

a platform having virtualization capabilities;

at least one processor coupled to the platform, the at least one processor to run a general-purpose operating system (GPOS) in a first virtual machine (VM) on the platform; and

a domain specific run-time environment (DSRTE) partitioned into a plurality of portions, wherein a first portion comprises non-performance critical processes to run under the GPOS in the first VM, and wherein at least one additional portion comprises at least one performance critical process on the platform outside of the first VM running the GPOS,

wherein the at least one additional portion comprises a second VM including a non-privileged VM, wherein a privileged virtual machine monitor (VMM) controls execution of each VM on the platform, wherein the privileged VMM comprises a privileged root domain comprising a virtual machine monitor (VMM), wherein the at least one performance critical process is to run in a second virtual machine, wherein at least one additional portion is customized to execute the at least one performance critical process, and

wherein the at least one performance critical process is to run in the privileged root domain, wherein the privileged root domain comprises a domain specific run-time environment customized to execute the at least one performance critical process, wherein the GPOS comprises a GPOS that is not customized to execute the at least one performance critical process.

16. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein the first VM and the second VM communicate via at least one communication method selected from the group of communication methods consisting of mailboxes, shared memory, and network packets.

17. The system as recited in claim 15, further comprising:

at least one additional virtual machine to run one or more processes, wherein each of the one or more processes comprise one of a performance critical process and a non-performance critical process.

18. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein virtual memory facilities are disabled for the performance critical process.

19. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein the performance critical process executes in a non-privileged VM and accesses at least one device directly, wherein the non-privileged VM has access to memory address offsets to enable direct access to the at least one device.