Guest-initiated resource allocation request based on comparison of host hardware information and projected workload requirement

• US 8,762,999 B2
• Filed: 09/27/2007
• Issued: 06/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Johnson, Darrin P., Saxe, Eric C., Chew, Jonathan J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kawsar, Abdullah Al
• Assistant Examiner(s): WU, BENJAMIN C
• Application Number:
  US11/863,157
• Publication Number:
  US 20090089780A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,462 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/204, 709/205, 709/206, 713/1, 718/1, 718/104
• US Class Current: 718/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/455 Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455

Abstract

In general, embodiments of the invention relates to a method for conveying hardware resources from a host (OS) executing on a computer system. The method includes obtaining host hardware information by the host OS, wherein the host hardware information specifies a plurality of physical hardware components of the computer system, sending the host hardware information to a guest OS executing within the host OS, generating, by the guest OS, a resource request using the host hardware information, sending, by the guest OS, the resource request to the host OS, and in response to receiving the resource request, allocating, by the host OS, guest hardware resources, where the guest hardware resources include at least one of the physical hardware components in the resource request.

Claims

1. A method for conveying hardware resources from a host operating system (OS) executing on a host computer system, comprising:

obtaining, by the host OS, host hardware information, wherein the host hardware information comprises an enumeration of a plurality of hardware components representing the entire host computer system and identifies at least one hardware component in the plurality of hardware components initially allocated to a guest OS executing within the host OS;

determining, by the host OS and based on changes to the host hardware information, that an update to the initial allocation of hardware components to the guest OS is required;

in response to determining that the update to the initial allocation is required, changing, by the host OS, the initial allocation of hardware components to the guest OS;

generating, by the host OS and based on the changed allocation of hardware components to the guest OS, a first update to the host hardware information;

sending, by the host OS and using a messaging interface, a resource message comprising the first updated host hardware information to the guest OS;

making a first determination, by the guest OS and based on a comparison of the received first updated host hardware information with the guest OS'"'"'s stored host hardware information, that hardware components allocated to the guest OS have changed;

making, after the first determination, a second determination that an additional requirement for a local hardware component of the host computer system is required by the guest OS, wherein the second determination is based on a comparison of the received first updated host hardware information and a projected workload requirement of the guest OS;

generating, by the guest OS, a resource request for the local hardware component;

sending, by the guest OS and using the messaging interface, the resource request to the host OS; and

in response to receiving the resource request, allocating, by the host OS, the local hardware component; and

generating, by the host OS and based on the additional allocation of the local hardware component to the guest OS, a second update to the host hardware information.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending, by the host OS, a second resource message comprising the second updated host hardware information to the guest OS.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

configuring the guest OS to use the allocated local hardware component based on the second updated host hardware information.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring, by the host OS, the guest OS'"'"'s usage of its allocated hardware components;

in response to the monitoring, generating, by the host OS, a third updated host hardware information on the plurality of hardware components of the entire computer system for the guest OS.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the host hardware information comprises Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) tables associated with the host computer system, and wherein the ACPI tables comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of a Static Resource Affinity Table (SRAT), and/or a System Locality Information Table (SLIT).

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the host hardware information comprises a locality of each of the plurality of hardware components.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein changing the initial allocation of hardware components to the guest OS and by the host OS is based on an updated locality information of at least two of the plurality of hardware components.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein changing the initial allocation of hardware components to the guest OS and by the host OS is based on power usage of the hardware components by the guest OS.

9. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer readable program code embodied therein, when executed by a processor, causes a computer system to:

obtain, by a host operating system (OS) executing on the computer system, host hardware information, wherein the host hardware information comprises an enumeration of a plurality of hardware components representing the entire computer system and identifies at least one hardware component in the plurality of hardware components initially allocated to a guest OS executing within the host OS;

determine, by the host OS and based on changes to the host hardware information, that an update to the initial allocation of hardware components to the guest OS is required;

in response to determining that the update to the initial allocation is required, changing, by the host OS, the initial allocation of hardware components to the guest OS;

generate, by the host OS and based on the changed allocation of hardware components to the guest OS, a first update to the host hardware information;

send, by the host OS and using a messaging interface, a resource message comprising the first updated host hardware information to the guest OS;

make a first determination, by the guest OS and based on a comparison of the received first updated host hardware information with the guest OS'"'"'s stored host hardware information, that hardware components allocated to the guest OS have changed;

make, after the first determination, a second determination, that an additional requirement for a local hardware component of the computer system is required by the guest OS, wherein the second determination is based on a comparison of the received first updated host hardware information and a projected workload requirement of the guest OS;

generate, by the guest OS, a resource request for the local hardware component;

send, by the guest OS and using the messaging interface, the resource request to the host OS; and

in response to receiving the resource request, allocating, by the host OS, the local hardware component; and

generating, by the host OS and based on the additional allocation of the local hardware component to the guest OS, a second update to the host hardware information.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the computer readable program code further causes the computer system to:

send, by the host OS, a second resource message comprising the second updated host hardware information to the guest OS.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the computer readable program code further causes the computer system to:

configure the guest OS to use the allocated local hardware component based on the second updated host hardware information.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the host hardware information comprises Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) tables associated with the host computer system, and wherein the ACPI tables comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of a Static Resource Affinity Table (SRAT), and/or a System Locality Information Table (SLIT).

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the host hardware information comprises a locality of each of the plurality of hardware components.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein changing the initial allocation of hardware components to the guest OS and by the host OS is based on an updated locality information of at least two of the plurality of hardware components.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein changing the initial allocation of hardware components to the guest OS and by the host OS is based on power usage of the hardware components by the guest OS.

16. A computer system, comprising:

a plurality of hardware components, including a processor;

a host operating system (OS), executing on the processor; and

a first guest OS and a second guest OS executing in the host OS,

wherein the host OS is configured to;

obtain host hardware information, wherein the host hardware information comprises an enumeration of a plurality of hardware components representing the entire computer system and identifies at least one hardware component in the plurality of hardware components initially allocated to the first guest OS,

determine, based on changes to the host hardware information, that an update to the initial allocation of hardware components to the first guest OS is required,

in response to determining that the update to the initial allocation is required, change the initial allocation of hardware components to the first quest OS,

generate, based on the changed allocation of hardware components to the first guest OS, a first update to the host hardware information,

send, using a messaging interface, a resource message comprising the first updated host hardware information to the first guest OS,

in response to receiving a resource request from the first guest OS, allocate a local hardware component requested by the first guest OS, and

generating, based on the additional allocation of the local hardware component to the guest OS, a second update to the host hardware information,

and wherein the first guest OS is configured to;

receive the first updated host hardware information from the host OS,

make a first determination, based on a comparison of the received first updated host hardware information with its stored host hardware information, that hardware components allocated to the first guest OS have changed,

make, after the first determination, a second determination, that an additional requirement for a local hardware component of the computer system is required, wherein the second determination is based on a comparison of the received first updated host hardware information and a projected workload requirement of the first guest OS,

generate the resource request for the local hardware component, and

send, using the messaging interface, the resource request to the host OS.

17. The computer system of claim 16, wherein a configuration of the first guest OS is modified in response to receiving the first updated host hardware information.

18. The computer system of claim 16, wherein the host OS is further configured to:

send an empty resource message to the first guest OS, wherein the empty resource message indicates to the first guest OS that the first guest OS is to use a discovery module to obtain the host hardware information.

19. The computer system of claim 16, wherein the first guest OS is configured to:

determine a usage of its allocated hardware components; and

send, using the messaging interface, a message specifying the usage of its allocated hardware components to the host OS.

20. The computer system of claim 16, wherein the host hardware information comprises Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) tables associated with the computer system.