Hierarchical accelerator registry for optimal performance predictability in network function virtualization
First Claim
1. An integrated circuit, comprising:
- virtual function hardware accelerator modules that serve to improve performance for at least some virtual machine; and
a virtualization accelerator management module that maintains a hierarchical accelerator resource availability registry, wherein the hierarchical accelerator resource availability registry specifies latency information corresponding to different types of hardware acceleration resources that are available to the integrated circuit for assisting with Network Functions Virtualization (NFV), wherein the hierarchical accelerator resource availability registry is configured to assign a first speed grade to hardware acceleration resources that are presently active on the integrated circuit and to assign a second speed grade to hardware acceleration resources that can be retrieved from a local storage device, and wherein the second speed grade is different than the first speed grade.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A virtualization platform for Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) is provided. The virtualization platform may include a host processor coupled to an acceleration coprocessor. The acceleration coprocessor may be a reconfigurable integrated circuit to help provide improved flexibility and agility for the NFV. To help improve performance predictability, a hierarchical accelerator registry may be maintained on the coprocessor and/or on local servers. The accelerator registry may assign different classes and speed grades to various types of available resources to help the virtualized network better predict certain task latencies. The accelerator registry may be periodically updated based on changes detected in the local storage and hardware or based on changes detected in remote networks.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. An integrated circuit, comprising:
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virtual function hardware accelerator modules that serve to improve performance for at least some virtual machine; and a virtualization accelerator management module that maintains a hierarchical accelerator resource availability registry, wherein the hierarchical accelerator resource availability registry specifies latency information corresponding to different types of hardware acceleration resources that are available to the integrated circuit for assisting with Network Functions Virtualization (NFV), wherein the hierarchical accelerator resource availability registry is configured to assign a first speed grade to hardware acceleration resources that are presently active on the integrated circuit and to assign a second speed grade to hardware acceleration resources that can be retrieved from a local storage device, and wherein the second speed grade is different than the first speed grade. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method of improving performance predictability for a Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) platform, comprising:
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using hardware accelerator modules running on an integrated circuit to accelerate performance for at least some virtual machine; using an accelerator management module to maintain an accelerator registry that provides predictability information for different types of hardware acceleration resources that are available to the integrated circuit for assisting with the NFV platform; using the accelerator registry to determine the latency with which the different types of hardware acceleration resources are retrieved for the integrated circuit to assist with the NFV platform; controlling the accelerator management module with a hypervisor running on a separate host processor that is coupled to the integrated circuit; and synchronizing the host processor with other processing units in a local network or a remote network to identify first hardware acceleration resources that are available to the other processing units. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) platform, comprising:
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a host processor having a hypervisor that creates and runs virtual machines; and a coprocessor having accelerators for accelerating the performance of the virtual machines, wherein the coprocessor stores a hierarchical accelerator registry identifying different types of hardware acceleration resources that are available to the coprocessor and corresponding performance predictability considerations associated with each type of hardware acceleration resources, and wherein the hierarchical accelerator registry defines a first speed grade to hardware acceleration resources that are stored on a local network. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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Specification