Cluster-based operating system-agnostic virtual computing system

• US 9,020,801 B2
• Filed: 04/21/2004
• Issued: 04/28/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/11/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: ScaleMP, Inc. (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Fultheim, Shai, Zlotogorski, Herb, Romem, Yaniv
• Primary Examiner(s): Silver, David
• Application Number:
  US10/828,465
• Publication Number:
  US 20050039180A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,024 Days
• Field of Search: 703/13, 703/21, 703 23- 24, 719/315, 718/1
• US Class Current: 703/23
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4411 Configuring for operating with peripheral devices; Loading of device drivers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors

Abstract

According to a disclosed embodiment of the invention, an improved cluster-based collection of computers (nodes) is realized using conventional computer hardware. Software is provided that enables at least one virtual machine to be presented to guest operating systems, wherein each node participating with the virtual machine has its own emulator or virtual machine monitor. VM memory coherency and I/O coherency are provided by hooks, which result in the manipulation of internal processor structures. A private network provides communication among the nodes.

Claims

1. A method for executing a software application in a plurality of computers having respective hardware resources said hardware resources comprising a respective memory and a respective I/O device, wherein said computers include a first computer and a second computer that intercommunication over a network, comprising the steps of:

running at least a first virtual machine implementer and a second virtual machine implementer on said first computer and said second computer, using said respective memory, wherein said first and second virtual machine implementers run separately and independently of one another on said first and second computers, respectively; and

executing a virtual machine on said computers, wherein said virtual machine is shared between said first virtual machine implementer and said second virtual machine implementer using said respective I/O device in each of said first computer and said second computer to intercommunicate between said first computer and said second computer, and a guest operating system runs over said shared virtual machine.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of running said software application over said guest operating system, so that commands invoked by said software application are monitored or emulated by said first virtual machine implementer and said second virtual machine implementer on said first computer and said second computer, while said hardware resources of said first computer and said second computer are shared by communication over said network.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of said first virtual machine implementer and said second virtual machine implementer is a virtual machine monitor.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of said first virtual machine implementer and said second virtual machine implementer is an emulator.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least said first computer comprises a first virtual node comprising a first physical CPU of said first computer and a second virtual node comprising a second physical CPU of said first computer.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein said virtual machine comprises a first virtual machine and a second virtual machine, wherein said first virtual machine and said second virtual machine have a plurality of virtual CPU'"'"'s that are virtualized by said first virtual machine implementer based on a first physical CPU and said second virtual machine implementer based on a second physical CPU, respectively.

7. The method according to claim 6, and a first virtual node comprises said first physical CPU and said second physical CPU.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein said first virtual machine implementer virtualizes at least one of said virtual CPU'"'"'s of said first virtual machine based on said first physical CPU and virtualizes at least one of said virtual CPU'"'"'s in said second virtual machine based on said second physical CPU.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

providing a management system for said first virtual machine implementer and said second virtual machine implementer to control said first computer and said second computer, respectively, wherein said management system comprises a wrapper for receiving calls to a device driver from said first virtual machine implementer, said wrapper invoking said device driver according to a requirement of said first virtual machine implementer.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising the step of providing a virtual PCI controller for said management system to control a physical PCI controller in one of said computers.

11. The method according to claim 9, further comprising the step of providing a virtual DMA controller for said management system to control a physical DMA controller in one of said computers.

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

providing a virtual PCI controller to control a physical PCI controller in one of said computers; and

during a bootup phase of operation scanning a device list with said virtual PCI controller to identify devices having on-board DMA controllers.

13. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

with said first virtual machine implementer and said second virtual machine implementer maintaining mirrors of a portion of said respective memory that is used by said guest operating system in each of said computers;

write-invalidating at least a portion of a page of said respective memory in one of said computers; and

transferring a valid copy of said portion of said page to said one computer from another of said computers via said network.

38. The method according to claim 1, wherein said guest operating system consists of exactly one instance of a single guest operating system.

40. The method according to claim 1, wherein said first virtual machine implementer and said second virtual machine implementer are operative to present said respective memory of said first computer and said respective memory of said second computer as a single shared memory to said guest operating system, the method further comprising the step of distributing instructions of said guest operating system to said single shared memory.

43. The method according to claim 1, wherein said first and second computers comprise separate, respective first and second central processing units (CPUs), first and second memories, first and second I/O devices, and first and second buses that respectively interconnect the first CPU with the first I/O device and the second CPU with the second I/O device.

14. A computer software product, comprising a computer-readable medium in which computer program instructions are stored, which instructions cause a plurality of computers having respective hardware resources, said hardware resources comprising a respective memory and a respective I/O device, to perform a method for executing a software application, wherein said computers include a first computer and a second computer that intercommunicate over a network, comprising the steps of:

running at least a first virtual machine implementer and a second virtual machine implementer on said first computer and said second computer, using said respective memory, wherein said first and second virtual machine implementers run separately and independently of one another on said first and second computers, respectively; and

executing a virtual machine on said computers, wherein said virtual machine is shared between said first virtual machine implementer and said second virtual machine implementer using said respective I/O device in each of said first computer and said second computer to intercommunicate between said first computer and said second computer, and a guest operating system runs over said shared virtual machine.

15. The computer software product according to claim 14, wherein at least one of said first virtual machine implementer and said second virtual machine implementer is a virtual machine monitor.

16. The computer software product according to claim 14, wherein at least one of said first virtual machine implementer and said second virtual machine implementer is an emulator.

17. The computer software product according to claim 14, wherein at least said first computer comprises a first virtual node comprising a first physical CPU of said first computer and a second virtual node comprising a second physical CPU of said first computer.

18. The computer software product according to claim 17, wherein said virtual machine comprises a first virtual machine and a second virtual machine, wherein said first virtual machine and said second virtual machine have a plurality of virtual CPU'"'"'s that are virtualized by said first virtual machine implementer based on said first physical CPU and said second virtual machine implementer based on said second physical CPU, respectively.

19. The computer software product according to claim 18, wherein said plurality of virtual CPU'"'"'s that are virtualized by said first virtual machine implementer based on said first physical CPU and said second virtual machine implementer based on said second physical CPU, respectively.

20. The computer software product according to claim 18, wherein said first virtual node comprises said first physical CPU and said second physical CPU.

21. The computer software product according to claim 20, wherein said first virtual machine implementer virtualizes at least one of said virtual CPU'"'"'s of said first virtual machine based on said first physical CPU and virtualizes at least one of said virtual CPU'"'"'s in said second virtual machine based on said second physical CPU.

22. The computer software product according to claim 14, wherein said computer is further instructed to perform the step of running said software application over said guest operating system, so that commands invoked by said software application are received by said first virtual machine implementer and said second virtual machine implementer on said first computer and said second computer, while said hardware resources of said first computer and said second computer are shared by communication over said network.

23. The computer software product according to claim 14, further comprising the steps of:

providing a management system for said first virtual machine implementer and said second virtual machine implementer to control said first computer and said second computer, respectively, wherein said management system comprises a wrapper for receiving calls to a device driver from said first virtual machine implementer and said second virtual machine implementer, said wrapper invoking said device driver according to a requirement of said first virtual machine implementer and said second virtual machine implementer.

24. The computer software product according to claim 23, further comprising the step of providing a virtual PCI controller for said management system to control a physical PCI controller in one of said computers.

25. The computer software product according to claim 23, wherein said computers are further instructed to perform the step of providing a virtual DMA controller for said management system to control a physical DMA controller in one of said computers.

26. The computer software product according to claim 25, wherein said computers are further instructed to perform the steps of:

providing a virtual PCI controller to control a physical PCI controller in one of said computers; and

during a bootup phase of operation scanning a device list with said virtual PCI controller to identify devices having on-board DMA controllers.

27. The computer software product according to claim 14, wherein said computers are further instructed to perform the steps of:

with said first virtual machine implementer and said second virtual machine implementer maintaining mirrors of a portion of said respective memory that is used by said guest operating system in each of said computers;

write-invalidating at least a portion of a page of said respective memory in one of said computers; and

transferring a valid copy of said portion of said page to said one computer from another of said computers via said network.

39. The computer software product according to claim 14, wherein said guest operating system consists of exactly one instance of a single guest operating system.

41. The computer software product according to claim 14, wherein said first virtual machine implementer and said second virtual machine implementer are operative to present said respective memory of said first computer and said respective memory of said second computer as a single shared memory to said guest operating system, and to distribute instructions of said guest operating system to said single shared memory.

44. The computer software product according to claim 14, wherein said first and second computers comprise separate, respective first and second central processing units (CPUs), first and second memories, first and second I/O devices, and first and second buses that respectively interconnect the first CPU with the first I/O device and the second CPU with the second I/O device.

28. A computer system for executing a software application, comprising:

a plurality of computers having respective hardware resources, said hardware resources comprising a respective memory and a respective I/O device, said computers comprising at least a first computer and a second computer;

a network connected to said first computer and said second computer providing intercommunication therebetween;

said first computer and said second computer being operative to execute a first virtual machine implementer and a second virtual machine implementer respectively using said respective memory, wherein a virtual machine is implemented concurrently and shared by at least said first virtual machine implementer and said second virtual machine implementer, and wherein said first and second virtual machine implementers run separately and independently of one another on said first and second computers, respectively; and

said computers being operative to execute a guest operating system over said shared virtual machine, wherein said software application executes over said guest operating system, so that commands invoked by said software application are received by said first virtual machine implementer and said second virtual machine implementer on said first computer and said second computer, while said hardware resources of said first computer and said second computer are shared by communication over said network using said respective I/O device.

29. The computer system according to claim 28, wherein said software application comprises a first software application and a second software application, said guest operating system comprises a first guest operating system and a second guest operating system, and said virtual machine comprises a first virtual machine and a second virtual machine, wherein said first software application and said first guest operating system are associated with said first virtual machine, and said second software application and said second guest operating system are associated with said second virtual machine.

30. The computer system according to claim 29, wherein one of said computers has a first physical CPU and a second physical CPU, and said first virtual machine implementer virtualizes a first virtual CPU in said first virtual machine based on said first physical CPU and virtualizes a second virtual CPU in said second virtual machine based on said second physical CPU.

31. The computer system according to claim 28, wherein at least said first computer comprises a first virtual node and a second virtual node.

32. The computer system according to claim 31, wherein said first computer comprises a first processor and a second processor, a first I/O device and a second I/O device, wherein said first I/O device is assigned to said first processor, and said second I/O device is assigned to said second processor.

33. The computer system according to claim 28, further comprising a minimal operating system executing in each of said computers to invoke said first virtual machine implementer and said second virtual machine implementer so that said first virtual machine implementer and said second virtual machine implementer control said computers.

34. The computer system according to claim 28, further comprising a management system for said first virtual machine implementer and said second virtual machine implementer to control said first computer and said second computer, respectively, wherein said management system comprises a wrapper for receiving calls to a device driver from said first virtual machine implementer and said second virtual machine implementer, said wrapper invoking said device driver according to a requirement of said first virtual machine implementer and said second virtual machine implementer.

35. The computer system according to claim 34, further comprising a virtual PCI controller for said management system to control a physical PCI controller in one of said computers.

36. The computer system according to claim 34, further comprising a virtual DMA controller for said management system to control a physical DMA controller in one of said computers.

37. The computer system according to claim 28, further comprising a memory management system that maintains mirrors of a portion of said respective memory that is used by said guest operating system in each of said computers, wherein said memory management system write-invalidates at least a portion of a page of said respective memory in one of said computers;

and transfers a valid copy of said portion of said page to said one computer from another of said computers via said network.

42. The computer system according to claim 28, wherein said first virtual machine implementer and said second virtual machine implementer are operative to present said respective memory of said first computer and said respective memory of said second computer as a single shared memory to said guest operating system, and to distribute instructions of said guest operating system to said single shared memory.

45. The computer system according to claim 28, wherein said first and second computers comprise separate, respective first and second central processing units (CPUs), first and second memories, first and second I/O devices, and first and second buses that respectively interconnect the first CPU with the first I/O device and the second CPU with the second I/O device.