Controlling system clocks in virtual machines

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10054977-B2
Application number	US-201615141129-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 28, 2016
Priority date	Apr 28, 2016
Publication date	Aug 21, 2018
Grant date	Aug 21, 2018

Abstract

Managing system clocks of virtual machines. A host system clock value of a host system clock of a host system is obtained, and a virtual machine system clock value of a system clock of a virtual machine managed by the host system is determined. The determining of the virtual machine system clock value includes using the host system clock value and a system clock adjustment value. The system clock of the virtual machine is adjusted using the virtual machine system clock value.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer program product for managing system clocks of a computing environment, said computer program product comprising:
a non-transitory computer readable storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for performing a method comprising:
obtaining a host system clock value of a host system clock of a host system;
determining a virtual machine system clock value of a system clock of a virtual machine managed by the host system, wherein the determining comprises using the host system clock value and a system clock adjustment value to determine the virtual machine system clock value; and
adjusting the system clock of the virtual machine using the virtual machine system clock value, wherein the adjusting the system clock of the virtual machine slows down the system clock of the virtual machine to synchronize one process executing on the virtual machine with another process executing on the virtual machine.

2. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the determining the virtual machine system clock value comprises dividing the host system clock value by the system clock adjustment value to determine the virtual machine system clock value.

3. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the one process is executing in one processing mode and the other process is executing in another processing mode different from the one processing mode.

4. The computer program product of claim 3 , wherein the one processing mode is a debug mode and the other processing mode is a non-debug mode.

5. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises determining the system clock adjustment value, the determining the system clock adjustment value comprising:
determining a loss of performance value using one process time for a process executing in one processing mode and another process time for the process executing in another processing mode;
determining an adjusted system clock slowing down value; and
using the loss of performance value and the adjusted system clock slowing down value to determine the system clock adjustment value.

6. The computer program product of claim 5 , wherein the using the loss of performance value and the adjusted system clock slowing down value to determine the system clock adjustment value comprises performing a calculation, the calculation comprising: system clock adjustment value=the adjusted system clock slowing down value+a time safety factor*(the loss of performance value−the adjusted system clock slowing down value).

7. The computer program product of claim 5 , wherein one or more of the determining the loss of performance value or the determining the adjusted system clock slowing down value comprises using one or more functional tests.

8. The computer program product of claim 5 , wherein the determining the adjusted system clock slowing down value comprises:
setting the system clock of the virtual machine to one value;
performing a functional test using a selected value;
determining whether a result of the functional test is a particular relationship with respect to a particular value; and
performing an action, based on the determining, wherein the performing the action comprises:
based on the result of the functional test not having the particular relationship with respect to the particular value, selecting another selected value and repeating the performing the functional test, the determining whether the result of the functional test is the particular relationship with respect to the particular value, and the performing the action; and
based on the result of the functional test having the particular relationship with respect to the particular value, setting the adjusted system clock slowing down value to the selected value.

9. A computer system for managing system clocks of a computing environment, said computer system comprising:
a memory; and
a processor in communication with the memory, wherein the computer system is configured to perform a method, said method comprising:
obtaining a host system clock value of a host system clock of a host system;
determining a virtual machine system clock value of a system clock of a virtual machine managed by the host system, wherein the determining comprises using the host system clock value and a system clock adjustment value to determine the virtual machine system clock value; and
adjusting the system clock of the virtual machine using the virtual machine system clock value, wherein the adjusting the system clock of the virtual machine slows down the system clock of the virtual machine to synchronize one process executing on the virtual machine with another process executing on the virtual machine.

10. The computer system of claim 9 , wherein the determining the virtual machine system clock value comprises dividing the host system clock value by the system clock adjustment value to determine the virtual machine system clock value.

11. The computer system of claim 9 , wherein the method further comprises determining the system clock adjustment value, the determining the system clock adjustment value comprising:
determining a loss of performance value using one process time for a process executing in one processing mode and another process time for the process executing in another processing mode;
determining an adjusted system clock slowing down value; and
using the loss of performance value and the adjusted system clock slowing down value to determine the system clock adjustment value.

12. The computer system of claim 11 , wherein the determining the adjusted system clock slowing down value comprises:
setting the system clock of the virtual machine to one value;
performing a functional test using a selected value;
determining whether a result of the functional test is a particular relationship with respect to a particular value; and
performing an action, based on the determining, wherein the performing the action comprises:
based on the result of the functional test not having the particular relationship with respect to the particular value, selecting another selected value and repeating the performing the functional test, the determining whether the result of the functional test is the particular relationship with respect to the particular value, and the performing the action; and
based on the result of the functional test having the particular relationship with respect to the particular value, setting the adjusted system clock slowing down value to the selected value.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Mikhaylov Ivan
• Mironov Ivan
• Petrov Petr

Classifications

• G06F2009/45579

  I/O management, e.g. providing access to device drivers or storage · CPC title

• G06F9/45558

  Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects · CPC title

• G06F1/12 Primary

  Synchronisation of different clock signals {provided by a plurality of clock generators} · CPC title

• G06F2009/45575

  Starting, stopping, suspending or resuming virtual machine instances · CPC title

• G06F9/52

  Program synchronisation; Mutual exclusion, e.g. by means of semaphores · CPC title