High-performance processing in a virtualization environment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10180852-B2
Application number	US-201313909743-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 4, 2013
Priority date	Jun 4, 2013
Publication date	Jan 15, 2019
Grant date	Jan 15, 2019

Abstract

Exemplary methods, apparatuses, and systems include a client virtual machine processing a system call for a device driver to instruct a physical device to perform a function and transmitting the system call to an appliance virtual machine to execute the system call. The client virtual machine determines, in response to the system call, that an established connection with the appliance virtual machine has switched from a first protocol to a second protocol, the first and second protocols including a high-performance transmission protocol and Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). The client virtual machine transmits the system call to the appliance virtual machine according to the second protocol. For example, the established connection may switch to the second protocol in response to the client virtual machine migrating to the first host device from a second host device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer implemented method, comprising:
processing a system call from an application running within a client virtual machine running on a first host device, wherein the processing includes
determining that the system call is a request for a device driver to instruct a physical general-purpose graphics processing unit (GPGPU) or co-processor to perform a function and the request is intended for a parallel computing framework library, wherein a first appliance virtual machine provides the parallel computing library and virtualization of the GPGPU or co-processor for a plurality of virtual machines including the client virtual machine;
determining, in response to the system call, that an established connection between the client virtual machine and the first appliance virtual machine has switched from a first protocol to a second protocol, the first and second protocols including a high-performance transmission protocol and a low-performance transmission protocol; and
transmitting, in response to determining that the system call is intended for the parallel computing framework library and according to the second protocol, the request from the client virtual machine to the first appliance virtual machine to execute the request via a guest device pass-through that communicates directly with the GPGPU or co-processor.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the established connection switches to the second protocol in response to the client virtual machine migrating to the first host device from a second host device.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the second protocol is the high-performance transmission protocol and the established connection switches to the high-performance transmission protocol further in response to the client virtual machine and the first appliance virtual machine both running on the first host device.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the second protocol is TCP/IP and the established connection switches to TCP/IP further in response to the client virtual machine running on the first host device while the first appliance virtual machine runs on the second host device.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
selecting, in response to a detected latency in the first appliance virtual machine processing the transmitted request, a second appliance virtual machine to be the recipient of requests for a device driver to instruct a physical device to perform a function.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, which when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform method comprising:
processing a system call from an application running within a client virtual machine running on a first host device, wherein the processing includes
determining that the system call is a request for a device driver to instruct a physical general-purpose graphics processing unit (GPGPU) or co-processor to perform a function and the request is intended for a parallel computing framework library, wherein a first appliance virtual machine provides the parallel computing library and virtualization of the GPGPU or co-processor for a plurality of virtual machines including the client virtual machine;
determining, in response to the system call, that an established connection between the client virtual machine and the first appliance virtual machine has switched from a first protocol to a second protocol, the first and second protocols including a high-performance transmission protocol and a low-performance transmission protocol; and
transmitting, in response to determining that the system call is intended for the parallel computing framework library and according to the second protocol, the request from the client virtual machine to the first appliance virtual machine to execute the request via a guest device pass-through that communicates directly with the GPGPU or co-processor.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6 , wherein the established connection switches to the second protocol in response to the client virtual machine migrating to the first host device from a second host device.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the second protocol is the high-performance transmission protocol and the established connection switches to the high-performance transmission protocol further in response to the client virtual machine and the first appliance virtual machine both running on the first host device.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the second protocol is TCP/IP and the established connection switches to TCP/IP further in response to the client virtual machine running on the first host device while the first appliance virtual machine runs on the second host device.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6 , the method further comprising:
selecting, in response to a detected latency in the first appliance virtual machine processing the transmitted request, a second appliance virtual machine to be the recipient of requests for a device driver to instruct a physical device to perform a function.

11. An apparatus comprising:
a first host device including a physical processing device, wherein the physical processing device executes instructions that cause the apparatus to process a system call from an application running within a client virtual machine, wherein the processing includes
determining that the system call is a request for a device driver to instruct a physical general-purpose graphics processing unit (GPGPU) or co-processor to perform a function and the request is intended for a parallel computing framework library, wherein a first appliance virtual machine provides the parallel computing library and virtualization of the GPGPU or co-processor for a plurality of virtual machines including the client virtual machine;
determining, in response to the system call, that an established connection between the client virtual machine and the first appliance virtual machine has switched from a first protocol to a second protocol, the first and second protocols including a high-performance transmission protocol and a low-performance transmission protocol; and
transmitting, in response to determining that the system call is intended for the parallel computing framework library and according to the second protocol, the request from the client virtual machine to the first appliance virtual machine to execute the request via a guest device pass-through that communicates directly with the GPGPU or co-processor.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the established connection switches to the second protocol in response to the client virtual machine migrating to the first host device from a second host device.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the second protocol is the high-performance transmission protocol and the established connection switches to the high-performance transmission protocol further in response to the client virtual machine and the first appliance virtual machine both running on the first host device.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the second protocol is TCP/IP and the established connection switches to TCP/IP further in response to the client virtual machine running on the first host device while the first appliance virtual machine runs on the second host device.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the instructions further cause the apparatus to:
select, in response to a detected latency in the first appliance virtual machine processing

Assignees

• Vmware Inc

Inventors

• Spracklen Lawrence
• Sivaraman Hari
• Makhija Vikram
• Bidarkar Rishi

Classifications

• G06F9/45558 Primary

  Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects · CPC title