Computer and memory region management method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10289564-B2
Application number	US-201515741704-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 8, 2015
Priority date	Jul 8, 2015
Publication date	May 14, 2019
Grant date	May 14, 2019

Abstract

A computer on which OSs run is coupled to the storage apparatus, the OSs include a first OS controlling access to the storage apparatus and a second OS generating a virtual computer. A logically divided computer resources are allocated to the first OS and the second OS respectively. A third OS for executing an application runs on the virtual computer. The second OS has a shared region management part managing a shared region that is a memory region used for communication between the application and the first OS. The third operating system has an agent requesting the second operating system to secure the shared region based on a request from the application and mapping the secured shared region to a guest virtual address space.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer on which a plurality of operating systems run, comprising as computer resources:
a processor;
a memory coupled to the processor; and
an I/O device coupled to the processor,
the computer being coupled to a storage apparatus having a plurality of storage media,
the plurality of operating systems including a first operating system configured to control access to the storage apparatus and a second operating system configured to generate at least one virtual computer,
divided computer resources being allocated to the first operating system and the second operating system respectively,
a third operating system for executing an application running on the at least one virtual computer,
the second operating system having a shared region management part configured to manage a shared region that is a memory region used for communication between the application and the first operating system, and
the third operating system having an agent configured to request the second operating system to secure the shared region based on a request from the application and map the secured shared region to a guest virtual address space indicating a position of a virtual memory allocated to the application.

2. The computer according to claim 1 , wherein the second operating system includes a processing part configured to control the communication between the first operating system and the application using the shared region,
wherein the shared region management part is configured to:
secure the shared region of a prescribed size in a case of receiving a secure request for the shared region from the agent; and
notify the agent of first addresses to access the secured shared region in a guest physical address space indicating a physical position of a logical memory included in the virtual computer,
wherein the agent is configured to:
map the secured shared region to the guest virtual address space using the first addresses; and
notify the application of second addresses to access the shared region mapped to the guest virtual address space,
wherein the application is configured to send a request to start a process using the shared region to the processing part via the agent after receiving the second address,
wherein the processing part is configured to:
obtain, from the shared region management part, third addresses to access the secured shared region in a host physical address space managed by the second operating system; and
notify the first operating system of the third addresses, and
wherein the first operating system is configured to communicate with the application using the third addresses, thereby executing the process using the shared region.

3. The computer according to claim 2 , wherein the second operating system allocates, as the shared region, a part of a memory region allocated to the virtual computer in a case where the virtual computer is booted.

4. The computer according to claim 3 , wherein the shared region management part is configured to:
divide the shared region into a plurality of blocks and manage the plurality of blocks; and
secure at least one block as the shared region provided for the application in a case of receiving the secure request for the shared region from the agent.

5. A memory region management method for a computer on which a plurality of operating systems run,
the computer including, as computer resources, a processor; a memory coupled to the processor, and an I/O device coupled to the processor,
the computer being coupled to a storage apparatus having a plurality of storage media,
the plurality of operating systems including a first operating system configured to control access to the storage apparatus and a second operating system configured to generate at least one virtual computer,
divided computer resources being allocated to the first operating system and the second operating system respectively,
a third operating system for executing an application running on the at least one virtual computer,
the memory region management method including:
a first step of issuing, by the application, a secure request for a shared region that is a memory region used for communication between the application and the first operating system via the third operating system;
a second step of securing, by the second operating system, the shared region based on the secure request for the shared region; and
a third step mapping, by the third operating system, the secured shared region to a guest virtual address space indicating a position of a virtual memory allocated to the application.

6. The memory region management method according to claim 5 ,
wherein the second step includes:
a step of securing the shared region of a prescribed size; and
a step of notifying the application of first addresses to access the secured shared region in a guest physical address space indicating a physical position of a logical memory included in the virtual computer,
wherein the third step includes:
a step of mapping the secured shared region to the guest virtual address space using the first addresses; and
a step of notifying the application of second addresses to access the shared region mapped to the guest virtual address space,
wherein the memory region management method further includes:
a step of sending, by the application, a request to start a process using the shared region to the second operating system via the third operating system after receiving the second address;
a step of obtaining, by the second operating system, third addresses to access the secured shared region in a host physical address space managed by the second operating system in a case of receiving the request to start the process;
a step of notifying, by the second operating system, the first operating system of the third addresses; and
a step of communicating, by the first operating system, with the application using the third addresses to execute the process using the shared region.

7. The memory region management method according to claim 6 , further including a step of allocating, by the second operating system, as the shared region, a part of a memory region allocated to the virtual computer in a case where the virtual computer is booted.

8. The memory region management method according to claim 7 , further including a step of dividing, by the second operating system, the shared region into a plurality of blocks and managing the plurality of blocks,
wherein the second step includes a step of securing at least one block as the shared region for the application.

Assignees

• Hitachi Ltd

Inventors

• Hatta Yukari
• Hayakawa Norimitsu
• Totsuka Takao
• Moriki Toshiomi
• Kinugawa Satoshi

Classifications

• G06F2212/657

  Virtual address space management · CPC title

• G06F12/1425

  the protection being physical, e.g. cell, word, block · CPC title

• G06F2212/151

  Emulated environment, e.g. virtual machine · CPC title

• G06F2212/1044

  Space efficiency improvement · CPC title

• G06F9/45545

  Guest-host, i.e. hypervisor is an application program itself, e.g. VirtualBox · CPC title