Transparent virtual machine offloading in a heterogeneous processor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9529620-B1
Application number	US-201514972179-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Dec 17, 2015
Priority date	Dec 17, 2015
Publication date	Dec 27, 2016
Grant date	Dec 27, 2016

Abstract

Aspects relate to offloading virtual machines (VMs). Aspects include identifying a VM for offload from a mainframe processor of a heterogeneous processor to a specialty processor of the heterogeneous processor. The mainframe processor is emulated by the specialty processor. The VM is migrated from the mainframe processor to the specialty processor, and the VM is activated on the specialty processor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of offloading virtual machines (VMs), the method comprising:
monitoring operating characteristics of a VM executing on a mainframe processor of a heterogeneous processor;
identifying the VM for offload from the mainframe processor to a specialty processor of the heterogeneous processor, the identifying based on the operating characteristics of the VM indicating that the VM is using at least a threshold number of resources on the mainframe processor, wherein the identifying is further based on the operating characteristics of the VM indicating less than a second threshold number of resources on the mainframe processor and that the VM is in an idle state;
wherein the specialty processor is configured to process a specific type of workload using an instruction set that is different than and that does not support all of the functions of the instruction set of the mainframe processor;
emulating, by the specialty processor, the mainframe processor;
migrating the VM from the mainframe processor to the specialty processor, the migrating including transmitting a VM memory and a VM state data of the VM from the mainframe processor to the specialty processor via a private high speed network that is internal to the heterogeneous processor;
activating the VM on the specialty processor;
migrating the VM back to the mainframe processor in response to a determination that the VM is in a non-idle state; and
activating the VM on the mainframe processor.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising monitoring operating characteristics of the mainframe processor, wherein the identifying is further based on the operating characteristics of the mainframe processor.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising monitoring operating characteristics of the heterogeneous processor, wherein the identifying is further based on the operating characteristics of the heterogeneous processor.

4. A system for offloading virtual machines (VMs), the system comprising:
a memory having computer readable instructions; and
a processor for executing the computer readable instructions, the computer readable instructions including:
monitoring operating characteristics of a VM executing on a mainframe processor of a heterogeneous processor;
identifying the VM for offload from the mainframe processor to a specialty processor of the heterogeneous processor; the identifying based on the operating characteristics of the VM indicating that the VM is using at least a threshold number of resources on the mainframe processor, wherein the identifying is further based on the operating characteristics of the VM indicating less than a second threshold number of resources on the mainframe processor and that the VM is in an idle state;
wherein the specialty processor is configured to process a specific type of workload using an instruction set that is different than and that does not support all of the functions of the instruction set of the mainframe processor;
emulating, by the specialty processor, the mainframe processor;
migrating the VM from the mainframe processor to the specialty processor, the migrating including transmitting a VM memory and a VM state data of the VM from the mainframe processor to the specialty processor via a private high speed network that is internal to the heterogeneous processor;
activating the VM on the specialty processor;
migrating the VM back to the mainframe processor in response to a determination that the VM is in a non-idle state; and
activating the VM on the mainframe processor.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the computer readable instructions further include monitoring operating characteristics of the mainframe processor, wherein the identifying is further based on the operating characteristics of the mainframe processor.

6. The system of claim 4 , wherein the computer readable instructions further include monitoring operating characteristics of the heterogeneous processor, wherein the identifying is further based on the operating characteristics of the heterogeneous processor.

7. A computer program product for migrating a virtual machine (VM), the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program code embodied therewith, the program code executable by a processor for:
monitoring operating characteristics of a VM executing on a mainframe processor of a heterogeneous processor;
identifying the VM for offload from the mainframe processor to a specialty processor of the heterogeneous processor, the identifying based on the operating characteristics of the VM indicating that the VM is using at least a threshold number of resources on the mainframe processor, wherein the identifying is further based on the operating characteristics of the VM indicating less than a second threshold number of resources on the mainframe processor and that the VM is in an idle state;
wherein the specialty processor is configured to process a specific type of workload using an instruction set that is different than and that does not support all of the functions of the instruction set of the mainframe processor;
emulating, by the specialty processor, the mainframe processor;
migrating the VM from the mainframe processor to the specialty processor, the migrating including transmitting a VM memory and a VM state data of the VM from the mainframe processor to the specialty processor via a private high speed network that is internal to the heterogeneous processor;
activating the VM on the specialty processor;
migrating the VM back to the mainframe processor in response to a determination that the VM is in a non-idle state; and
activating the VM on the mainframe processor.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Dow Eli M
• Fitzsimmons Thomas D
• Stocker Iv Charles J
• Yu Jessie

Classifications

• G06F9/45533

  Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors · CPC title

• G06F2009/4557

  Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing · CPC title

• G06F9/45558 Primary

  Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects · CPC title

• G06F9/45554

  Instruction set architectures of guest OS and hypervisor or native processor differ, e.g. Bochs or VirtualPC on PowerPC MacOS · CPC title

• G06F9/455

  Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines · CPC title