Preemptive guest merging for virtualization hypervisors

摘要

Aspects of the present invention provide a solution for managing memory. A method according to an embodiment includes: prior to any storage of a page from a guest in the memory: analyzing the page to compute an identifier for the page; and comparing the computed identifier with other identifiers of other pages currently stored in the memory to find an identical page, wherein a match between the computed identifier and the identifier of one of the other pages currently stored in memory indicates that the page corresponding to the computed identifier and the other page corresponding to the matching identifier are identical; and storing, in the case that an identical page is found, a link to the identical page in a portion of the memory allocated to the guest.

主权项

1. A method for managing memory, comprising:
prior to any storage of a page from a guest in the memory:
analyzing the page to compute an identifier for the page based on characteristics of the page; andcomparing the computed identifier with other identifiers stored in a table of other pages currently stored in the memory to find an identical page, wherein a match between the computed identifier and the identifier of one of the other pages currently stored in memory indicates that the page corresponding to the computed identifier and the other page corresponding to the matching identifier are identical; storing, in the case that an identical page is found, a link to the identical page in a portion of the memory allocated to the guest; and storing, in case that the identical page is not found, the page in the portion of the memory allocated to the guest and storing the identifier.