Memory state transfer of virtual machine-controlled peripherals during migrations of the virtual machine

摘要

A mechanism for memory change tracking during migration of a virtual machine (VM) with VM-controlled assigned peripherals is disclosed. A method of the invention includes interacting with a VM executed by a hypervisor of a origin host machine in order to cause the VM to prevent a state of a peripheral device controlled by the VM from changing, receiving the state of the peripheral device from at least one of the VM, a memory of the VM, or the peripheral device, and transferring the obtained state of the peripheral device to a destination host machine as part of a migration process of the VM.

主权项

1. A method of transferring peripheral device state as part of a virtual machine migration, comprising:
receiving, by a hypervisor of an origin host machine, a notification to transfer device state of a peripheral device controlled by a virtual machine (VM) to a destination host machine as part of a migration process of the VM; requesting, by the hypervisor in cooperation with the VM, the device state of the peripheral device from the VM in response to receiving the notification, wherein the VM stops the peripheral device from operating, retrieves the device state from the stopped peripheral device, and provides, separately from a memory state of the VM, the retrieved device state to the hypervisor via a VM-to-hypervisor communication channel in response to the request; and transferring, by the hypervisor, the provided device state to the destination host machine, wherein the device state is transferred separately from the memory state of the VM.