SYNCHRONIZING UPDATES OF PAGE TABLE STATUS INDICATORS IN A MULTIPROCESSING ENVIRONMENT

摘要

A synchronization capability to synchronize updates to page tables by forcing updates in cached entries to be made visible in memory (i.e., in in-memory page table entries). A synchronization instruction is used that ensures after the instruction has completed that updates to the cached entries that occurred prior to the synchronization instruction are made visible in memory. Synchronization may be used to facilitate memory management operations, such as bulk operations used to change a large section of memory to read-only, operations to manage a free list of memory pages, and/or operations associated with terminating processes.

主权项

1. A method of synchronizing updates to status indicators in a computing environment, said method comprising:
receiving, by a first processor from a second processor, a synchronization request instructing the first processor to commit pending updates of one or more status indicators of one or more entries of an address translation structure located in memory; performing, by the first processor, based on receiving the synchronization request, a synchronization operation to commit the pending updates of the one or more status indicators; and based on completing the synchronization operation, indicating completion by the first processor to the second processor.