Cooperated interrupt moderation for a virtualization environment

摘要

Generally, this disclosure describes systems (and methods) for moderating interrupts in a virtualization environment. An overflow interrupt interval is defined. The overflow interrupt interval is used for triggering activation of an inactive guest so that the guest may respond to a critical event. The guest, including a network application, may be active for a first time interval and inactive for a second time interval. A latency interrupt interval may be defined. The latency interrupt interval is configured for interrupt moderation when the network application associated with a packet flow is active, i.e., when the guest including the network application is active on a processor. Of course, many alternatives, variations, and modifications are possible without departing from this embodiment.

主权项

1. A method of moderating interrupts in a virtualization environment supported by a host system, the host system comprising a host processor, and a guest executed on the host processor, the guest comprising a virtual processor and a guest process executed on the virtual processor, the guest process comprising a network application associated with a packet flow, the method, comprising:
defining an overflow interrupt interval for a device in communication with the host system, the overflow interrupt interval related to a receive buffer overflow event in said host system when said guest is inactive, the receive buffer overflow event related to-said network application; defining a latency interrupt interval for the device; when the guest is inactive, moderating interrupts from the device based on the overflow buffer interval so that a first interrupt is generated from the device to the host when the overflow interrupt interval expires and a packet associated with the network application has been received by the device, said first interrupt configured to activate said guest so that said guest may respond to said receive buffer overflow event; and when the guest is active on the host system, moderating interrupts from the device based on the latency interrupt interval so that a second interrupt is interrupted from the device to the host when the latency interrupt interval expires and a packet associated with the network application has been received by the device.