Virtual machine migration with direct physical access control

摘要

A data processing system facilitates virtual machine migration with direct physical access control. The illustrative data processing system comprises a software-programmable trap control associated with hardware registers of a computer that selectively vectors execution control of a virtual machine (VM) between a host and a guest. The data processing system further comprises a logic which is configured for execution on the computer that programs the trap control to enable the virtual machine to directly access the hardware registers when the virtual machine is not migrated and to revoke direct access of the hardware registers in preparation for virtual machine migration.

主权项

1. A data processing system comprising:
a processor; hardware registers including input-output (I/O) registers and a translation lookaside buffer (TLB); a hardware trap control that includes hardware and is software programmable to alternatively,
cause the processor to allow a guest operating system (guest OS) executing on a first virtual machine (VM) to directly access the hardware registers, andcause the processor to trap attempts by the guest OS to directly access the hardware registers so as to disallow direct physical access to the hardware registers by the first virtual machine and so as to fully virtualize the first VM; and logic that programs the hardware trap control to,trap attempts by the guest OS to directly access the hardware registers during migration and preparation for migration so that, during migration, the first VM is fully virtualized and continues to operate during migration, andallow direct access of the hardware registers by the guest OS when the first VM is not being migrated or being prepared for migration.