Methods And Structure For Improved Flexibility In Shared Storage Caching By Multiple Systems Operating As Multiple Virtual Machines

摘要

Methods and structure for improved exibility in managing cache memory in a storage controller (106) of a computing device (104) on which multiple virtual machines (VMs) (110) are operating in a VM computing environment (100). Embodiments hereof provide for the storage controller to receive configuration information from a VM management system (102) coupled with the storage controller where the configuration information comprises information regarding each VM presently operating on the computing device. Based on the configuration information, the storage controller allocates and de-allocates segments (208, 210, 212) of the cache memory of the storage controller for use by the various virtual machines presently operating on the computing device. The configuration information may comprise indicia of the number of VMs presently operating as well as performance metric threshold configuration information to allocate/de-allocate segments based on present performance of each virtual machine.