TECHNIQUES FOR MANAGING PROCESSOR RESOURCE FOR A MULTI-PROCESSOR SERVER EXECUTING MULTIPLE OPERATING SYSTEMS

摘要

A multiprocessor server system executes a plurality of multiprocessor or single-processor operating systems each using a plurality of storage adapters and a plurality of network adapters. Each operating system maintains load information about all its processors and shares the information with other operating systems. Upon changes in the processor load of the operating systems, processors are dynamically reassigned among operating systems to improve performance if the maximum load of the storage adapters and network adapters of the reassignment target operating system is not already reached. Processor reassignment includes shutting down and restarting dynamically operating systems to allow the reassignment of the processors used by single-processor operating systems. Furthermore, the process scheduler of multi-processor operating systems keeps some processors idle under light processor load conditions in order to allow the immediate reassignment of processors to heavily loaded operating systems.

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