Method, apparatus and system for optimizing context switching between virtual machines

摘要

A method, apparatus and system may optimize context switching between virtual machines ("VMs"). According to an embodiment of the present invention, a first processor core may execute a first VM while a second processor core may concurrently retrieve information pertaining to the state of a second VM into a processor cache. When the virtual machine manager ("VMM") performs a context switch between the first and the second VMs, the second processor may immediately begin executing the second VM, while the first processor may save the state information for the first VM. In yet another embodiment, different threads on a processor may be utilized to execute different VMs on a host.