Enabling efficient nested virtualization
US10467033B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Dec 22, 2011 |
| Grant date | Nov 5, 2019 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Nov 30, 2032 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F2009/45566
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Embodiments of the invention enable dynamic level boosting of operations across virtualization layers to enable efficient nested virtualization. Embodiments of the invention execute a first virtual machine monitor (VMM) to virtualize system hardware. A nested virtualization environment is created by executing a plurality of upper level VMMs via virtual machines (VMs). These upper level VMMs are used to execute an upper level virtualization layer including an operating system (OS).During operation of the above described nested virtualization environment, a privileged instruction issued from an OS is trapped and emulated via the respective upper level VMM (i.e., the VMM that creates the VM for that OS). Embodiments of the invention enable the emulation of the privileged instruction via a lower level VMM. In some embodiments, the emulated instruction is executed via the first VMM with little to no involvement of any intermediate virtualization layers residing between the first and upper level VMMs.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.