Product for providing a scalable trusted platform module in a hypervisor environment

US7996687B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• International Business Machines Corporation · US

Inventors

• Richard Louis Arndt · Austin, US
• Steven A. Bade · Georgetown, US
• Thomas J. Dewkett · Staatsburg, US
• Charles W. Gainey, Jr. · Poughkeepsie, US
• Nia Letise Kelley · Austin, US
• Siegfried Sutter · Eppelheim, DE
• Helmut H. Weber · Waldenbuch, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Oct 31, 2008
• Grant date: Aug 9, 2011
• Expiry date: Aug 19, 2029

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H04L63/102
• WIPO field: Digital communication
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

Multiple logical partitions are provided in a data processing system. A unique context is generated for each one of the logical partitions. When one of the logical partitions requires access to the hardware TPM, that partition's context is required to be stored in the hardware TPM. The hardware TPM includes a finite number of storage locations, called context slots, for storing contexts. Each context slot can store one partition's context. Each one of the partitions is associated with one of the limited number of context storage slots in the hardware TPM. At least one of the context slots is simultaneously associated with more than one of the logical partitions. Contexts are swapped into and out of the hardware TPM during runtime of the data processing system so that when ones of the partitions require access to the hardware TPM, their required contexts are currently stored in the hardware TPM.