Listener Stub for Virtual Machine Resource Reclamation
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Solution Overview
Problem
In computer systems with virtualized environments, guest virtual machines often remain idle while waiting for responses from remote systems, leading to resource shortages and system performance issues due to inefficient resource management, causing slowdowns and potential outages.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a resource management technique that allows guest virtual machines to suspend operations when waiting for responses, using a listener stub to manage resources and reassign them to other active machines, ensuring efficient resource utilization by reclaiming and redistributing CPU cycles and memory.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If guest virtual machines remain idle while waiting for responses from remote systems, then they can receive responses correctly, but resource contention increases and system performance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by transitioning virtual machines between active and suspended states based on their operational needs. When a VM is waiting for a remote response, it is suspended to free resources; when the response arrives, the VM is restored to active state. This dynamic state management resolves the contradiction by adapting resource allocation to actual workload demands, improving system performance while maintaining response reception capability through the listener stub mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The listener stub acts as an intermediary between the suspended virtual machine and the incoming response. The stub domain creates a listener stub that receives responses on behalf of suspended VMs, holding the response until the VM is restored. This intermediary mechanism allows VMs to be suspended (freeing resources) while still ensuring reliable response reception, thus resolving the contradiction between resource efficiency and response reliability.
2Reliability
If resources are allocated to guest virtual machines waiting for responses, then response processing is reliable, but resource availability for other machines decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by creating a listener stub before suspending the virtual machine. The listener stub is set up in advance to receive and hold responses that will arrive after the VM is suspended. This preliminary setup ensures that when the VM is restored, the response is already available, maintaining processing reliability while allowing resources to be freed during the suspension period.
Solution Approach 2:
The listener stub serves as an intermediary that decouples the response reception process from the virtual machine's active state. The stub domain receives responses on behalf of suspended VMs and holds them until restoration. This intermediary mechanism enables resource freeing (improving quantity available) while maintaining response processing reliability through the stub's holding capability.
3Quantity of substance
If guest virtual machines are suspended to free resources, then resource availability increases, but system complexity increases due to suspension and restoration management
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the taking out principle by extracting the response reception function from the virtual machine itself and placing it in a separate stub domain. The listener stub is created in the stub domain, which is then transferred to the suspended VM. This separation allows the VM to be suspended for resource freeing while the stub domain independently manages response reception, reducing the complexity burden on the VM suspension management.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses copying by creating a listener stub that is a simplified representation of the virtual machine's response reception capability. The stub domain creates this copy, which can operate independently during VM suspension. This copying approach simplifies suspension management by using a lightweight stub structure rather than managing the full VM state during suspension.
4Measurement precision
If listener stubs are created for each guest virtual machine, then response routing is accurate, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies universality by making the stub domain a multi-functional component that can create and manage listener stubs for multiple different virtual machines. Rather than having separate stub creation mechanisms for each VM, the stub domain provides a universal interface that handles response reception for any suspended VM. This universal approach maintains accurate response routing (by matching responses to the correct VM's stub) while reducing overall system complexity through consolidation.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques for reclaiming resources from guest computing systems while those systems are waiting for responses to requests in virtualized and/or distributed computer systems are described herein. At a time after issuing a request and determining that the response will take longer than a threshold length of time, one or more computer system entities within a computer system invoke one or more computer system capabilities to at least instantiate a listener object, transfer the listener object to another system domain, suspend the guest computing system and reclaim resources from the suspended guest computing system. When the response is returned to the listener object, the guest computer system is restored and the response is forwarded to the restored guest. While the guest computing system is suspended, the reclaimed resources are made available to other computer system entities.