Virtual Storage Address Space Segmentation for VM Isolation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems face challenges in efficiently sharing a storage device among multiple virtual machines, as they often require direct hypervisor support and struggle to manage resource allocation and address space effectively, leading to inefficiencies and potential collisions.
Innovation Solution
A computing system provides a logical address space larger than the physical address space, allowing allocation to multiple virtual machines through an allocation module, storage module, and translation module, which segregates and translates addresses to manage storage requests efficiently without relying on hypervisor support.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a storage device is shared among multiple virtual machines using existing systems, then resource allocation can be achieved, but address space management becomes complex and collisions occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the physical address space into multiple virtual address spaces, with each virtual machine assigned its own dedicated portion. This segmentation allows independent management of address spaces for each virtual machine, eliminating the need for complex collision detection and resolution mechanisms while enabling efficient resource allocation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a virtualization layer that acts as an intermediary between virtual machines and the physical storage device. This layer manages address translation and allocation, abstracting the complexity of physical address management from individual virtual machines while enabling efficient direct access to storage resources.
2Adaptability or versatility
If direct hypervisor support is required for storage sharing, then resource allocation can be managed, but system reliability decreases due to hypervisor dependencies
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the storage management functionality from the hypervisor and implements it directly in the virtual machine or storage device. This extraction eliminates the single point of failure represented by hypervisor dependencies, allowing virtual machines to access storage resources directly and improving system reliability through fault isolation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables virtual machines to self-manage their storage resources through dedicated address spaces and direct access paths. Each virtual machine can independently allocate and manage its portion of storage resources without requiring continuous hypervisor intervention, improving both reliability and operational efficiency.
3Productivity
If virtual machines access storage through a larger logical address space, then resource utilization improves, but address translation complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the logical address space into distinct regions for each virtual machine, with each segment mapped to a specific portion of physical storage. This segmentation simplifies address translation by creating direct, predictable mappings between virtual and physical addresses, reducing the complexity of translation operations while enabling efficient resource utilization.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques are disclosed relating to enabling virtual machines to access data on a physical recording medium. In one embodiment, a computing system provides a logical address space for a storage device to an allocation agent that is executable to allocate the logical address space to a plurality of virtual machines having access to the storage device. In such an embodiment, the logical address space is larger than a physical address space of the storage device. The computing system may then process a storage request from one of the plurality of virtual machines. In some embodiments, the allocation agent is a hypervisor executing on the computing system. In some embodiments, the computing system tracks utilizations of the storage device by the plurality of virtual machines, and based on the utilizations, enforces a quality of service level associated with one or more of the plurality of virtual machines.