Abstract: One or more embodiments provides a shadow page table used by a virtualization software wherein at least a portion of the shadow page table shares computer memory with a guest page table used by a guest operating system (OS) and wherein the virtualization software provides a mapping of guest OS physical pages to machine pages.

Abstract: A method is provided to migrate a virtual machine from a source computing machine to a destination computing machine comprising: suspending transmission of requests from a request queue disposed in source computing machine memory associated with the VM from the request queue to a VF; while suspending the transmission of requests, determining when no more outstanding responses to prior requests remain to be received; in response to a determination that no more outstanding responses to prior requests remain to be received, transferring state information that is indicative of locations of requests inserted to the request queue from the VF to a PF and from the PF to a memory region associated with a virtualization intermediary of the source computing machine.

Abstract: In one aspect, a method includes publishing an object of a user such that another user can search for the object by means of a user interface. The object may be an application, an application group, an application component, and/or a service. The object runs on a platform. The platform may be a hypervisor, an application container, a mobile platform, and/or a computer. The method includes permitting another user to access the object based on a transacting for the object between the users. The transaction may involve a clone transaction, a grant transaction, an application component transaction or a service transaction. A tax may be levied based on the transaction. A scope of the access of the object to another user is based on a transaction protocol, which is based on the transacting between the users. The transaction protocol may include a payment scheme, a term, or a set of object rights.

Abstract: An method for use in a computer system for determining correspondence between at least two renditions of a single computer program includes enabling the identification of a selected screenshot related to navigation within the computer program and, as a response to the identification, accessing a reference screenshot captured during navigation within a first rendition and a corresponding screenshot captured during navigation within a second rendition. The reference screenshot and the corresponding screenshot are presented on a display, thereby enabling a same-display comparison of content of the reference and corresponding screenshots.

Abstract: Methods and systems for allocating resources in a virtual desktop resource environment are provided. A method includes making a prediction on the future demand for processes running on a distributed environment with several hosts. The prediction is based on the process demand history and includes the removal of historic process demand glitches. Further, the prediction is used to perform a cost and benefit analysis for moving a candidate process from one host to another, and the candidate process is moved to a different host when the cost and benefit analysis recommends such move. In another embodiment, the predictions on future process demand are used for distributed power management by putting hosts in stand-by mode when the overall demand decreases or by adding hosts to the distributed environment when the load increases.

Abstract: Writes to blocks of a protected storage volume that occur between the beginning of a prior backup interval and the beginning of a current backup interval are tracked using a first snapshot that is maintained through the current backup interval. At the beginning of the current backup interval, a second snapshot is generated. Blocks that are indicated by a dirty block list of the first snapshot as having been changed are read from the snapshot volume for the second snapshot and copied to a backup storage volume. For the next backup interval, the second snapshot or alternatively, a newly generated third snapshot, is used to track writes to blocks of a protected storage volume that occur between the beginning of the current backup interval and the beginning of a next backup interval.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for managing memory within a virtualized system that includes a memory compression cache. Generally, the virtualized system may include a hypervisor configured to use a compression cache to temporarily store memory pages that have been compressed to conserve memory space. A “first-in touch-out” (FITO) list may be used to manage the size of the compression cache by monitoring the compressed memory pages in the compression cache. Each element in the FITO list corresponds to a compressed page in the compression cache. Each element in the FITO list records a time at which the corresponding compressed page was stored in the compression cache (i.e. an age). A size of the compression cache may be adjusted based on the ages of the pages in the compression cache.

Abstract: A system and related method of operation for migrating the memory of a virtual machine from one NUMA node to another. Once the VM is migrated to a new node, migration of memory pages is performed while giving priority to the most utilized pages, so that access to these pages becomes local as soon as possible. Various heuristics are described to enable different implementations for different situations or scenarios.

Abstract: A cloud computing environment with the ability to deploy a web application that has been developed using one of a plurality of application frameworks and is configured to execute within one of a plurality of runtime environments can be delivered as a self-contained virtual machine disk image configured to launch in a virtualization environment. Upon request (or alternatively, in a pre-processing phase), a cloud computing platform provider can compose a virtual machine disk image comprising the cloud computing environment. The virtual machine disk image may be attached to any virtual machine, whether running on a personal computing device such as a laptop or in an infrastructure-as-a-service service provider to provide a cloud computing environment that is automatically configured to receive and deploy a web application.

Abstract: A method for transferring guest physical memory from a source host to a destination host during live migration of a virtual machine (VM) involves creating a file on a shared datastore, the file on the shared datastore being accessible to both the source host and the destination host. Pages of the guest physical memory are transferred from the source host to the destination host over a network connection and pages of the guest physical memory are written to the file so that the destination host can retrieve the written guest physical pages from the file.

Abstract: Page data of a virtual machine is represented for efficient save and restore operations. One form of representation applies to each page with an easily identifiable pattern. The page is described, saved, and restored in terms of metadata reflective of the pattern rather than a complete page of data reflecting the pattern. During a save or restore operation, however, the metadata of the page is represented, but not the page data. Another form of representation applies to each page sharing a canonical instance of a complex pattern that is instantiated in memory during execution, and explicitly saved and restored. Each page sharing the canonical page is saved and restored as a metadata reference, without the need to actually save redundant copies of the page data.

Abstract: A swap space is provided for a host computer system, where the swap space includes a plurality of swap files with each individual swap file for swapping data only for a single corresponding virtual machine (VM). The per-VM swap space is used solely by the single, corresponding VM, such that only that particular VM's memory is allowed to be swapped out to the swap file.

Abstract: A system for securing information, includes a processor and storage device. The storage device stores information encrypted with one of a first private rolling key and a first public rolling key of an a first asymmetric rolling crypto-key, along with the one first rolling key. The processor has the logic to direct transmission, via a network, of proof of knowledge of the stored one first rolling key to authenticate a user, and of a request for the other of the first private rolling key and the first public rolling key. The processor receives the other first rolling key via the network, responsive to the directed transmission. The processor then decrypts the stored encrypted information with the received other first rolling key, and generates a second asymmetric rolling crypto-key having a second private rolling key and a second public rolling key. The processor encrypts the information with one of the second private rolling key and the second public rolling key.

Abstract: Activity level of memory pages is classified in virtual machine environment, so that processes such as live VM migration and checkpointing, among others, can be carried out more efficiently. Because each such hypervisor-based service may desire classification of activity levels of memory pages at different frequencies and different time granularities, the hypervisor supports methods to classify activity levels of memory pages for a plurality of time intervals.

Abstract: Activity level of memory pages is classified in virtual machine environment, so that processes such as live VM migration and checkpointing, among others, can be carried out more efficiently. The method includes the steps of scanning page table entries of hypervisor-managed page tables continuously over repeating scan periods to determine whether memory pages have been accessed or not, and for each memory page, determining an activity level of the memory page based on whether the memory page has been accessed or not since a prior scan and storing the activity level of the memory page. The activity level of the memory page may be represented by one or more bits of its page table entry and may be classified as having at least two states ranging from hot to cold.

Abstract: Memory assigned to a virtual machine is reclaimed. A resource reservation application running as a guest application on the virtual machine reserves a location in guest virtual memory. The corresponding physical memory can be reclaimed and allocated to another virtual machine. The resource reservation application allows detection of guest virtual memory page-out by the guest operating system. Measuring guest virtual memory page-out is useful for determining memory conditions inside the guest operating system. Given determined memory conditions, memory allocation and reclaiming can be used control memory conditions. Memory conditions in the virtual machine can be controlled with the objective of achieving some target memory conditions.

Abstract: A cost-benefit metric for load balancing virtual machines is used to estimate a net gain in resource availability achieved by a proposed virtual machine migration. The cost-benefit metric can be used together with any other known metrics to evaluate candidate migrations. The metric takes into account stability of loads as well as migration cost, hence can protect a system from thrashing, i.e., frequently migrating virtual machines without gaining resource availability.

Abstract: An architecture and system are described that provide a unified file access service within in a managed computing environment composed of diverse networks, computing devices, and storage devices. The service provides mechanisms for remotely accessing the file systems of any managed computer or disk snapshot, independently of the computer's current state (powered on, suspended or powered off), its location within the environment, its hardware type (virtual vs. physical), its operating system type, and its file system formats. The system isolates centralized FPAs from the details of clients, proxies and storage elements by providing a service that decomposes offloaded file system access into two steps. A FPA or a requester acting on behalf of the FPA first expresses the disk set or the computer containing the file systems it wishes to access, along with requirements and preferences about the access method.

Abstract: A system for managing physical and virtual inventory in a data center is disclosed. The system includes a resource management system for managing computing resources of the data center, an inventory management system for tracking physical locations of the plurality of hosts and the plurality of virtual machines in the data center and a smart rack for housing a plurality of hosts. The computing resources include a plurality of hosts and a plurality of virtual machines running on one or more of the plurality of virtual machines. The smart rack has sensors for detecting movement of each of the plurality of hosts in the data center. The smart rack also has a control unit to control the sensors and collecting data from sensors. The control unit is coupled to the inventory management system and configured to transmit the collected data to the inventory management system through a network. The plurality of hosts, the resource management system and the control unit are coupled together through the network.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and computer programs for managing memory in a host where virtual machines (VMs) execute are presented. In one embodiment, a method includes an operation for determining which amount of heap memory has been reserved in a Java virtual machine (JVM) that is in excess of the heap memory needed by the JVM. If there is excess heap memory, a Java balloon agent reserves a Java object in the heap memory. Typically, the Java object will be the size of one or more memory pages in the host. Further, the Java balloon agent loads the Java object with a certain value, for example, by zeroing out the page of memory. When a virtual machine monitor (VMM) in the host detects that a machine physical memory page associated with the Java object has the first value, then the VMM frees the machine physical memory page to make the memory available to other VMs or to other processes executing in the host.