Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provide a way to combing websites that can be edited over the Internet using distributed revision control. This also makes it possible to use writable web sites while not being connected to the Internet. In some embodiments, the present invention is applied to wikis. When a wiki reconnects, differences are automatically sent over and changes from other wikis are merged automatically. Wikis may also be synchronized on a periodic or event driven basis. Embodiments of the present invention may also be used for load balancing between wikis, or to share information with users who can only occasionally connect to the Internet.

Abstract: Designating and handling confidential memory allocations of virtual memory. An operating system provides a memory allocation flag that applications may use to indicate any arbitrary area of physical memory marked with this flag may contain confidential data and should be handled accordingly. The operating system also ensures that memory allocated with this flag can be placed in physical memory. When freeing up memory, the operating system protects any data in the memory allocated with this flag. For example, the operating system may prevent the confidential memory from being swapped out to storage or from being accessible to other applications, such as debuggers. Alternatively, the operating system may encrypt any data in the confidential memory before it is swapped out to storage.

Abstract: A resource provider receives a request for a resource and receives an indication of an advertising format, the advertising format defining at least one of a layout or content of an advertisement, and the advertising format specified by a browser that issued the request for the resource, where the advertising format is different than a format of the resource. The resource provider generates a response to the request that is compliant with the advertising format, wherein generating the response comprises selecting a resource version from a plurality of resources versions that are each compliant with the advertising format.

Abstract: Embodiments pertain generally to a method of providing a quality assurance subscription service for a customer. The method includes determining a new software configuration for the customer and instantiating a test virtual machine based on state information of the customer in a secure location. The method also includes executing the new software configuration on the test virtual machine to verify operational stability of the new software configuration.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for a cooperative process for negotiating the display of advertisements on a web page or web site. The user configures his preferences for advertisements that are displayed through a browser or plug-in interface when accessing a web page or web site. Each hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) request generated by the browser includes an indicator of the configured preferences. The web server and/or an advertisement server detect the indicator of advertisement preference and respond to the HTTP request by providing a compliant advertisement for a web page. The advertisement is then displayed by the browser.

Abstract: A method of managing resources in a virtual environment based on identifiers is disclosed. The method includes detecting an instantiation of a virtual machine and determining a delay value based on a unique identifier. The method also includes delaying an initiation of at least one support process for the virtual machine by the delay value.

Abstract: A host selects a memory page that has been allocated to a guest for eviction. The host may be a host machine that hosts a plurality of virtual machines. The host accesses a bitmap maintained by the guest to determine a state of a bit in the bitmap associated with the memory page. The host determines whether content of the memory page is to be preserved based on the state of the bit. In response to determining that the content of the memory page is not to be preserved, the host discards the content of the memory page.

Abstract: A processing device executing an operating system such as a guest operating system generates a bitmap wherein bits of the bitmap represent statuses of memory pages that are available to the operating system. The processing device frees a memory page. The processing device then sets a bit in the bitmap to indicate that the memory page is unused after the memory page is freed.

Abstract: System, method and computer program product for allocating physical memory to processes. The method includes enabling a kernel to free memory in a physical memory space corresponding to arbitrarily sized memory allocations released by processes or applications in a virtual memory space. After freeing the memory, the system determines whether freed physical memory in the physical memory space spans one or more fixed size memory units (e.g., page frames). The method further includes designating a status of the one or more page frames as available for reuse; the freed page frames marked as available for reuse being available for backing a new process without requiring the kernel to delete data included in the freed memory released by the process.

Abstract: Embodiments pertain generally to a method of providing a remote monitoring subscription service. The method includes receiving client activity data from at least one of a client virtual machine and a physical machine supporting the client virtual machine at a site of a customer and comparing the client activity data against a set of performance guidelines. The method also includes determining a recommended action in response to the client activity data not falling within the set of performance guidelines and forwarding the recommended action to the customer.

Abstract: A method and system for scheduling the use of CPU time among processes using a scheduling tree having a yielding indicator. A scheduling tree represents a hierarchy of groups and processes that share central processing unit (CPU) time. A computer system assigns a yield indicator to a first node of the scheduling tree, which represents a first process that temporarily yields the CPU time. The computer system also assigns the yield indicator to each ancestor node of the first node in the scheduling tree. Each ancestor node represents a group to which the first process belongs. The computer system then selects a second process to run on the computer system based on the yield indicator in the scheduling tree.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provide methods and systems for designating and handling confidential memory allocations of virtual memory. In particular, the operating system provides a memory allocation flag that applications may use to indicate any arbitrary area of physical memory marked with this flag may contain confidential data and should be handled accordingly. The operating system also ensures that memory allocated with this flag can be placed in physical memory. When freeing up memory, the operating system protects any data in the memory allocated with this flag. For example, the operating system may prevent the confidential memory from being swapped out to storage or from being accessible to other applications, such as debuggers. Alternatively, the operating system may encrypt any data in the confidential memory before it is swapped out to storage.

Abstract: Embodiments related generally to a method of providing continuous availability subscription service. The method includes retrieving a configuration data of a customer, where the configuration data relates to the hardware and application requirements of the customer. The method also includes creating a virtual machine for the customer based on the configuration data of the customer in response to a catastrophic event at a site of the customer.

Abstract: Methods and systems for designating and handling confidential memory allocations of virtual memory are provided in which the operating system provides a memory allocation flag that applications may use to indicate any arbitrary area of physical memory marked with this flag may contain confidential data and should be handled accordingly. The operating system also ensures that memory allocated with this flag can be placed in physical memory. When freeing up memory, the operating system protects any data in the memory allocated with this flag. For example, the operating system may prevent the confidential memory from being swapped out to storage or from being accessible to other applications, such as a debuggers. Alternatively, the operating system may encrypt any data in the confidential memory before it is swapped out to storage.

Abstract: A method of managing resources in a virtual environment based on identifiers is disclosed. The method includes detecting an instantiation of a virtual machine and determining a delay value based on a unique identifier. The method also includes delaying an initiation of at least one support process for the virtual machine by the delay value.

Abstract: An embodiment relates generally to a method of managing resources in a virtual environment. The method includes detecting an instantiation of a virtual machine and determining a delay value based on a unique identifier. The method also includes delaying an initiation of at least one support process for the virtual machine by the delay value.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provide a mechanism for an operating system and applications to cooperate in memory management. Applications register with the operating system for cooperative memory management. The operating system monitors the memory and determines a memory “pressure” related to the amount of demand for the memory. As the memory pressure increases, the operating system provides a memory pressure signal as feedback to the registered applications. The operating system may send this signal to indicate it is about to commence evicting pages from the memory or when it has commenced swapping out application data. In response to the signal, the registered applications may evaluate the memory pressure, determine which data should be freed, if any, and provide this information back to the operating system. The operating system may then free those portions of memory relinquished by the applications. By releasing data the system may thus avoid swapping and increase its performance.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provide a mechanism for an operating system and applications to cooperate in memory management. Applications register with the operating system for cooperative memory management. The operating system monitors the memory and determines a memory “pressure” related to the amount of demand for the memory. As the memory pressure increases, the operating system provides a memory pressure signal as feedback to the registered applications. The operating system may send this signal to indicate it is about to commence evicting pages from the memory or when it has commenced swapping out application data. In response to the signal, the registered applications may evaluate the memory pressure, determine which data should be freed, if any, and provide this information back to the operating system. The operating system may then free those portions of memory relinquished by the applications. By releasing data the system may thus avoid swapping and increase its performance.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provide methods and systems for efficiently tracking evicted or non-resident pages. For each non-resident page, a first hash value is generated from the page's metadata, such as the page's mapping and offset parameters. This first hash value is then used as an index to point one of a plurality of circular buffers. Each circular buffer comprises an entry for a clock pointer and entries that uniquely represent non-resident pages. The clock pointer points to the next page that is suitable for replacement and moves through the circular buffer as pages are evicted. In some embodiments, the entries that uniquely represent non-resident pages are a hash value that is generated from the page's inode data.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provide methods and systems for tuning the size of the cache. In particular, when a page fault occurs, non-resident page data is checked to determine if that page was previously accessed. If the page is found in the non-resident page data, an inter-reference distance for the faulted page is determined and the distance of the oldest resident page is determined. The size of the cache may then be tuned based on comparing the inter-reference distance of the newly faulted page relative to the distance of the oldest resident page.