| Patent application number | Description | Published |
| 20080244213 | WORKLOAD MANAGEMENT IN VIRTUALIZED DATA PROCESSING ENVIRONMENT - A system, method and computer-readable medium for balancing access among multiple logical partitions to the physical system resources of a computer system employing system virtualization. Each of the logical partitions is classified, initially during a startup period, in accordance with a level of allocated dispatch window utilization. Performance metrics of one or more of the physical system resources are determined in association with one or more of the logical partitions. The performance metrics determination is performed at a hardware level independent of programming interrupts. During a dispatch window in which a given set of the physical system resources are configured for allocation to one of the logical partitions, the given set of physical system resources are re-allocated to a replacement logical partition in accordance with the determined performance metrics associated with the replacement logical partition and the dispatch window utilization classification of the replacement logical partition. | 10-02-2008 |
| 20080244214 | WORKLOAD MANAGEMENT IN VIRTUALIZED DATA PROCESSING ENVIRONMENT - A system, method and computer-readable medium for balancing access among multiple logical partitions to the physical system resources of a computer system employing system virtualization. Each of the logical partitions is classified, initially during a startup period, in accordance with a level of allocated dispatch window utilization. Performance metrics of one or more of the physical system resources are determined in association with one or more of the logical partitions. The performance metrics determination is performed at a hardware level independent of programming interrupts. During a dispatch window in which a given set of the physical system resources are configured for allocation to one of the logical partitions, the given set of physical system resources are re-allocated to a replacement logical partition in accordance with the determined performance metrics associated with the replacement logical partition and the dispatch window utilization classification of the replacement logical partition. | 10-02-2008 |
| 20080244215 | WORKLOAD MANAGEMENT IN VIRTUALIZED DATA PROCESSING ENVIRONMENT - A system, method and computer-readable medium for balancing access among multiple logical partitions to the physical system resources of a computer system employing system virtualization. Each of the logical partitions is classified, initially during a startup period, in accordance with a level of allocated dispatch window utilization. Performance metrics of one or more of the physical system resources are determined in association with one or more of the logical partitions. The performance metrics determination is performed at a hardware level independent of programming interrupts. During a dispatch window in which a given set of the physical system resources are configured for allocation to one of the logical partitions, the given set of physical system resources are re-allocated to a replacement logical partition in accordance with the determined performance metrics associated with the replacement logical partition and the dispatch window utilization classification of the replacement logical partition. | 10-02-2008 |
| 20080244568 | METHOD TO CAPTURE HARDWARE STATISTICS FOR PARTITIONS TO ENABLE DISPATCHING AND SCHEDULING EFFICIENCY - A method, system and computer program product enables the granular collection and utilization of hardware statistical samples for the efficient scheduling and allocation of data processing resources. In particular, a Partition Statistics Capture and Analysis (PSCA) utility utilizes special purpose registers to collect statistical samples, such as: (1) instructions completed; (2) Level2 (L2) cache misses; (3) cycles per instruction (CPI); and/or (4) other statistics selected based on the programming of the PSCA utility. Further, these statistical samples are utilized for the several purposes, including: (1) determining how long (time) the footprint of a partition takes to become established during the “cold start” period, i.e., during system instantiation; (2) detecting movement of the CPI curve in order to determine the (shifted) location of the onset of steady state (i.e., the knee) on the CPI curve; and (3) utilizing the statistical samples to guide dispatch decisions and make tuning recommendations. | 10-02-2008 |
| 20080256302 | Programmable Data Prefetching - A method, computer program product, and system are provided for prefetching data into a cache memory. As a program is executed an object identifier is obtained of a first object of the program. A lookup operation is performed on a data structure to determine if the object identifier is present in the data structure. Responsive to the object identifier being present in the data structure, a referenced object identifier is retrieved that is referenced by the object identifier. Then, the data associated with the referenced object identifier is prefetched from main memory into the cache memory. | 10-16-2008 |
| 20090252057 | WIRELESS SERVICE PROCESSOR CONNECTIONS - A method and system for replacing physical connections within a large enterprise system with wireless connections. A first wireless transceiver is associated with a node, wherein the node comprises one or more system service processors. A second wireless transceiver is associated with a main system service processor. System service processors associated with the node, referred to as node service processors, are assigned a unique identification (ID), e.g., a name and/or number, to identify the node service processors during wireless connection. An Ethernet cable is utilized to connect the node service processors to the main system service processor. The unique identification is transferred from the main system service processor to the node service processor, and then the Ethernet cable is disconnected. When the Ethernet cable is disconnected, the node service processor(s) communicate with the main system service processor via a wireless network utilizing the transceivers and unique IDs. | 10-08-2009 |
| 20100223622 | Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) Enhancements for Shared Logical Partitions - In a NUMA-topology computer system that includes multiple nodes and multiple logical partitions, some of which may be dedicated and others of which are shared, NUMA optimizations are enabled in shared logical partitions. This is done by specifying a home node parameter in each virtual processor assigned to a logical partition. When a task is created by an operating system in a shared logical partition, a home node is assigned to the task, and the operating system attempts to assign the task to a virtual processor that has a home node that matches the home node for the task. The partition manager then attempts to assign virtual processors to their corresponding home nodes. If this can be done, NUMA optimizations may be performed without the risk of reducing the performance of the shared logical partition. | 09-02-2010 |
| 20110093861 | Assigning A Portion Of Physical Computing Resources To A Logical Partition - A data processing system includes physical computing resources that include a plurality of processors. The plurality of processors include a first processor having a first processor type and a second processor having a second processor type that is different than the first processor type. The data processing system also includes a resource manager to assign portions of the physical computing resources to be used when executing logical partitions. The resource manager is configured to assign a first portion of the physical computing resources to a logical partition, to determine characteristics of the logical partition, the characteristics including a memory footprint characteristic, to assign a second portion of the physical computing resources based on the characteristics of the logical partition, and to dispatch the logical partition to execute using the second portion of the physical computing resources. | 04-21-2011 |
| 20110145505 | Assigning Cache Priorities to Virtual/Logical Processors and Partitioning a Cache According to Such Priorities - Mechanisms are provided, for implementation in a data processing system having at least one physical processor and at least one associated cache memory, for allocating cache resources of the at least one cache memory to virtual processors of the data processing system. The mechanisms identify a plurality of high priority virtual processors in the data processing system. The mechanisms further determine a percentage of cache lines of the at least one cache memory to be assigned to high priority virtual processors. Moreover, the mechanisms mark a portion of the cache lines in the at least one cache memory as being evictable by only high priority virtual processors based on the determined percentage of cache lines to be assigned to high priority virtual processors. The marked portion of the cache lines cannot be evicted by lower priority virtual processors having a priority lower than the high priority virtual processors. | 06-16-2011 |
| 20110153931 | HYBRID STORAGE SUBSYSTEM WITH MIXED PLACEMENT OF FILE CONTENTS - A storage subsystem combining solid state drive (SSD) and hard disk drive (HDD) technologies provides low access latency and low complexity. Separate free lists are maintained for the SSD and the HDD and blocks of file system data are stored uniquely on either the SSD or the HDD. When a read access is made to the subsystem, if the data is present on the SSD, the data is returned, but if the block is present on the HDD, it is migrated to the SSD and the block on the HDD is returned to the HDD free list. On a write access, if the block is present in the either the SSD or HDD, the block is overwritten, but if the block is not present in the subsystem, the block is written to the HDD. | 06-23-2011 |
| 20110161979 | MIXED OPERATING PERFORMANCE MODE LPAR CONFIGURATION - Functionality is implemented to determine that a plurality of multi-core processing units of a system are configured in accordance with a plurality of operating performance modes. It is determined that a first of the plurality of operating performance modes satisfies a first performance criterion that corresponds to a first workload of a first logical partition of the system. Accordingly, the first logical partition is associated with a first set of the plurality of multi-core processing units that are configured in accordance with the first operating performance mode. It is determined that a second of the plurality of operating performance modes satisfies a second performance criterion that corresponds to a second workload of a second logical partition of the system. Accordingly, the second logical partition is associated with a second set of the plurality of multi-core processing units that are configured in accordance with the second operating performance mode. | 06-30-2011 |