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 |
20090024800 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR USING UPPER CACHE HISTORY INFORMATION TO IMPROVE LOWER CACHE DATA REPLACEMENT - A system for managing data in a plurality of storage locations. In response to a least recently used algorithm wanting to move data from a cache to a storage location, an aging table is searched for an associated entry for the data. In response to finding the associated entry for the data in the aging table, an indicator is enabled on the data. In response to determining that the indicator is enabled on the data, the data is kept in the cache despite the least recently used algorithm wanting to move the data to the storage location. | 01-22-2009 |
20090138911 | VIDEO BROADCASTING SYSTEM - A method, medium and implementing processing system, are provided in which premium programming content is included in a standard program broadcasting system. The added content is stored at a user site for subsequent viewing at the user's convenience. The receipt and storing of the premium programming is accomplished without interfering with the receipt of standard broadcast signals. The premium programming, in one example, is transmitted and incrementally received and stored on a user's system even while standard programming is received and viewed by the user. When all of the broadcast increments of a premium program have been received and the premium program has been stored in the user's system, a signal is provided to the user to indicate the availability of the premium program for selective viewing by the user. | 05-28-2009 |
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 |
20100017551 | BUS ACCESS MODERATION SYSTEM - A method, programmed medium and system are provided in which system bus traffic is moderated with real-time data. The Operating System (OS) is enabled to get information from the firmware (FW) to determine if a resource threshold has been reached. This is accomplished by generating an interrupt to flag the OS when a bus request retry rate has reached a predetermined number. The system firmware plays an integral role in this mechanism, and should be interpreted as a general term which could also include a hypervisor technology. The system firmware will report the bus request retry rate to the operating system by way of, for example, a firmware-generated interrupt. The OS may have something similar to a kernel daemon/service running to intercept the interrupt notice. In the simplest case, the daemon/service will determine if the threshold has been met based on the feedback from the firmware. If so, it will generate a system call that will moderate traffic with an operating system tunable. In one example, the number of simultaneous multithreading (SMT) threads per core will be reduced using a system call. This effectively throttles back the amount of logical threads per core and effectively alleviates the bus request saturation. | 01-21-2010 |
20100180089 | MANAGING THERMAL CONDITION OF A MEMORY - A method, system, and computer usable program product for managing thermal condition of a memory are provided in the illustrative embodiments. A condition that a threshold value of a thermal condition of the memory has been exceeded or is likely to be exceeded is identified. A portion of a first workload is identified as being a cause of exceeding the threshold. A second portion of a second workload is identified, the second portion not causing the threshold to be exceeded when executed. A set of operations corresponding to the first portion is interleaved with a second set of operations corresponding to the second portion. The interleaved first and second portions of the first and second workloads are executed, causing the thermal condition of the memory to remain below the threshold. The second portion may use a second memory, a second area of the memory, or a combination thereof when executing. | 07-15-2010 |
20110022803 | Two Partition Accelerator and Application of Tiered Flash to Cache Hierarchy in Partition Acceleration - An approach is provided to identify a disabled processing core and an active processing core from a set of processing cores included in a processing node. Each of the processing cores is assigned a cache memory. The approach extends a memory map of the cache memory assigned to the active processing core to include the cache memory assigned to the disabled processing core. A first amount of data that is used by a first process is stored by the active processing core to the cache memory assigned to the active processing core. A second amount of data is stored by the active processing core to the cache memory assigned to the inactive processing core using the extended memory map. | 01-27-2011 |
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 |
20110107031 | Extended Cache Capacity - A method, programmed medium and system are provided for enabling a core's cache capacity to be increased by using the caches of the disabled or non-enabled cores on the same chip. Caches of disabled or non-enabled cores on a chip are made accessible to store cachelines for those chip cores that have been enabled, thereby extending cache capacity of enabled cores. | 05-05-2011 |
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 |
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 |
20110258468 | OPTIMIZING POWER MANAGEMENT IN PARTITIONED MULTICORE VIRTUAL MACHINE PLATFORMS BY UNIFORM DISTRIBUTION OF A REQUESTED POWER REDUCTION BETWEEN ALL OF THE PROCESSOR CORES - Handling requests for power reduction by first enabling a request for an amount of power change, e.g. reduction by any partition. In response to the request for power reduction, an equal proportion of the whole amount of power reduction is distributed between each of a set of cores providing the entitlements to the partitions, and the entitlement of the requesting partition is reduced by an amount corresponding to the whole amount of the power change. | 10-20-2011 |
20110320573 | APPLICATION SERVER FOR MAINFRAME COMPUTER SYSTEMS - A method, apparatus, and computer program product for running software on an adapter. In response to a connection of a hardware interface for the adapter with a current host computer, a processor unit in the adapter determines whether a set of protocols for communicating with the current host computer to access resources is present on the adapter. In response to the set of protocols being absent on the adapter, the processor unit obtains the set of protocols from the current host computer. The processor unit identifies a set of available resources in the current host computer for use by the adapter using the set of protocols. The processor unit runs software stored on a set of storage devices in the adapter using the set of available resources identified for use by the adapter. | 12-29-2011 |
20120042131 | Flexible use of extended cache using a partition cache footprint - An approach is provided to identifying cache extension sizes that correspond to different partitions that are running on a computer system. The approach extends a first hardware cache associated with a first processing core that is included in the processor's silicon substrate with a first memory allocation from a system memory area, with the system memory area being external to the silicon substrate and the first memory allocation corresponding to one of the plurality of cache extension sizes that corresponds to one of the partitions that is running on the computer system. The approach further extends a second hardware cache associated with a second processing core also included in the processor's silicon substrate with a second memory allocation from the system memory area with the second memory allocation corresponding to another of the cache extension sizes that corresponds to a different partitions that is being executed by the second processing core. | 02-16-2012 |
20120102499 | OPTIMIZING THE PERFORMANCE OF HYBRID CPU SYSTEMS BASED UPON THE THREAD TYPE OF APPLICATIONS TO BE RUN ON THE CPUs - A hybrid CPU system wherein the plurality of processors forming the hybrid system are initially undifferentiated by type or class. Responsive to the sampling of the threads of a received and loaded computer application to be executed, the function of at least one of the processors is changed so that the threads of the sampled application may be most effectively processed/run on the hybrid system. | 04-26-2012 |
20120124299 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR EXTENDING A CACHE USING PROCESSOR REGISTERS - According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method and technique for using processor registers for extending a cache structure is disclosed. The method includes identifying a register of a processor, identifying a cache to extend, allocating the register as an extension of the cache, and setting an address of the register as corresponding to an address space in the cache. | 05-17-2012 |
20120216212 | ASSIGNING A PORTION OF PHYSICAL COMPUTING RESOURCES TO A LOGICAL PARTITION - A computer implemented method includes determining first characteristics of a first logical partition, the first characteristics including a memory footprint characteristic. The method includes assigning a first portion of a first set of physical computing resources to the first logical partition. The first set of physical computing resources includes a plurality of processors that includes a first processor having a first processor type and a second processor having a second processor type. The first portion includes the second processor. The method includes dispatching the first logical partition to execute using the first portion. The method includes creating a second logical partition that includes the second processor and assigning a second portion of the first set of physical computing resources to the second logical partition. The method includes dispatching the second logical partition to execute using the second portion. | 08-23-2012 |
20120216214 | 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. | 08-23-2012 |
20120303591 | MANAGING ROLLBACK IN A TRANSACTIONAL MEMORY ENVIRONMENT - According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method and technique for managing rollback in a transactional memory environment is disclosed. The method includes, responsive to detecting a begin transaction directive by a processor supporting transactional memory processing, detecting an access of a first memory location not needing rollback and indicating that the first memory location does not need to be rolled back while detecting an access to a second memory location and indicating that a rollback will be required. The method also includes, responsive to detecting an end transaction directive after the begin transaction directive and a conflict requiring a rollback, omitting a rollback of the first memory location while performing rollback on the second memory location. | 11-29-2012 |
20120303938 | PERFORMANCE IN PREDICTING BRANCHES - A method, data processing system, and computer program product for processing instructions. The instructions are processed by a processor unit while using a first table in a plurality of tables to predict a set of instructions needed by the processor unit after processing of a conditional instruction. An identification is formed that a rate of success in correctly predicting the set of instructions when using the first table is less than a threshold number. A sequence of the instructions being processed by the processor unit is searched for an instruction that matches a marker in a set of markers for identifying when to use the plurality of tables. An identification that the instruction that matches the marker is formed. A second table from the plurality of tables referenced by the marker is identified. The second table is used in place of the first table. | 11-29-2012 |
20120304002 | MANAGING ROLLBACK IN A TRANSACTIONAL MEMORY ENVIRONMENT - A system and technique for managing rollback in a transactional memory environment is disclosed. The system includes a processor, a transactional memory, and a transactional memory manager (TMM) configured to perform a rollback on the transactional memory. The TMM is configured to, responsive to detecting a begin transaction directive by the processor, detect an access of a first memory location of the transactional memory not needing rollback and indicate that the first memory location does not need to be rolled back while detecting an access to a second memory location of the transactional memory and indicating that a rollback will be required. The TMM is also configured to, responsive to detecting an end transaction directive after the begin transaction directive and a conflict requiring a rollback, omit a rollback of the first memory location while performing rollback on the second memory location. | 11-29-2012 |
20130111135 | VARIABLE CACHE LINE SIZE MANAGEMENT | 05-02-2013 |
20130111136 | VARIABLE CACHE LINE SIZE MANAGEMENT | 05-02-2013 |
20130151784 | DYNAMIC PRIORITIZATION OF CACHE ACCESS - Some embodiments of the inventive subject matter are directed to determining that a memory access request results in a cache miss and determining an amount of cache resources used to service cache misses within a past period in response to determining that the memory access request results in the cache miss. Some embodiments are further directed to determining that servicing the memory access request would increase the amount of cache resources used to service cache misses within the past period to exceed a threshold. In some embodiments, the threshold corresponds to reservation of a given amount of cache resources for potential cache hits. Some embodiments are further directed to rejecting the memory access request in response to the determining that servicing the memory access request would increase the amount of cache resources used to service cache misses within the past period to exceed the threshold. | 06-13-2013 |
20130151788 | DYNAMIC PRIORITIZATION OF CACHE ACCESS - Some embodiments of the inventive subject matter are directed to a cache comprising a tracking unit and cache state machines. In some embodiments, the tracking unit is configured to track an amount of cache resources used to service cache misses within a past period. In some embodiments, each of the cache state machines is configured to, determine whether a memory access request results in a cache miss or cache hit, and in response to a cache miss for a memory access request, query the tracking unit for the amount of cache resources used to service cache misses within the past period. In some embodiments, the each of the cache state machines is configured to service the memory access request based, at least in part, on the amount of cache resources used to service the cache misses within the past period according to the tracking unit. | 06-13-2013 |
20140156979 | Performance in Predicting Branches - A method for processing instructions. The instructions are processed by a processor unit while using a first table in a plurality of tables to predict a set of instructions needed by the processor unit after processing of a conditional instruction. An identification is formed that a rate of success in correctly predicting the set of instructions when using the first table is less than a threshold number. A sequence of the instructions being processed by the processor unit is searched for an instruction that matches a marker in a set of markers for identifying when to use the plurality of tables. An identification that the instruction that matches the marker is formed. A second table from the plurality of tables referenced by the marker is identified. The second table is used in place of the first table. | 06-05-2014 |
20140173595 | HYBRID VIRTUAL MACHINE CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT - A system and technique for hybrid virtual machine configuration management includes a processor and executable logic to: assign to a first set of virtual resources associated with a virtual machine a first priority, the first set associated with entitled resources for the virtual machine; assign to a second set of virtual resources associated with the virtual machine a second priority lower than the first priority, wherein the first and seconds sets when combined exceed the entitled resources for the virtual machine; map the first set to a first physical resource of a pool of shared physical resources, the pool of shared physical resources allocatable to the first and second sets, wherein the first physical resource comprises a desired affinity level to a second physical resource allocated to the virtual machine; and preferentially allocate the first physical resource to the first set of virtual resources. | 06-19-2014 |
20140173597 | HYBRID VIRTUAL MACHINE CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT - According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method and technique for hybrid virtual machine configuration management is disclosed. The method includes: assigning to a first set of virtual resources associated with entitled resources of a virtual machine a first priority; assigning to a second set of virtual resources associated with the virtual machine a second priority lower than the first priority, wherein the first and seconds sets when combined exceed the entitled resources for the virtual machine; mapping the first set of virtual resources to a first physical resource of a pool of shared physical resources allocatable to the first and second sets of virtual resources, wherein the first physical resource comprises a desired affinity level to a second physical resource allocated to the virtual machine; and preferentially allocating the first physical resource to the first set of virtual resources. | 06-19-2014 |
20140258642 | DYNAMIC PRIORITIZATION OF CACHE ACCESS - Some embodiments of the inventive subject matter are directed to operations that include determining that an access request to a computer memory results in a cache miss. In some examples, the operations further include determining an amount of cache resources used to service additional cache misses that occurred within a period prior to the cache miss. Furthermore, in some examples, the operations further include servicing the access request to the computer memory based, at least in part, on the amount of the cache resources used to service the additional cache misses within the period prior to the cache miss. | 09-11-2014 |
20150058840 | Sharing Resources Allocated to an Entitled Virtual Machine - A mechanism is provided for sharing resources allocated to an entitled virtual machine (VM). A blocked domain is created around the entitled VM and one or more processors allocated to the entitled VM. A first dispatching algorithm is implemented that prevents the dispatching of processes from other operating systems within other VMs to the one or more processors allocated to the entitled VM. Responsive to utilization of the one or more processors allocated to the entitled VM falling below a predetermined threshold, a second dispatching algorithm is implemented that allows dispatching of processes from the other operating systems within the other VMs to the one or more processors allocated to the entitled VM. | 02-26-2015 |
20150058842 | Sharing Resources Allocated to an Entitled Virtual Machine - A mechanism is provided for sharing resources allocated to an entitled virtual machine (VM). A blocked domain is created around the entitled VM and one or more processors allocated to the entitled VM. A first dispatching algorithm is implemented that prevents the dispatching of processes from other operating systems within other VMs to the one or more processors allocated to the entitled VM. Responsive to utilization of the one or more processors allocated to the entitled VM falling below a predetermined threshold, a second dispatching algorithm is implemented that allows dispatching of processes from the other operating systems within the other VMs to the one or more processors allocated to the entitled VM. | 02-26-2015 |