BACKGROUND INFORMATION

An embodiment of the present invention relates generally to virtualization platforms and, more specifically, to a system and method to run components of a virtual machine monitor at a reduced privilege level.

Various mechanisms exist for managing virtual machines in a virtualization platform. One management technique is to deploy a virtual machine monitor (VMM) on the system. There are two common architectures for virtual machine monitors. The first is a hypervisor architecture, in which a privileged hypervisor (virtual machine monitor) controls all other software in a system. The hypervisor must contain native drivers and models for all devices which it wishes to provide to software running in virtual machines (VMs) (referred to herein as guest VMs). This necessity has been a problem with this architecture of VMM. In the hypervisor architecture, the VMM has full control over the underlying platform, and may limit guest VM access to the platform hardware. The hypervisor has access to all of the hardware. A guest VM may directly access the hardware only if the hypervisor permits it. A hypervisor system may prevent guest VMs from accessing the hardware directly, if designed to do so. When the hypervisor is implemented, device drivers for each physical device must also be implemented. If the physical device changes (e.g., it is replaced by a different version of the device) then a new or replacement device driver must be present in the hypervisor. Typically, all operating systems run in VMs. The VMs may be privileged in different ways. For example, VM1?may have access to device #1?while VM2?has access to device #2.

The second common architecture for a VMM is a hosted VMM. In this architecture, the VMM is tied intimately to a hosting operating system (OS) and uses the services provided by the hosting OS to perform its virtualization functions. In this architecture, the hosting OS has full control over the platform; the VMM component has control of the platform‘s guest VMs. In other words, the VMM component does not directly control the underlying hardware. The VMM accesses the underlying hardware using the services provided by the hosting OS. The stability of the VMM is only as good as that of the hosting OS. The hosting OS contains all of the necessary device drivers. The VMM must implement models for all devices presented to the guest VMs. VMMs implemented with this high-level architecture suffer portability constraints because of their reliance on a particular hosting OS. Additionally, there is a reliance on the hosting OS to perform scheduling. The VMM controls scheduling of the guest VMs, but it does not control how much time it is given by the hosting OS. For instance, it may not be possible to request that the hosting OS awaken the VMM every millisecond.

Some virtualization products exist today. For instance, a hypervisor-based architecture, ESX Server, is available from VMware?, Inc. Microsoft? and VMware?, Inc. both provide host-based architecture software: Microsoft offers VirtualPC and VirtualServer, and VMWare? offers VMWorkstation and GSX Server. Currently, these software systems may be loaded on a server or personal computer (PC) that does not have hardware virtualization support.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

An embodiment of the present invention is a system and method relating to deprivileging components of a virtual machine monitor and enabling deprivileged service virtual machines (SVMs) to provide selected functionality. An embodiment of the present invention provides a means by which a virtual machine monitor (VMM) may be constructed for higher portability and reliability. An embodiment of the invention is a hybrid VMM, using features from both hypervisor-based and host-based VMM architectures. In at least one embodiment, the functionality of a traditional VMM may be partitioned into a small platform-dependent part called a micro-hypervisor (MH) and one or more platform-independent parts called service virtual machines (SVMs). This hybrid VMM architecture provides development, validation, security, reliability, and availability benefits over existing VMM software architectures.

Reference in the specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" of the present invention means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, the appearances of the phrase "in one embodiment" appearing in various places throughout the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.

For purposes of explanation, specific configurations and details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that embodiments of the present invention may be practiced without the specific details presented herein. Furthermore, well-known features may be omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the present invention. Various examples may be given throughout this description. These are merely descriptions of specific embodiments of the invention. The scope of the invention is not limited to the examples given.

In embodiments of the invention, the micro-hypervisor is a module which serves to proxy request between virtual machines (VMs), including SVMs, and enforces isolation and security policies. Design of the micro-hypervisor requires inherent platform knowledge and access to privileged resources (e.g., the platform chipset, etc). The micro-hypervisor runs in the most privileged mode, as will be discussed below with respect to FIGS.?2A-B. The micro-hypervisor may be implemented as a module which is loaded early in system boot (similar to an OS module), launched as a driver from a hosting OS, or as part of the system firmware.

SVMs are platform independent modules which run in a deprivileged mode in a VM, as will be discussed with respect to FIGS.?2A-B. SVMs may be built around off-the-shelf OSs and device drivers, or one or more platform-independent firmware modules. The SVMs may provide services such as device virtualization, proxying of requests to actual hardware or to other SVMs.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating traditional hypervisor VMM architecture platform?100. A number of guest VMs?101,?103,?105, and?107?may be running on the platform?100?at the same time. A virtual machine monitor (VMM)?110?controls the guest VMs‘ access to the hardware?120?via the processor/platform virtualization layer?111. A number of virtual device models?113?and?115?may exist within the VMM?110. The VMM?110?may operate at the highest privilege level, as will be discussed below with respect to FIGS.?2A-B. The VMM?110?controls access to the file system, memory and all devices, as discussed further below. The VMM?110?typically has a device driver?119?for each hardware device on the platform.

The VMM?110?and guest VMs?101,?103,?105?and?107?execute on platform hardware?120. The platform hardware?120?may include a processor?122, memory?124?and one or more I/O devices?126?and?128. The platform hardware?120?may be a personal computer (PC), mainframe, handheld device, portable computer, set top box, or any other computing system.

Processor?122?may be any type of processor capable of executing software, such as a microprocessor, digital signal processor, microcontroller, or the like. Though FIG. 1 shows only one such processor?122, there may be one or more processors in platform hardware?120?and one or more of the processors may include multiple threads, multiple cores, or the like.

Memory?124?may be a hard disk, a floppy disk, random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), flash memory, or any other type of medium readable by processor?122. Memory?124?may store instructions for performing the execution of method embodiments of the present invention.

The one or more I/O devices?126?and?128?may be, for example, network interface cards, communication ports, video controllers, disk controllers on system buses (e.g., Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), Industry Standard Architecture (ISA), Advanced Graphics Port (AGP)), devices integrated into the chipset logic or processor (e.g., real-time clocks, programmable timers, performance counters), or any other device on the platform hardware?120. The one or more I/O devices?126?and?128?may be accessed through I/O instructions, or memory mapped I/O accesses or through any other means known in the art.

Most instruction set architectures (ISAs), including the ISA of the Intel Pentium? 4 (herein referred to as the IA-32 ISA), are designed with the concept of privilege levels in the instruction set architecture; these privilege levels are referred to herein as ISA privilege levels. Referring to FIGS. 2A and 2B, there is shown a block diagram illustrating platforms with various ISA privilege levels. The IA-32 ISA, for example, has four ISA privilege levels, referred to as ring levels ring-0?301, ring-1?303, ring-2?305?and ring-3?307. In the IA-32 ISA, ring-0 (301) is the most privileged ISA privilege level while ring-3 (307) is the least privileged ISA privilege level.

ISA privilege levels are used by OSs to partition functionality between user mode and kernel mode. In existing systems, processor instruction set architectures typically are designed to give the OS code full control over the hardware, i.e. ring-0 mode?301. The ISA enables the OS to create containers for other software to run at lower ISA privilege levels, i.e., ring-1 (303), ring-2 (305), and ring-3 (307). Generally, in existing systems, OS code runs at the highest ISA privilege level (i.e., ring-0?301)) and applications run at the lowest ISA privilege level (i.e., ring-3 (307)). Device drivers typically run at the highest ISA privilege level in existing OSs such as Microsoft? Windows?. In existing OSs, more and more code is being run at the highest ISA privilege level. As the size of the code which is executed at the highest ISA privilege level grows, the complexity of possible interactions within the code and the validation complexity of the code grows. This growth may lead to more system crashes due to faulty software. Additionally, existing systems suffer from a lack of well-defined interfaces between components and poor enforcement of the use of any defined interfaces.

The general approach of utilizing a small privileged core and deprivileged service components has been attempted in some systems. For example, microkernel OS research (see "Toward Real Microkernels" by Jochen Liedtke, September 1996/Vol. 39, No. 9 COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM) has attempted to apply a similar scheme to deprivileging parts of the OS. A microkernel is a very small, fully privileged portion of an OS. Since the fully privileged portion uses ring-0 (in IA-32 terms), the remainder of the OS must be deprivileged to allow the microkernel to be alone at the highest ISA privilege level. The OS must be modified to cope at a lower ISA privilege level.

A microkernel separates the components of the operation system by moving them into containers operating at a lower ISA privilege level so that the components in separate containers cannot directly influence each other or influence the operation of the microkernel. Some microkernels have been implemented in existing systems, but they are slow and complex and are not developed for a virtualization platform.

When a platform has hardware virtualization support, a new way to partition privilege into two privilege-spaces may be introduced. The first privilege space is ISA privilege levels, as described above. The second privilege space is referred to herein as VM privilege level. In an embodiment, there are two VM privilege levels. The highest VM privilege level is referred to as root operation (311) while the lower VM privilege level is referred to as non-root operation (320). In an embodiment, the VMM or micro-hypervisor runs in root operation?311. Guest VMs run in non-root operation?320. The software running at a higher VM privilege level may control the software running at a lower VM privilege level, regardless of the ISA privilege level of the software running at the lower VM privilege level. In an embodiment, software at any VM privilege level may utilize the processor‘s ISA privilege level architecture (e.g., ring-0 (301a) in the IA-32 ISA). However, ring-0 software running at a lower VM privilege level (e.g., non-root operation?320) may still be controlled by software running at a higher VM privilege level (e.g., root operation?311).

In an embodiment, VM privilege levels and ISA privilege levels for a given process are independent, i.e., components of the VMM may run in the highest VM privilege level and also at the lowest ISA privilege level. The capabilities of VMM code executing at the highest VM privilege level but at a reduced ISA privilege level (e.g., ring-3 in the IA-32 ISA) may be limited in its ability to directly control or manipulate the state of guest software running at a lower VM privilege level. These limitation may be placed by the virtualization architecture (e.g., the hardware may prevent the reduced ISA privilege level code from starting a new VM) or by the highest ISA privilege level code running at the highest VM privilege level (e.g., by configuring page tables of the lower ISA privilege level code from accessing memory of guest software).

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a hybrid architecture VMM, according to embodiments of the invention. A hybrid architecture VMM uses elements from both hypervisor-based and host-based VMM architectures. The VMM of FIG. 1 (110) and the micro-hypervisor?210?run at the highest VM privilege level and have full control over the platform hardware?120?and?220, respectively.

The hybrid architecture may utilize one or more service virtual machines (SVMs) such as SVM?201. The SVM?201?may comprise a user-level VMM?211and device models?213. The device models?213?in the SVM?201?may interact with hardware drivers?219, also in the SVM?201. The hardware drivers219?communicate to the platform hardware?220?under control of the micro-hypervisor?210, as will be discussed below. Though FIG. 3 shows only one such SVM?201, there may be one or more SVMs in the system?200, as will be discussed below.

The micro-hypervisor?210, service VM?201?and guest VMs?203,?205?and?207?execute on platform hardware?220. The platform hardware?220?may include a processor?222, memory?224?and one or more I/O devices?226?and?228. The platform hardware?220?may be of a personal computer (PC), mainframe, handheld device, portable computer, set top box, or any other computing system.

Processor?222?may be any type of processor capable of executing software, such as a microprocessor, digital signal processor, microcontroller, or the like. Though FIG. 3 shows only one such processor?222, there may be one or more processors in platform hardware?220?and one or more of the processors may include multiple threads, multiple cores or the like.

Memory?224?may be a hard disk, a floppy disk, random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), flash memory, or any other type of machine medium readable by processor?222. Memory?224?may store instructions for performing the execution of method embodiments of the present invention.

The one or more I/O devices?226?and?228?may be, for example, network interface cards, communication ports, video controllers, disk controllers on system buses (e.g., PCI, ISA, AGP), devices integrated into the chipset logic or processor (e.g., real-time clocks, programmable timers, performance counters) or any other device on the platform hardware?220. The one or more I/O devices?226?and?228?may be accessed through I/O instructions, or memory mapped I/O accesses or through any other means known in the art.

In an embodiment, the micro-hypervisor?210?has full access to and control of the platform hardware?220. In existing host-based and hypervisor-based VMM architectures, device drivers in the VMM may run in a fully privileged mode and therefore, device accesses and other services are higher risk operations. In the hybrid architecture, as described herein, the SVM?201?does not run at a fully privileged level, and therefore services and device accesses pose a lower risk to platform integrity. The SVM?201?may provide device drivers, file systems and all services, but these features are to be performed in a deprivileged mode, within a VM. A SVM?201?serves some of the same purpose that a host OS serves in the host-based architecture, but within a VM instead of directly on a host. The benefits of running portions of the VMM at a reduced VM privilege level are present even if the reduced VM privilege level portion of the VMM runs at the highest ISA privilege level (e.g., ring-0 in the IA-32 ISA).

In an embodiment of the hybrid architecture, there is no host OS controlling the system and services. Instead, a small micro-hypervisor controls critical services running at the highest VM-privilege level and one or more SVMs may provide other services running at a lower VM privilege level. For instance, the SVMs may provide services for hardware interactions. The SVMs may have limited access to the underlying hardware. For example, SVM may have access limited to only the hardware devices which it controls. Thus, hardware control may be compartmentalized to ensure that rogue applications have no unauthorized access to hardware devices.

An embodiment of the present invention allows existing OSs to run in guest VMs without modification and still provide the interfaces and services to applications expected by the user. All of the services may now run through the micro-hypervisor which calls the appropriate SVM to handle the service. In an embodiment of the invention, this is possible because a higher VM privilege level (i.e., root operation?311?from FIG. 2) is implemented on the platform hardware. The IBM?370?model computer, for instance, is a virtualization platform that would support embodiments of the invention.

A VMM may either allow or prevent a guest VM from accessing any particular element of the platform directly, including memory, I/O devices, DMA engines, etc. The micro-hypervisor may give the guest VM access to certain resources. For example, there may be a SVM providing storage services that has access to at least one storage device (i.e., a disk drive). With platform extensions, the SVM which has been given access to such a storage device, for instance, may be prevented from accessing other hardware devices on the platform.

In an embodiment, the SVMs run at the same VM privilege level as the guest VMs. However, the micro-hypervisor may provide a SVM the ability to access components of the underlying hardware platform that are not accessible to all VMs. The micro-hypervisor uses mechanisms in the virtualization platform to prevent a VM from accessing specific hardware devices or memory. All accesses to a particular I/O port, for instance, may cause a transition to the micro-hypervisor.

The hardware architecture of some platforms is unable to prevent DMA accesses from referencing all of physical memory. If a VM is given access to a device which can perform DMA, the device may be programmed to perform DMA anywhere in memory.

In one embodiment, the hardware architecture may provide a mechanism by which a VMM may specify pages in physical memory that are inaccessible to DMA. Thus, pages may be protected from all devices. Accesses coming from the CPU bus may not be blocked, however. This may protect against errant or malicious devices.

In another embodiment, the hardware architecture may provide a mechanism by which a VMM may specify pages in physical memory that are inaccessible by DMA on a per-device basis, allowing the VMM to grant DMA access from a particular device to certain pages of physical memory but not to others.

Hardware support for virtualization may include a variety of facilities for use by a VMM. In one embodiment, the VMM software may specify events which may occur while a guest VM is running which will cause transitions back into the VMM. The transition from a guest VM to the VMM is referred to as a VM exit. The transition from the VMM to a guest VM is referred to as VM entry. In an embodiment, a VM entry is initiated by a VMM by executing a specific processor instruction. The hardware enables the platform to transition back and forth between a highest privileged mode (i.e., a high VM privilege level) and a lesser privileged, or "deprivileged" mode (i.e., a lower VM privilege level) based on policies set by the VMM. The set of events which may be specified by the VMM to cause VM exits may be broad. Events may include, but are not limited to, all of the events which a VMM may use to virtualize physical memory (i.e., the VMM may control the guests VMs‘ page tables), interrupts and exceptions, I/O instructions, accesses to certain processor state such as machine specific registers (MSRs) and control registers (e.g., CR0 in the IA-32 ISA), and the like. In this way, the VMM may virtualize certain platform functionality.

For example, if an OS running in a guest VM performs an I/O instruction, the VMM may trap that event by specifying that this I/O event causes a transition using VM exit to the VMM (i.e., privileged mode). In an embodiment, the VMM may specify which I/O port accesses should cause VM exits, allowing a guest VM to access some I/O ports while preventing access to other ports. When such a VM exit occurs, the VMM may virtualize the I/O devices or provide services and perform the necessary I/O. This may be transparent to the guest VM. In an embodiment of the invention, the micro-hypervisor, running at the highest VM privilege level, may proxy the request for the service to a SVM, running at a lower VM privilege level. The SVM then provides the service, for instance, to access a storage device.

In an embodiment, the virtualization platform may control operation of software running at a reduced VM privilege level according to data in a control structure, referred to as a virtual machine control structure (VMCS). The VMCS includes a set of controls that specifies for each type of event, whether it should cause a transition to the VMM. For instance, for I/O port accesses, there is a bit that the VMM may set or clear for each of the I/O ports that are accessible on an IA-32 platform. There is a list of the ports that may or may not be accessed directly. Additionally, the VMCS may include controls determining how state is managed during VM entries and VM exits and how the software in the VM operates, in addition to other controls. It will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that other mechanisms and/or data structures may be used to define these policies.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary process for deprivileged service virtual machines to handle input/output (I/O) operations, according to an embodiment of the invention. In a platform with hardware virtualization support, a micro-hypervisor (MH) launches a guest VM and transfers control to the guest VM in block?401?(i.e., performs a VM entry). The guest VM executes as expected until it attempts to execute an input/output (I/O) operation (block?403).

A determination is made as to whether the I/O operation requires access into a privileged I/O port, in block?405. As described above, a list of I/O ports requiring privileged access may be enumerated in a virtual machine control structure (VMCS), or other implemented structure. Access to an I/O port may cause a VM exit. If the access is not to a protected I/O port, then the I/O access is not intercepted and the access communicates directly with the hardware device in question, in block?407. Execution then continues in the guest VM (403) until another I/O operation is attempted in block?403.

It will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that various hardware events, in addition to I/O, may be trapped in this fashion. In discussions that follow, any event that is made to cause a transition to the VMM s referred to as a "request for service". A transition to the VMM is referred to as a trap. The term "request for service" is used even if the guest VM is unaware of the VMM controlling it and hence believes that it is running directly on the platform hardware. The "service" provided by the micro-hypervisor and SVM(s) may include, for example, emulation of a platform device, or providing a higher level service. For example, in one embodiment, the SVM may provide facilities to establish and maintain shared memory buffers for inter-VM communication. In another embodiment, the SVM may provide file system functionality to guest VMs which are aware of the presence of the micro-hypervisor and SVM for improved system performance, security, reliability, etc. The request for service may be initiated by the guest VM executing an I/O instruction, accesses a protected segment of memory or explicitly communicating with the micro-hypervisor or SVM (for example through execution of an instruction to cause a VM exit). The remainder of the discussion with regard to FIG. 4 details handling of I/O access attempts, but it should now be understood that this is a specific example that in no way limits the applicability of the invention described herein. Note that VM exits from a SVM may be treated specially. For example, certain VM exits from a SVM may not require the interaction of a SVM (i.e., a second SVM) and may be handled directly in the micro-hypervisor. This is discussed further below.

If the I/O access attempt is to a privileged I/O port, then the platform transitions from guest VM execution to execution of the micro-hypervisor, in block411. The micro-hypervisor identifies the event causing the VM exit and determines which service VM (SVM) should handle the I/O access, in block?413. The micro-hypervisor enters the chosen SVM with a VM entry to process the I/O access, in block?415.

The determination of the appropriate SVM to handle a particular request may be made based on a number of criteria. In one embodiment, there is a single SVM that handles all requests. In this case, the determination of the appropriate SVM for a request is trivial. In another embodiment, there are multiple SVMs each handling requests of a particular type. In such an embodiment, the micro-hypervisor must determine the type of request by examining processor or memory state or by examining the cause of the VM exit from the guest VM (provided, in an embodiment by the processor as part of the VM exit). Using this type information, the micro-hypervisor consults a mapping table or other data structure which maps request types to responsible SVM(s). In yet another embodiment, multiple SVMs may handle the same type of request. The micro-hypervisor may select between such a plurality of available SVMs based on load balancing, processor affinity or other selection criteria. In some embodiments, the contents of such a mapping table may be determined by one or more SVMs, with the micro-hypervisor acting only to enforce policies put in place by the SVMs.

The SVM virtualizes the I/O access as appropriate in block?417. There may be several SVMS, each handling different forms of I/O, or other services. Thus, execution of the SVM will not enable unauthorized access to other I/O devices on the platform. Once the virtualization of the requested I/O has been completed, the SVM causes control to transition back to the micro-hypervisor, in block?419. In an embodiment, this transition may be initiated by software in the guest VM executing a particular instruction or causing a particular event which causes a VM exit. The micro-hypervisor returns control to the guest VM, in block?421, after ensuring that results of the virtualized I/O are accessible by the guest VM, as discussed below. The guest VM continues normal execution in block?403?until a next I/O access attempt occurs.

In an embodiment, some events causing a transition from a guest VM to the micro-hypervisor will not result in a transition to a service VM. Some events may be handled in the micro-hypervisor for security or performance reasons. A service VM may configure the micro-hypervisor to perform functionality on its behalf. The micro-hypervisor implements the mechanism to support a policy specified by the service VM.

For example, frequently occurring events associated with virtualization of physical memory may be handled in the micro-hypervisor to facilitate improved system performance (by removing transitions to a service VM). For example, a particular service VM which is responsible for managing system memory may indicate that a particular guest VM has access to a set of pages of physical memory. The micro-hypervisor is then responsible for managing the guest VM‘s use of these pages of physical memory as necessary to provide proper functionality while preventing the guest VM from accessing memory not assigned to it. Depending on the algorithm used to implement the SVM-specified policy (i.e., the use of a certain set of pages), frequent transitions may occur from the guest VM to the micro-hypervisor as the guest accesses pages in physical memory. The micro-hypervisor may handle the events and return control to the guest VM without involving the service VM (and avoiding the latency of transitioning control to the service VM).

In an embodiment, the micro-hypervisor provides security functionality necessary to ensure the integrity of the virtual machine system without interactions with a service VM. For example, the translation of guest-physical addresses to host-physical addresses must be protected and hence performed by the micro-hypervisor. In another embodiment, the micro-hypervisor may intercede on all attempts to program direct memory access (DMA) controllers on the platform in order to assure that no physical addresses used for DMA are to protected or disallowed regions of memory. In these cases, the SVM is not activated to perform the translation, however, the SVM will be informed if the address cannot be translated.

In another embodiment, the micro-hypervisor may provide security mechanisms for use by guest VMs, without involvement of a SVM. For example, the micro-hypervisor may respond to service requests from guest VMs to encrypt packets of data. In one embodiment, the micro-hypervisor may not allow any VM, including any SVM, to access platform-based security devices, such as a trusted-platform module (TPM).

In an embodiment, the micro-hypervisor includes a limited number of device drivers and device models. This inclusion increases the size of the code running at the highest VM privileged level. However, this inclusion of device drivers and device models may provide large performance benefits for devices which are accessed frequently by guest VMs. For instance, the platform interrupt controller (e.g., for instance, the Intel? 82093AA I/O Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller) may be accessed a number of times on each occurrence of a hardware interrupt. By including a device model and driver for the interrupt controller in the micro-hypervisor, transitions to a service VM (which could also provide this functionality) are reduced, improving system performance. By including a device model and driver for this device in the micro-hypervisor, a service VM is not required to make all scheduling and interrupt routing determinations, again improving system performance.

As part of providing the service in the SVM, the micro-hypervisor or SVM may need to provide results or data in some form to the guest VM requesting the service. For example, in emulating a device accessed by a guest VM using an I/O instruction, the SVM or micro-hypervisor may provide results to the guest VM by returning the expected values in processor registers or in memory to the guest VM such that the guest VM may access the results as provided by the processor ISA. For example, in the IA-32 ISA, an IN instruction may be used to access an I/O device (i.e., to read a value from the I/O device). In the IA-32 ISA, the results of the IN instruction may be returned in a processor register or in a memory location given as an operand of the IN instruction, depending on the specific form of the IN instruction used. The SVM or micro-hypervisor would emulate this characteristic of the ISA before returning control to the guest VM. If the service being provided by the SVM is more complex, data or results may be returned through locations in memory or using any other mechanism known in the art.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary process for handling virtualization events directly in a micro-hypervisor, according to an embodiment of the invention. In an exemplary embodiment, the micro-hypervisor transitions control to a guest VM (501). In one embodiment, this transition is initiated by the micro-hypervisor by executing a processor instruction. The micro-hypervisor may wait for a VM exit to perform requested services or continue to operate periodically to perform normal monitoring functions.

When a virtualization event (e.g., a hardware interrupt occurs, the guest VM requests access to a controlled device or memory location, or requests a selected system service that is designated to generate a virtualization event) a VM exit may be generated. The micro-hypervisor then receives control due to this virtualization event (503).

The micro-hypervisor determines whether the virtualization event is to be handled directly by the micro-hypervisor, typically for security or performance purposes, in?505. If the micro-hypervisor is to handle the virtualization event, then the event is handled in?507?and control may then be returned to the guest VM (501). In one embodiment, this return of control to the guest VM is initiated by the micro-hypervisor executing a VM enter instruction.

In some cases, the virtualization event may be a completion notification from a SVM. Since SVMs execute in guest VMs, they may transfer control to the micro-hypervisor in the same fashion (typically VM exit which may be caused by the SVM explicitly executing an instruction designed to cause a VM exit) as other guest VMs. The micro-hypervisor determines whether the event indicates a completion of a previous SVM request in?509. If the virtualization event indicates completion of a previous SVM request, the micro-hypervisor transfers any necessary data or results, as described above, to the guest VM that caused the original SVM request (511). This transition is typically performed by execution of a VM enter instruction.

If the virtualization event is not a SVM completion event, but a new service or access request, the micro-hypervisor activates the appropriate SVM to handle the event (513). This transition is typically a VM enter, as the SVM executes in a guest VM.

It should be apparent to one skilled in the art that other actions are possible by the micro-hypervisor. For example, the micro-hypervisor, if it handles scheduling of guest VM execution, may choose to schedule a different guest VM instead of activating the SVM to handle the event in?513, rather deferring this request in favor of giving another guest VM execution time. The micro-hypervisor may take this course of action if, for example, the SVM is blocked waiting for other requests and can not handle the new request immediately. Alternatively, the micro-hypervisor may perform this scheduling if a guest VM with higher priority is awaiting execution (e.g., a real-time guest VM).

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