JP2010128943A - Information processing apparatus and method of controlling the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To execute a system even if an image for executing a system created by another apparatus is used. <P>SOLUTION: An SMBIOS (System Management Basic Input/Output System), an extended BIOS (Ext. BIOS), and a VIDEO BIOS on the physical address space of a virtual machine and an SMBIOS, an extended BIOS (Ext. BIOS) and a VIDEO BIOS on the physical address space of an actual machine are mapped to the same addresses. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for operating a virtual machine on a hypervisor, and more particularly to an information processing apparatus in which a virtual machine communicates with an I / O device, and a control method for the information processing apparatus.

  Currently, virtual machine technology that separates hardware from a software environment (virtual machine) used by a user is attracting attention.

  In virtual machine technology, a hypervisor mediates between hardware and a virtual machine.

It is disclosed that a virtual machine system includes a micro hypervisor and a service virtual machine and is executed as a guest virtual machine without modifying an existing operating system (see Patent Document 1).
JP 2008-523511 A

  With the above-described technology, an existing operating system can be used as a guest virtual machine without modification. However, SMBIOS other than the system BIOS, expansion BIOS, VIDEO BIOS, and the like are allocated to the memory space at the time of installation. For this reason, the addresses to which SMBIOS, expansion BIOS, VIDEO BIOS, etc. are assigned may be different for each computer, and the system cannot be started up using an image created by another computer.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus and a control method for the information processing apparatus that can execute the system using an image for executing the system created by another apparatus.

  An information processing apparatus according to an example of the present invention is an information processing apparatus in which a virtual machine operates on a hypervisor, and includes an I / O device provided in the information processing apparatus and a system BIOS (Basic Input / Output System). Allocating means for allocating a different BIOS to a memory space, information for allocating an I / O device to an address space of the virtual machine according to a device profile and the configuration of the I / O device, and the virtual machine A device manager for creating a device model including information for assigning a BIOS address different from the system BIOS in the address space to the same address as the address assigned by the assigning means, and the virtual machine is assigned Address translation for MMIO access to I / O devices, Address conversion for performing DMA transfer between the allocated I / O device and the virtual machine, and address conversion circuit for performing address conversion for the virtual machine to access a BIOS different from the system BIOS The hypervisor allocates the I / O device to the memory space of the virtual machine based on the device model, and the virtual machine allocates the I / O device to the allocated I / O device. In the case of performing MMIO access, performing DMA transfer with the assigned I / O device, or accessing a BIOS different from the system BIOS, the address conversion circuit is used for access.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to execute the system using an image for executing the system made by another apparatus.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, it is a block diagram showing a system configuration including a client computer and a server as information processing apparatuses according to an embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, the computer 10 includes a virtual machine monitor (hypervisor) 230, a virtual machine manager 210, a device manager 220, a virtual machine 200, an ATA controller 104A, a LAN controller 110, a USB controller 113, an IEEE 1394 controller 116, and a PCI. A device 114, a GPU (Graphycs Processor Unit) 105 / sound controller 106, a hard disk drive 111, and the like.

  The virtual machine monitor 230 manages hardware such as the LAN controller 110, the USB controller 113, the IEEE 1394 controller 116, the PCI device 114, the GPU (Graphycs Processor Unit) 105 / sound controller 106, and the like, and operates on the virtual machine monitor 230. Resource allocation is performed for the virtual machine 200. The virtual machine monitor 230 distributes the execution schedule of the virtual machine 200 and the I / O request from the virtual machine to the hardware.

  The virtual machine manager 210 performs activation control of the virtual machine 200 operating on the virtual machine monitor 230 and the like. The device manager 220 manages hardware before the virtual machine 200 is activated. The device manager also performs communication control with the I / O device after the virtual machine is activated. Further, the virtual machine manager 210 is referred from the virtual machine, and performs an initial operating system load start instruction and ACPI (power management, I / O control).

  The virtual machine monitor 230, the virtual machine manager 210, the device manager 220, and the virtual machine 200 are software modules that operate on the processor.

  The LAN controller 110 is a network interface for connecting the computer to a LAN (Local Area Network). The USB controller 113 is a controller that controls communication with USB devices such as the keyboard 13, the touch pad 16, and the HDD / flash memory 113 </ b> A connected to the USB bus. The IEEE 1394 controller 116 is a controller that controls communication with an external device connected to the IEEE 1394 bus. The PCI device 114 is a device connected to the PCI bus. The GPU 105 is a display controller that controls the display. The GPU 105 has a video memory (VRAM), and generates a video signal that forms a display image to be displayed on a display from display data drawn in the video memory by an OS / application program. The sound controller 106 is a sound source device and outputs audio data to be reproduced to a speaker.

  The ATA controller 104A corresponds to ATA, which is a standard for the hard disk drive 111, and is a controller that communicates with the hard disk drive 111 to write and read data.

  The HDD 111 stores an installation image 111A for executing an operating system, a driver, and an application when the computer 10 is provided to the user. Normally, the computer 10 is used by executing the driver and application after starting the operating system using the preinstall image 111A (non-virtual machine mode). When the computer 10 is used in a virtual environment, the preinstall image 111A is executed as a virtual machine, and other service OSs are executed simultaneously in the background (virtual machine mode). The mode switching is performed by the virtual machine manager 210. The virtual machine manager 210 asks the user which mode to use when starting up, and starts up the system in either the virtual machine mode or the non-virtual machine mode in accordance with the user's instruction.

When operating in the virtual machine mode, a virtual machine monitor (hypervisor) that controls the virtual machine and H / W, a device manager that allocates device I / O resources to the virtual machine, and the virtual machine The loader that loads the image works. Also,
Next, the system configuration of the computer will be described with reference to FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the computer includes a CPU 101, a north bridge 102, a main memory 103, a south bridge 104, a graphics processing unit (GPU) 105, a video memory (VRAM) 105A, a sound controller 106, a BIOS. -ROM 109, LAN controller 110, hard disk drive (HDD) 111, DVD drive 112, PCI device 114, modem 115, IEEE 1394 controller 116, embedded controller / keyboard controller IC (EC / KBC) 117, etc.

  The CPU 101 is a processor that controls the operation of the computer 10 and executes various application programs loaded from the hard disk drive (HDD) 111 to the main memory 103. The CPU 101 also executes a system BIOS (Basic Input Output System) stored in the BIOS-ROM 109. The BIOS is a program for hardware control.

  The north bridge 102 is a bridge device that connects the local bus of the CPU 101 and the south bridge 104. The north bridge 102 also includes a memory controller that controls access to the main memory 103. The north bridge 102 also has a function of executing communication with the GPU 105 via a PCI EXPRESS standard serial bus or the like.

  The GPU 105 is a display controller that controls a display 117 used as a display monitor of the computer 10. A display signal generated by the GPU 105 is sent to the display 117.

  The south bridge 104 controls each device including the legacy device 18 on an LPC (Low Pin Count) bus and each device on a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) bus. The south bridge 104 includes an IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) controller for controlling the hard disk drive (HDD) 111 and the DVD drive 112. Further, the south bridge 104 has a function of executing communication with the sound controller 106.

  The sound controller 106 is a sound source device and outputs audio data to be reproduced to the speaker 18. The USB controller 113 executes communication with an external device via a USB standard serial bus. The IEEE 1394 controller 116 performs communication with an external device via an IEEE 1394 standard serial bus. The modem 115 is a signal conversion device for performing data communication through an analog line such as a telephone line.

  The embedded controller / keyboard controller IC (EC / KBC) 116 is a one-chip microcomputer in which an embedded controller for power management and a keyboard controller for controlling the keyboard (KB) 13 and the touch pad 16 are integrated. . The embedded controller / keyboard controller IC (EC / KBC) 116 has a function of powering on / off the computer 10 in accordance with the operation of the power button 14 by the user. Further, the embedded controller / keyboard controller IC (EC / KBC) 116 has a function of executing communication with the remote control unit interface 20.

  Among the above devices, GPU 105, LAN controller 110, IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) controller to which HDD 11 and DVD are connected, USB controller 113, IEEE 1394 controller 116, modem 115, and other PCI devices 114 are connected as PCI devices. Yes. From the CPU 101, the device is accessed and operated in accordance with the PCI standard.

  This computer is a device that supports Intel (registered trademark) direct I / O technology (VT-d). VT-d is a technology for virtualizing I / O. The VT-d is particularly responsible for the chip set, I / O controller, and memory controller.

  There are several methods for virtualizing the I / O device. In this apparatus that supports VT-d, the I / O device is virtualized using a pass-through model. In the pass-through model, the virtual machine monitor can assign an I / O device directly to the virtual machine. For example, a dedicated SCSI card or network card is prepared for each virtual machine, and these are assigned to the virtual machine one by one. The device manager also controls initialization of the PCI device.

Hereinafter, activation of a virtual machine and allocation of an I / O device will be described.
FIG. 3 shows the configuration of the device manager that manages the H / W device and the relationship with the virtual machine and the virtual machine monitor.
4, 5, 6, and 7 show an operation flow from the startup of the computer 10 (by turning on the power) to the execution of the virtual machine.

  When a wake-up event occurs when the user presses the power button, the CPU 102 executes a POST (Power-On Self Test) process by the BIOS installed in the BIOS-ROM 109 (step S11). When the POST process is completed, the boot loader that is started normally loads the OS, but this PC loads and starts the virtual machine manager 210, the device manager 220, and the virtual machine monitor 230 (step S14).

  Here, when there is a virtual machine activation instruction (same as normal OS activation), the virtual machine manager 210 determines user information to be activated (step S15). When the user is determined from the PC ID, a preset user name, or the like, the virtual machine manager 210 acquires the installation image 111A from the hard disk drive (step S21). Instead of loading everything, a loader, a system file, a driver, and the like necessary for initial startup of the virtual machine are loaded. At the same time, the virtual machine manager instructs the device manager 220 to construct a device suitable for the user.

  The device manager 220 loads the device profile 250 from the user information (step S31), and configures the device model 211 corresponding to the device profile (step S32). An example of the device profile 250 is shown in FIG. The device model is configured by the device model generation unit 221 acquiring actual HW device information that the computer 10 has from the ACPI information of the BIOS and collating it with profile information. For example, if it is described in the ACPI information that a USB device exists, the profile information is searched for a list in which DeviceType is USB, and if it exists in the list, the USB device is used by the virtual machine. The device model configuration list of FIG. 9 is configured. Even if a device exists in the ACPI information, if a device of the same type does not exist in the device profile, it is not added to the device model configuration list. The same applies when the device profile is not included in the ACPI information. When confirmation is completed for all devices, a virtual device model as shown in FIG. 10 is configured. As shown in FIG. 10, a graphics processing unit 105V, a USB controller 113V, and a PCI-PCI bridge 280 are connected to the host bridge 270 via a bus 0. An IEEE 1394 controller 116 </ b> V is connected to the PCI-PCI bridge 280 via the bus 1. An ISA bus is connected to the bus 1 via a PCI-PCI bridge 290. A keyboard / mouse controller 117V is connected to the ISA bus.

  In creating the virtual device model shown in FIG. 10, the device manager 220 is configured to be the same as a real computer device (bus No., device ID, function ID), and there is a device to be newly added there. For example, if there is a device that should be added or hidden so that device IDs do not overlap, that device is deleted. As a result, the operating system and driver of the preinstall image can be started in a virtual environment without reconfiguration.

  The device manager 220 registers a device in the virtual machine monitor 230 according to the device model configuration list shown in FIG. 9 (step S33). At the time of registration, the device manager 220 uses the PCI device BUS number, PCI device device number, PCI device function number, I / O port address (PIO and MMIO) to be used, and IOMAP of the virtual I / O port address (PIO and MMIO). The virtual machine monitor 230 is notified of the information, interrupt number (IRQ), and virtual interrupt number (VIRQ).

  Further, the device manager 220 matches the address space of the SMBIOS, the extended BIOS, and the VIDEO BIOS on the virtual machine with the address of the SMBIOS, the extended BIOS, and the VIDEO BIOS assigned to the memory space of the real machine. Add information to the device model.

  The SMBIOS is a copy of information in which information specific to a computer is stored in a nonvolatile memory by a user, operating system, application, etc., and the operating system, application, etc. can use the information stored in the SMBIOS. SMBIOS is mapped to the range of C000h to FFFFH. The expansion BIOS is a BIOS built in an expansion card installed in a PCI slot or the like. It is mapped to the range of C000h to DFFFH on the memory when the extended BIOS is booted. The VIDEO BIOS is a shadow mapped to C000h to DFFFh in order to access the Video Video BIOS provided in the expansion card provided with the GPU 105 at high speed.

  When the registration is completed, the device manager 220 instructs the virtual machine manager 210 to start the virtual machine 200 (step S34). The virtual machine manager 210 starts the virtual machine downloaded from the server 240 according to the instruction (step S22). The activated virtual machine 200 loads the device driver (step S23) and initializes the device driver (step S24) in the initialization process when starting the operating system (OS). Then, after the operating system is activated, the application is activated in the virtual machine (step S25). When the device driver is initialized or when there is a PIO access from an application, the virtual machine monitor traps the access (step S27).

  The virtual machine monitor 230 traps access when an access to the PCI configuration space from the virtual machine 200 to the PCI device, an access to the port I / O, or an interrupt occurs due to the registration of the IOMAP (step S27). , Convert to the registered address and access.

  In the case of access to the PCI configuration space among the access to the I / O port, the virtual machine monitor 230 calls the device manager 220, and the device manager 220 substitutes access to the PCI configuration space. In the case of this access proxy, there are two access methods. Therefore, the device manager specifies a device that accesses the PCI configuration (step S35). Then, it is determined whether or not the identified device is an access to a pass-through device (step S36). If it is determined that the access is to the pass-through device (YES in step S36), the actual PCI device configuration space is accessed (step S37). If it is determined that the access is not to the pass-through device (NO in step S36), there is a dummy area in the device manager 220 that is a copy of the configuration space, and there is no need for direct access to other devices and other virtual machines. The shared device performs READ / WRITE on the dummy area.

  As for MMIO and DMA transfer, the address translation unit 260 translates a virtual physical address to a machine address and accesses the request from the virtual machine according to the address translation information. The address conversion unit 260 is provided in a device provided with a memory controller. The address translation unit 260 includes an I / O memory management unit (IOMMU) 261 and a DMARU (DMA Remapping Unit) 262. The I / O memory management unit (IOMMU) 261 is used when the virtual machine 200 accesses an MMIO area on the main memory. In this case, since the virtual machine side is not different from using a normal device, the virtual machine device driver can be used directly from the virtual machine.

  The DMARU 262 is used when performing DMA transfer with a memory space allocated to the virtual machine 200. FIG. 11 shows the state of address conversion. As shown in FIG. 11, the page memory in the virtual machine physical address space, and the MMIO areas of the PCI device 1, PCI device 2, and PCI device 3, the page memory in the real machine address space, and the PCI device 1, PCI. Conversion between the device 2 and the MMIO area of the PCI device 3 is performed by a virtual machine monitor, an I / O memory management unit (IOMMU) 261, and a DMARU (DMA Remapping Unit) 262.

  As shown in FIG. 11, the SMBIOS, the extended BIOS (Ext. BIOS), and the VIDEO BIOS on the physical address space of the virtual machine, the SMBIOS, the extended BIOS (Ext. BIOS), and the VIDEO BIOS on the physical address space of the real machine. Is equivalently mapped to a 1: 1 address via the address translation unit 260.

  In the standard architecture of IBM PC, segments 000h to 9FFFh are designed as RAM, A000H to BFFFH are reserved as video memory and video BIOS, and C000H to FFFH are reserved areas such as extended BIOS.

  In the above-described SMBIOS, extended BIOS, and VIDEO BIOS, areas used by the application when the operating system is installed are mapped. Therefore, if the address of the SMBIOS, the extended BIOS, and the VIDEO BIOS is different from the address space on the virtual machine and the address space on the real machine, the application or operating system can access the SMBIOS, the extended BIOS, and the VIDEO BIOS. Can not be.

  As described above, by mapping the address space on the virtual machine and the address space on the real machine to equalization, the same contents as the real machine can be referenced and executed from the virtual machine.

  In addition, when a virtual machine accesses a device when performing a probe (search) for a PCI or a legacy device at startup, the virtual machine accesses the device of the virtual device model in FIG. 10 instead of the device of the real machine, and the device configuration of the model The virtual machine starts up.

  By assigning a virtual machine monitor on the computer 10 side, a device that can be directly mapped to the virtual machine by the device manager, and performing address conversion between the real memory space and the memory space in the virtual machine by hardware, I / O of the virtual machine O performance and operability are dramatically improved. As a result, it is possible to perform an operation of performing high-speed drawing such as an application that handles multimedia and CAD.

  In addition, I / O emulation of the virtual machine becomes unnecessary, and a device that could not be used because the emulation is not supported can be used from the virtual machine by directly using the device driver of the virtual machine.

  By preparing a device profile for each user, I / O devices that can be used can be specified, and the I / O that can be recognized from the OS (virtual machine) is limited. Since it is impossible even if it tries to be effective, it is possible to take security measures that help prevent information leakage.

  By loading and starting the virtual machine image on another server, the environment setting for each user can be used without installation or reconfiguration even if the H / W of the computer is changed.

  In the above embodiment, the example in which the system is activated using the installation image stored in the hard disk drive 111 has been described. However, as shown in FIG. 12, a virtual machine, a device manager, and a virtual machine manager 210 are started using an installation image 242 stored in an external medium 241 such as a non-volatile memory different from the hard disk drive. Also good. As a result, it is not necessary to install an image such as a virtual machine monitor or a device manager on the HDD, and the HDD is completely executed with the preinstalled contents.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. Further, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the embodiment. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, you may combine suitably the component covering different embodiment.

The block diagram which shows the structure of the client computer as an information processing apparatus concerning one Embodiment of this invention, and a server. The block diagram which shows the system configuration | structure of the client computer shown in FIG. The block diagram which shows the structure of the device manager which manages a device, and the relationship with a virtual machine and a virtual machine monitor. The figure which shows the flowchart which shows the operation | movement flow from starting of a client computer to virtual machine execution. The figure which shows the flowchart which shows the operation | movement flow from starting of a client computer to virtual machine execution. The figure which shows the operation | movement flow from starting of a client computer to virtual machine execution. The figure which shows the operation | movement flow from starting of a client computer to virtual machine execution. The figure which shows the example of a device profile. The figure which shows the example of a device model structure list. The figure which shows the structural example of a virtual device model. The figure which shows the example of a conversion of address space. The figure which shows the example which a server operate | moves as a virtual machine on a virtual machine monitor.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 200 ... Virtual machine, 210 ... Virtual machine manager, 221 ... Device model production | generation part, 220 ... Device manager, 230 ... Virtual machine monitor, 240 ... Server, 241 ... HDD, 242 ... Software image, 260 ... Address conversion unit, 261 ... IO memory management unit, 262 ... DMARU, 270 ... host bridge, 280 ... PCI bridge.

Claims (10)

An information processing apparatus in which a virtual machine operates on a hypervisor,
An allocating means for allocating an I / O device provided in the information processing apparatus and a BIOS different from a system BIOS (Basic Input / Output System) to a memory space;
Information for allocating an I / O device to the address space of the virtual machine according to a device profile and the configuration of the I / O device, and a BIOS address different from the system BIOS on the address space of the virtual machine A device manager that creates a device model including information for assigning to the same address as the address assigned by the assigning means;
Address translation for MMIO access to the assigned I / O device by the virtual machine, Address translation for performing DMA transfer between the assigned I / O device and the virtual machine, and the virtual machine Comprises a semiconductor circuit having an address conversion circuit for performing address conversion for accessing a BIOS different from the system BIOS,
The hypervisor allocates the I / O device to the memory space of the virtual machine based on the device model,
When the virtual machine performs MMIO access to the allocated I / O device, performs DMA transfer with the allocated I / O device, or accesses a BIOS different from the system BIOS, An information processing apparatus that is accessed using the address conversion circuit.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for loading an image for operating the virtual machine on the hypervisor. The information processing apparatus has a virtual machine mode for operating an installed operating system and application program as the virtual machine, and a non-virtual machine mode for operating the operating system and application program as a non-virtual machine,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for switching between the virtual machine mode and the non-virtual machine.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the assigning unit assigns a BIOS different from the system BIOS to C000h to FFFFH.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the BIOS different from the system BIOS is a system management basic input / output system (SMBIOS), an extended BIOS, and a VIDEO BIOS. A method for controlling an information processing apparatus in which a virtual machine operates on a hypervisor,
An I / O device provided in the information processing apparatus and a BIOS different from a system BIOS (Basic Input / Output System) are allocated to a memory space;
Information for allocating an I / O device to a memory space of the virtual machine according to a device profile and an I / O device configuration provided in the information processing apparatus, and the system BIOS on the virtual machine address space A device model including information for assigning a different BIOS address to the same address as the address assigned by the assigning means,
The hypervisor allocates a BIOS different from the I / O device and the system BIOS to the memory space of the virtual machine based on the device model,
When the virtual machine performs MMIO access to the allocated I / O device, performs DMA transfer with the allocated I / O device, or accesses a BIOS different from the system BIOS, Address translation for the virtual machine to make MMIO access to the assigned I / O device, and DMA transfer between the assigned I / O device or a BIOS different from the system BIOS and the virtual machine A method for controlling an information processing apparatus, wherein the access or the DMA transfer is performed using an address conversion circuit for performing address conversion. Load an image to run the virtual machine on the hypervisor;
The method according to claim 6, wherein the virtual machine is operated on the hypervisor using the loaded image. The information processing apparatus has a virtual machine mode for operating an installed operating system and application program as the virtual machine, and a non-virtual machine mode for operating the operating system and application program as a non-virtual machine,
The information processing apparatus control method according to claim 6, wherein the virtual machine mode and the non-virtual machine are switched when the system is started.   The information processing apparatus control method according to claim 6, wherein a BIOS different from the system BIOS is assigned to C000h to FFFFH.   7. The information processing apparatus control method according to claim 6, wherein the BIOS different from the system BIOS is a system management basic input / output system (SMBIOS), an extended BIOS, and a VIDEO BIOS.

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