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HARDWARE VIRTUALIZATION SUPPORT ININTEL, AMD AND IBM POWER PROCESSORS
Kamanashis BiswasComputer Science and Engineering DepartmentDaffodil International University102, Shukrabad, Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh
ananda@daffodilvarsity.edu.bd
 Md. Ashraful Islam
Department of Business AdministrationBangladesh Islami UniversityGazaria Tower, 89/12, R. K. Mission Road, Dhaka-1203ashraful47@yahoo.com
 
 ABSTRACT – At present,
 the mostly used and developed  mechanism is hardware virtualization which provides a common platform to
 run multiple operating systems and applications inindependent partitions. More precisely, it is all about resourcevirtualization as the term ‘hardware virtualization’ is emphasized. In this paper, the aim is to find out the advantages and limitations of current virtualization techniques, analyze their cost and  performance and also depict which forthcoming hardwarevirtualization techniques will able to provide efficient solutions for multiprocessor operating systems. This is done by making a methodical literature survey and statistical analysis of the benchmark reports provided by SPEC (Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation) and TPC (Transaction processing Performance Council). Finally, this paper presents the current aspects of hardware virtualization which will help the IT managers of the large organizations to take effective decision while choosing server with virtualization support. Again, the future works described in section 4 of this paper focuses on some real-world  challenges such as abstraction of multiple servers, language level virtualization, pre-virtualization etc. which may be point of greatinterest for the researchers.
Keywords:
 
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1.
INTRODUCTION
 
A current trend in the computer industry is replacinguniprocessor computers with small multiprocessors [11].Traditionally,
most small multiprocessors have been SMPs(Symmetric Mul
tiprocessors) with two or more processorchips where each
processor has equal access to memory andhardware devices.
But now, the scenario is going to bechanged and the manu
facturers are trying to increase PCmanageability, user productivity and so on. Manytechniques are already working to support multiprocessoroperating systems such as giant lock 
ing, asymmetricapproaches, virtualization, K42 etc.
There are two approaches which are used forparallel
ized processors. First, Symmetric multithreading
(SMT) [3]
where two or more concurrently running programthreads
share processor resources, e.g. Intel Pentium
4 andXenon processor [12], and the 2-way multithreaded Sony/IBMCell
processor . Second one is chip multiprocessors (CMPs)[5],
which partitions the chip area into two or more mostlyinde
pendent processor cores, e.g. IBM POWER4architecture was
released as a dual-core chip in 2001 [8].
 
However, to implement multiprocessor operating sys
temsand providing dynamic environment many technologies areevolved. But the most common and continuously updated
technology is virtualization as all the companies like Intel,AMD, IBM always keep focus on this area by developingnew and new virtualization techniques. Generally,virtualization
is the faithful reproduction of an entirearchitecture in soft
ware which provides the illusion of a realmachine to all soft
ware running above it [10]. Precisely,virtualization is a
framework or methodology of dividing theresources of a
computer into multiple executionenvironments, by applyingone or more concepts ortechnologies such as hardware and
software partitioning,time-sharing, partial or complete machine simulation,emulation, quality of service, and manyothers. This can beapplied by either software or hardware or
both and also forDesktop computer as well as for the Server machine.
In software-only virtualization technique, a VirtualMa
chine Monitor (VMM) program is used to distributeresources to the
current multiple threads. But this software-only virtualization
solution has some limitations. One isallocation of memoryspace by guest operating systemswhere applications would
conventionally run. Anotherproblem is binary translation, i.e.
the necessity of extra layerof communication for binary trans
lation, in order to emulatethe hardware environment by pro
viding interfaces tophysical resources such as processors, memory, storage,graphics cards, and network adapters [16]. So
hardwarevirtualization technique is a good solution to face theaboveproblems which works in cooperation with VMM. Thisvirtualization technique provides a new architecture upon
which the operating system can run directly, it removesthe
need for binary translation. Thus, increased performanceand supportability ensured. It also enhances the reliability,supportability, security, and flexibility of virtualizationsolutions.
So the keen interest is on hardware virtualization.
This paper focuses on the virtualization supports of current microprocessors
and makes a comparison amongvarious hardware virtualization techniques offered byvarious companies. As there are
many companies in themarket competing with their latest
technologies and improvedfacilities so it is important to have
a good understandingabout the mechanisms they are using. However, h
ardwarevirtualization is raising its acceptability over other
virtualization techniques as it
provides transparency, legacy
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72
 
support, simplicity, monitoring
facility and security whichis the point of interest for indus
trial computing systems.
II. DIFFERENT VIRTUALIZATION TECHNIQUES
In uniprocessor system, it often assumes only oneprocess in
the kernel. As a result, it simplifies the kernelinstructions and cross-process lock is not required. But thescenario is changed
when multiple processors execute in thekernel. That means adding SMP support changes theoriginal operating system.
Hence mechanisms forsupporting multiprocessors operatingsystems are required.There are different ways of organizing a
multiprocessoroperating system such as giant locking, coarse-grainedlocking, fine-grained locking, asymmetric approaches,
virtualization and API/ABI compatibility andreimplementation. But the virtualization technique is theimportant one as
the developers are continuously upgradingthis technology
. At first, we describe software-onlyvirtualization and hardware virtualization. Thenparavirtualization and
full virtualization is explained.
 A. SOFTWARE ONLY VIRTUALIZATION 
In software-only virtualization technique, the concept of 2-bit
privilege level is used: using 0 for most privilegedsoftware
and 3 for least privileged those. In this architecture(IA-32 and
Itanium), the guest operating systems eachcommunicates with the hardware through the VirtualMachine Monitor (VMM) which must decide that access forall virtual machines on the system. Thus, the virtual machinecan be runon non-privileged mode i.e. non-privilegedinstructions can be
executed directly without involving theVMM. But there are
some problems that arise in software-only solution. Firstly,
ring aliasing- problems that arisewhen software is run at a
privilege level other than thelevel for which it was written.
Secondly, address-spacecompression- occurs when guestsoftware tries to access theVMM’s guest’s virtual address space. Thirdly, impacts onguest transitions- may cause a tran
sition to the VMM and notto the guest operating system.
VMMs also face othertechnical challenges such as use of 
private memory forVMM use only, use of VMM interrupt
handling, hiddenstate access etc. [16].
 B. HARDWARE VIRTUALIZATION 
Hardware virtualization allows the VMM to run virtualma
chines in an isolated and protected environment. It is alsotransparent to the software running in the virtual machine,
which thinks that it is in exclusive control of the hardware.In 1999, VMware introduced the hosted VMM, and it wascapa
ble of extending a modern operating system to supporta vir
tual machine that acts and runs like the hardware levelVMM
of old [14]. To address the problems of software
only virtualization solution, hardware virtualizationmecha
nism is applied which is possibly the most commonlyknown technology, including products from VMware andMicrosoft’s Virtual Server. Now, VMMs could run off-the-shelf operating systems and applications without recourse tobinary translation or paravirtualization. This capabilitygreatly facili
tates the deployment of VMMs and providesgreater reliability and manageability of guest operatingsystems and applications.
C. PARAVIRTUALIZATION 
Basically, to overcome the virtualization challengesof software-only virtualization, the VMM was developedby the designers that modify guest software (source
orbinary). Denali and Xen are examples of VMMs that use
source level modifications in a technique calledparavirtu
alization. Paravirtualization is similar tohardware emula
tion because in concept it is designed tosupport multiple
OSs. The only implementation of thistechnology today is
the Xen open source project, soon tobe followed by an actual product from XenSource.Paravirtualization provides
high performance andeliminates the ‘changes to guest ap
plications’. But thedisadvantage is that it supports lim
ited numbers of operating systems. For example, Xen cannot
support anoperating system that its developers have not modified, suchas Microsoft Windows.
 D. FULL VIRTUALIZATION 
Full system virtualization provides a virtual replica of the
system’s hardware so that operating systems and softwaremay run on the virtual hardware exactly as they would onthe
original hardware [13]. The first introduced software forfull
virtualization system was CP-67, designed as a specialized
time-sharing system which exposed to each user acomplete
virtual System/360 computer. Though fullvirtualization on
PC architectures is extremely complex, atpresent it is pio
neered in the market since 1998 as VMwareinitiated x86
based virtualization providing the fundamentaltechnology for
all leading x86-based hardware suppliers. Itcreates a uniform
hardware image that implemented throughsoftware on which both operating system and applicationprograms can run.
III. HARDWARE VIRTUALIZATION SUPPORT INMICROPROCESSORS
The challenges imposed on IT business that the CIOsand IT managers always face are cost-effective utilizationof IT infrastructure and flexibility in adapting toorganizational
changes. Hence, virtualization is afundamental technological
innovation that provides theskilled IT professionals to orga
nize creative solutions tothose business challenges. The leading companies of ITsector are also introducing their innova
tive and well-developed approaches every day to cope with
demands of the age. Again the hardware virtualization support
is animportant factor for the field of Grid Computing or se
cureon-Demand Cluster computing. The hardware support forvirtualization in current microprocessors is addressed in thissection.
 
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 A.
 
 INTEL HARDWARE SUPPORT 
Intel is developing microprocessors
with variousadvanced virtualization supports. They are updating theirtechnologies constantly to facilitate the users’ demands.Starting with Server and mainframe systems
virtualization,now Intel is providing hardware support for
processorvirtualization through virtual machine monitor
softwarewhich is also known as hypervisor. The actual aim of 
usinghypervisor is to arbitrate access to the underlying physicalhost system’s resources so that multiple operating systems
that are guests to VMM, can share them. IA-32 andItanium
architecture were built on software-onlyvirtualization sup
port [16]. But unfortunately they facedmany challenges while providing virtualization supports. Thesoftware cannot work properly
in concern with the corehardware, that’s why it has to use
complex schemes toimitate hardware features to the software.
Moreover, it hasto make the illusion that the host operating
system thinkingthe virtual machine as another application. To
eliminate theseproblems, VMM designers developed new
solutions likeXen [2] and Denali VMMs that use source level
modification known as paravirtualization. But the mainlimita
tion of this scheme is that it is applicable for a certainnumber of operating system. Hence Intel developed newarchitectures
VT-x and VT-i for IA-32 processors (CoreDuo and Solo) and Itanium processors
family respectivelywhich offered full virtualization using the hypervisorsupport. This new architecture enables VMM to
run off-the-self operating systems and applications without
any binarytranslation or paravirtualization. As a result it in
creasesrobustness, reliability and security.
 B. AMD HARDWARE SUPPORT 
AMD has introduced their new Quad-Core AMD OpteronProcessor (based on Pacifica specification) which is designedto provide optimal virtualization. This processor provides anumber of features which enhances the performance andefficiency of the virtualization support. Firstly, AMD OpteronRapid Virtualization Indexing, which allows virtual machineto more directly manage memory to improve performance onmany virtualized applications [1]. It also decreases the“world-switch time” i.e. time spent switching from one virtualmachine to another. Secondly, direct CPU-to-memory, CPU-to-I/O, and CPU-to-CPU connections to streamline servervirtualization is ensured through AMD’s direct connectarchitecture. Thus, it is possible to host more VMs per serverand maximize the benefits of virtualization in terms of highbandwidth, low latency, and scalable access to memory.Thirdly, tagged Translation Look-Aside Buffer (TLB) hasincreased responsiveness in virtualized environments.Actually, through Tagged TLB, AMD Opteron processormaintains a mapping to the VMs individual memory spaceswhich eliminates additional memory management overheadand reduces switching time of virtual machines. Finally,Device Exclusion Vector (DEV) performs security checks inhardware rather than software. DEV mechanism controlsaccess to virtual machine memory based on permission. Theseunique features have brought AMD to the frontline of battleon hardware virtualization support.
C. IBM HARDWARE SUPPORT 
As the successor of POWER3 and POWER4, IBMintro
duced advanced virtualization capabilities in IBMPOWER5
processors in 2004. This processor includesincreased performance and other functional enhancements of virtualization-
reliability, availability, and serviceability inboth hardware
and software levels [9]. It uses hypervisorwhich is the basis
of the IBM virtualization technologies onPowers systems.
This technology provides fast page moverand simultaneous
multithreading which finally extends thecapability of PPC5.
It supports logical partitioning andmicro partitioning. Up toten LPARs (logical partitions)can be created for each CPU.
Thus the biggest 64-Waysystem is able to run 256 independ
ent operating systems.Memory, CPU-Power and I/O can be
dynamicallycontrolled between partitions. Thus, IBM PPC5 uses theparavirtualization or cooperative partitioning in con
 junctionwith the ATX, i5/OS, and Linux operating systemswhichoffers minimal overhead [7]. This also ensures effi
cientresource utilization through recovery of idle processing
cycles, dynamic reconfiguration of partition resources, and
consolidation of multiple operating systems on a singleplat
form and platform enforced security and isolation between
partitions. The latest processor of IBM with virtualizationsupport is IBM POWER6- the world’s fastest computerchip, features industry leading virtualization capabilities.This processor provides a number of attractive featuressuch as live partition mobility, expanded scalability,dynamic reallocation of resources etc. [6]. The LivePartition Mobility (LPM) feature allows clients to moverunning partitions automatically from one POWER6 serverto another without powering down the server. Moreover,clients can create up to 160 virtual servers in a single boxwhich provides much capability to run all kinds of differentworkloads (such as large scale database transactions to webservers) on the same server. IBM has built dynamicreallocation capabilities in chip. Users or in some cases thechip, itself, can reallocate and reassign computing resourceswithin shared the environment. In addition to theseexclusive features, IBM POWER6 provides enhancedperformance, increased flexibility, application mobility etc.
IV. FUTURE CHALLENGES AND SUPPORTS
 
Though hardware virtualization support in currentprocessors
has resolved many problems, it may also providenew solution
for some future challenges. Extension of existing operating
systems to present the abstraction of multiple servers is re
quired for implementation of virtualization at other levels of 
the software stack. Languagelevel virtualization technologies may be introduced by thecompanies to provide language run-
times that interpret andtranslate binaries compiled for abstract
architectures enableportability. Today Sun’s Java and Micro
soft’s CLR VMMsdominate the market for language level
virtualizationtechnologies [4]. Memory virtualization should
be efficientenough to make frequent changes to their page
tables.Moreover, research must look at the entire data centerleveland surely significant strides will be made in this area in
the
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