Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Parag Chakraborty

Bradley Post

Eric P Traut

B Anil Kumar

Benjamin A Leis

Pankaj Garg

Jeffrey Kinsey

Vladimir Pavlov

Jacob Kappeler Oshins

Dustin Lyle Green

Mahesh Sharad Lotlikar

Meher P Malakapalli

Aaron Sebastian Giles

Bita Gorjiara

Karthik Lakshminarayanan

Charles Ogden

Pareekshit Singh

William Robert Williams

Eric Kai-hau Han

Winston Matthew Penfold Johnston

Varadharajan Ponnappan

Timothy Haydon Ward

Brian L Henry

Eric Kai-Hau Han

Bradley Stephen Post

Methods, systems, and computer readable media are disclosed for creating a multi-port client server connection in a remote desktop environment. In an embodiment, the multi-client server connection can decouple client-server connection and client-server input from graphics delivery from the server to the client. Such embodiment provides higher server performance and enables dynamic server resource management. The multi-client server connection can be implemented in a virtual environment or between physical machines where one set of physical machines receives the graphics requests from the client and another set of physical machines generates and transmits display data to the client.

Delivering a single end user experience to a client from multiple servers

Memory is reserved in a virtualized computing environment for graphics processing of each child partition in the computing environment. A video memory controller can identify video settings for child partitions. The video memory controller can determine an amount of memory for graphics processing for a child partition based on the video settings for that child partition. The video memory can also request an amount of memory to be reserved for that child partition based on the calculated amount of memory. Reserving memory for graphics processing of child partitions in this way allows for a sufficient amount of memory to be reserved for a child partition without wasting memory resources by reserving significantly more memory than is needed for the child partition.

Dynamic provisioning of virtual video memory based on virtual video controller configuration

Described herein is providing GPU resources across machine boundaries for a virtual machine that migrates between servers. Data centers tend to have racks of servers that have limited access to GPUs. Accordingly, disclosed herein is providing GPU resources to computing devices that have limited access to GPUs across machine boundaries.

Delivering GPU resources to a migrating virtual machine

Described herein is providing GPU resources across machine boundaries. Data centers tend to have racks of servers that have limited access to GPUs. Accordingly, disclosed herein is providing GPU resources to computing devices that have limited access to GPUs across machine boundaries.

Delivering GPU resources across machine boundaries

Exemplary techniques for balancing 3D graphical processor unit use among virtual machines are herein disclosed. In an exemplary embodiment, a virtualization platform can load an instance of a graphics rendering module for a virtual machine; select a GPU for the graphics rendering module to run on; and configure the virtual machine to render to the selected GPU. In addition to the foregoing, other aspects are described in the detailed description, claims, and figures.

Techniques for load balancing GPU enabled virtual machines

A mechanism is described for mitigating the effects of such a DoS attack by detecting a multiple TDR situation within a short duration, identifying the errant virtual machines, and suspending all rendering ability for that virtual machine or set of virtual machines. While the disclosed embodiments are described in the context of virtual machines, the principles may be extended to the general problem of DoS attacks due to TDRs and bugchecks on any physical machine that includes a GPU. For example, DoS attacks can be generated from web sites directly using GPU rendering.

Prevention of DoS attack by a rogue graphics application

A system, method, and computer product for monitoring and benchmarking client devices from a server. A server, data center, and/or cloud computing environment may monitor certain aspects of a remote desktop session. The rendering, capture, and compression of a desktop may be monitored. The time between the sending of frames to a thin client can be monitored, the network bandwidth available can be monitored and the time between sending a frame and receiving a response from the thin client can be monitored. Based on these values, a benchmark for the remote desktop experience can be determined.

Monitoring and benchmarking client performance from the server-side

A mechanism is provided for making information about the virtual disk image file and/or its associated virtual image configuration file more readily available to a user. The virtual disk image file format is expanded to include fields in which information about the data in the file can be stored. Extensible information on file content, compatible HW configurations, compatible host OSes, timeout status, DRM status, patch state, and network topology, tag data for indexing, configuration files, saved state files, operation history data, and the like is stored in a location within a virtual disk image file that can be read without executing the virtual machine. This information can then be used to search the contents of the virtual disk image, to enforce usage policies, to provide extensibility for vendors, and the like.

Mechanism to store information describing a virtual machine in a virtual disk image

A method of agreeing on the utilization of at least one computer resource between two virtual machines includes sending a first resource request by a first virtual machine to a second virtual machine having computer resources to allocate to the first virtual machine. The second virtual machine responds by sending at least one available resource for use by the first virtual machine. The first virtual machine can select from the at least one available resource. Both the first and second virtual machines can then execute on the agreed resource utilization by the first virtual machine and begin using the resource. When conditions change, either the first virtual machine or the second virtual machine can request a renegotiation of the agreement to use computer resources.

Method and system for a resource negotiation between virtual machines

A computing device has a hardware device employed to provide a hardware service to the computing device and a plurality of virtual machines including a host virtual machine (VM-H) to which the hardware device is assigned, and a client virtual machine (VM-C) that can consume the hardware service by way of the VM-H. The VM-C includes an emulating stack and an enlightened stack. The emulating stack interfaces an application requesting the hardware service with a trap in a virtualization layer of the computing device which re-directs the request to the VM-H. The enlightened stack interfaces the application with the VM-H and bypasses the virtualization layer. The emulating stack includes a shunt driver that shunts to the enlightened stack each request from the application directed to the emulating stack.

Virtual machine transitioning from emulating mode to enlightened mode

A computer system and method for communicating in a virtual environment. The computer system may include a first partition and a virtual service client implemented at a first position in the first partition. The computer system may also include a second partition, and a virtual service provider implemented at a second position in the second partition. The first partition and the second partition may be in operative communication via the virtual service client and the virtual service provider. The first position and the second position may enable the virtual service client and the virtual service provider to reduce processing overhead associated with communicating in the virtual environment by eliminating a processing step, a buffer copy, a software interrupt, and/or a context switch.

Communicating in a virtual environment

A computing device is partitioned to include a host partition (HP) instantiated at least in part to provide storage capabilities, and also to include a client partition (CP) instantiated at least in part to consume such storage capabilities of the HP in the form of a virtual storage device at the CP. The HP implements the virtual storage device of the CP as an image file on a physical storage device. The image file at the HP is compacted while the CP is active and employing the corresponding virtual storage device.

Compaction, de-fragmentation, and merging of virtual storage device of virtual machine

A method for performing a write operation to a hard drive or other memory space is provided. The hard drive is represented as at least two files. The first file is a parent drive and includes some content of the hard drive. Writes made to the hard drive are recorded in a second file, known as a differencing drive. Because no changes are made to the content of the parent drive, the content of the hard drive may be rolled back to the content of the parent drive by discarding the differencing drive.

Growing community of inventors

Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Parag Chakraborty