A lightweight method for virtual machine introspection

A method for the introspection of virtual machines is proposed. The main distinctive feature of this method is that it makes it possible to obtain information about the system operation using the minimum knowledge about its internal organization. The proposed approach uses rarely changing parts of the application binary interface, such as identifiers and parameters of system calls, calling conventions, and the formats of executable files. The lightweight property of the introspection method is due to the minimization of the knowledge about the system and by its high performance. The introspection infrastructure is based on the QEMU emulator, version 2.8. Presently, monitoring the file operations, processes, and API function calls are implemented. The available introspection tools (RTKDSM, Panda, and DECAF) get data for the analysis using kernel structures. All the data obtained (addresses of structures, etc.) is written to special profiles. Since the addresses and offsets strongly depend not only on the version of the operating system but also on the parameters of its assembly, these tools have to store a large number of profiles. We propose to use parts of the application binary interface because they are rarely modified and it is often possible to use one profile for a family of OSs. The main idea underlying the proposed method is to intercept the system and library function calls and read parameters and returned values. The processor provides special instructions for calling system and user defined functions. The capabilities of QEMU are extended by an instrumentation mechanism to enable one to track each executed instruction and find the instructions of interest among them. When a system call occurs, the control is passed to the system call detector that checks the number of the call and decides to which module the job should be forwarded. In the case of an API function call, the situation is similar, but the API function detector checks the function address. An introspection tool consisting of a set of modules is developed. These modules are dynamic libraries that are plugged in QEMU. The modules can interact by exchanging data.     

An event-driven simulation method for motor driver in virtual machine tool system

In this paper, an event-driven simulation method is proposed for the motor driver in a virtual machine tool system (VMT), of which simulation speed is always a puzzle. This method utilizes a set of pre-defined events to trigger the execution of simulator in a non-deterministic manner and at the most efficient moment. Comparing to the conventional time domain simulation method, it dramatically reduces the CPU time consumption without losing simulation accuracy, therefore it improves the simulation efficiency. The effectiveness of this method is verified through a PMSM (Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor) motor driver model in studying Servo/Mechanical interaction within a VMT.     

Kernel-based virtual machine事件跟踪机制的设计与实现

分析了基于处理器硬件虚拟化技术实现的KVM子系统的架构.针对KVM跟踪独立事件信息的局限性,提出一种新的KVM事件跟踪机制(kvmtrnee)来达到性能调节的目的,并使用relayfs接口进行了设计与实现.同时探讨了Linux kernel Markers实现机制及其在kvmtraee的实际应用.     

A portable virtual machine for Ada

A portable compiler can be constructed by letting it generate code for a virtual machine, which is then implemented on the real target machines. The design of a virtual machine which is especially suitable as a target machine for compiled Ada programs is described. The main design goals, implementability on mini-computers and portability, are discussed and the resulting design is described in some detail. Some implementation strategies for the machine are proposed and the feasibility of the virtual machine approach is discussed.     

A QoS-aware virtual machine scheduling method for energy conservation in cloud-based cyber-physical systems

Nowadays, with the development of cyber-physical systems (CPS), there are an increasing amount of applications deployed in the CPS to connect cyber space with physical world better and closer than ever. Furthermore, the cloud-based CPS bring massive computing and storage resource for CPS, which enables a wide range of applications. Meanwhile, due to the explosive expansion of applications deployed on the CPS, the energy consumption of the cloud-based CPS has received wide concern. To improve the energy efficiency in the cloud environment, the virtualized technology is employed to manage the resources, and the applications are generally hosted by virtual machines (VMs). However, it remains challenging to meet the Quality-of-Service (QoS) requirements. In view of this challenge, a QoS-aware VM scheduling method for energy conservation, named QVMS, in cloud-based CPS is designed. Technically, our scheduling problem is formalized as a standard multi-objective problem first. Then, the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm III (NSGA-III) is adopted to search the optimal VM migration solutions. Besides, SAW (Simple Additive Weighting) and MCDM (Multiple Criteria Decision Making) are employed to select the most optimal scheduling strategy. Finally, simulations and experiments are conducted to verify the effectiveness of our proposed method.

     

虚拟机软件结合LoadRunner的一种测试方案探讨

基于虚拟化技术进行软件自动化测试是测试主流技术发展的一个方向。介绍了虚拟机软件VMware结合测试工具软件LoadRunner的一种软件测试方案,详细介绍了测试方法、测试环境、测试用例以及数据处理方法。通过对同一B/S系统在真实环境和虚拟环境中进行对比性能测试,并基于实测数据加以分析,论证了该方案的优越性,得出了能否应用的结论。     

HARNESS: a next generation distributed virtual machine

Heterogeneous Adaptable Reconfigurable Networked SystemS (HARNESS) is an experimental metacomputing system [L. Smarr, C.E. Catlett, Communications of the ACM 35 (6) (1992) 45–52] built around the services of a highly customizable and reconfigurable Distributed Virtual Machine (DVM). The successful experience of the HARNESS design team with the Parallel Virtual Machine (PVM) project has taught us both the features which make the DVM model so valuable to parallel programmers and the limitations imposed by the PVM design. HARNESS seeks to remove some of those limitations by taking a totally different approach to creating and modifying a DVM.     

基于网络的分布并行虚拟计算机的实现

构造了一个基于网络的分布并行虚拟计算机DPVM,它由虚拟机层、通信层和基本类层组成,包括服务器,工作机和客户机3种不同类型的机器,在简要介绍DPVM的总体结构之后,从服务器,任务通信,程序输出和消息传递并行语义的面向对象实现几方面对系统实现的关键技术进行讨论。     

A human machine interface for distributed virtual laboratories

To support a distributed virtual laboratory, the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University has developed Onika, an ironically programmed human machine interface with hypermedia capabilities. Onika can retrieve reconfigurable real-time software modules from remote sites via the Internet or World Wide Web and integrate these modules with locally developed modules. Developers can then use Onika to assemble the resulting reusable code into applications in order to control both local and remote robotic systems     

Dynamic translation for virtual machine based traffic simulation

For virtual machine based traffic simulation platforms, the paper proposes a software framework that performs trace-based dynamic translation. Through monitoring the runtime execution status of bytecodes and translating frequently executed bytecodes, also known as hot spots, into equivalent native machine codes, the framework considerably improves the performance of virtual machine based traffic simulation platforms up to ten times or more, as the experiments showed. For the first time, the presented work clearly exhibits that a seamless combination of the two technologies – dynamic translation and virtual machine could lead to a new generation of applicable traffic simulation platforms. Such a platform not only offers high flexibility in terms of traffic model simulation, but also preserves the ability of conducting numerical computation-intensive simulations generally found in real-life industrial projects.     

An embeddable virtual machine for state space generation

The semantics of modelling languages are not always specified in a precise and formal way, and their rather complex underlying models make it a non-trivial exercise to reuse them in newly developed tools. We report on experiments with a virtual machine-based approach for state space generation. The virtual machine’s (VM) byte-code language is straightforwardly implementable, facilitates reuse and makes it an adequate target for translation of higher-level languages like the SPIN model checker’s Promela, or even C. As added value, it provides efficiently executable operational semantics for modelling languages. Several tools have been built around the VM implementation we developed, to evaluate the benefits of the proposed approach.     

A real-time virtual machine implementation for small microcontrollers

A way to host a full general purpose virtual machine (VM) interpreter on a very small microcontroller platform is described. This machine provides a comprehensive set of general and enhanced functionality efficiently by abstracting the VM instruction set. Measurements were made on the execution of software programs in the virtual machine while running on the target platform in order to demonstrate the machine??s capabilities. Additionally, multitasking capabilities were added to the baseline and found to perform efficiently within the VM. The results proved to be satisfactory and demonstrate that a robust virtual machine can be made available for very small embedded platforms based on simple microcontrollers, such as those that are widely found in aerospace applications.     

A programmable network virtual machine

The increasing diversity of resources which is becoming available to users through the introduction of computer networks has opened up new areas of investigation. One of the problems encountered is that of providing uniform and common access procedures where functionally similar facilities exist on different systems. A lack of standardization in this area can inhibit the very benefits derived through the use of networks. Another aspect is the possibility of achieving genuine resource sharing among several different systems in the network. This can lead to the development of virtual systems that embody the most desirable characteristics of the various real component systems.One approach to solving these problems is to create an agent that is able both to automate remote access procedures on the user's behalf, and provide him with the most appropriate network interface. This paper describes the design of a multi-user virtual machine that is able to perform this role. The machine is programmable by a high-level language which has been specially designed to meet the requirements of a network access environment. It is conjectured that the use of a special purpose high-level language is a most flexible and powerful means of generating particular network agents and that this technique permits the automation of a wide variety of network access procedures.     

虚拟环境下并联坐标测量机几何建模与运动仿真

与普通直角型坐标测量机相比,并联坐标测量机具有结构简单、测量精度高、测头位姿灵活等一系列优点。但因该坐标测量机的驱动参量与测头输出位姿之间的非线性对应关系,致使其实体样机的设计工作变得十分复杂。该文以3-RPS型三自由度并联机构坐标测量机为研究对象。在虚拟环境下对其进行了三维实体造型和运动过程仿真,从而为新型坐标测量机实体样机的开发奠定了理论基础。     

Matrix partitioning on a virtual shared memory parallel machine

The general problem considered in the paper is partitioning of a matrix operation between processors of a parallel system in an optimum load-balanced way without potential memory contention. The considered parallel system is defined by several features the main of which is availability of a virtual shared memory divided into segments. If partitioning of a matrix operation causes parallel access to the same memory segment with writing data to the segment by at least one processor, then contention between processors arises which implies performance degradation. To eliminate such situation, a restriction is imposed on a class of possible partitionings, so that no two processors would write data to the same segment. On the resulting class of contention-free partitionings, a load-balanced optimum partitioning is defined as satisfying independent minimax criteria. The main result of the paper is an algorithm for finding the optimum partitioning by means of analytical solution of respective minimax problems. The paper also discusses implementation and performance issues related to the algorithm, on the basis of experience at Kendall Square Research Corporation, where the partitioning algorithm was used for creating high-performance parallel matrix libraries     

Comparative study between exact and metaheuristic approaches for virtual machine placement process as knapsack problem

In cloud computing, the virtual machine placement is a critical process which aims to identify the most appropriate physical machine to host the virtual machine. It has a significant impact on the performance, resource usage and energy consumption of the datacenters. In order to reduce the number of active physical machines in a datacenter, several virtual machine placement schemes have already been designed and proposed. This study investigates how do four different methods compare to each other in terms of accuracy and efficiency for solving the virtual machine placement as a knapsack problem. A new approach has been adopted which focuses on maximizing the use of a server’s central processing unit resource considering a certain capacity threshold. The compared methods are classified; two belong to the category of the exact methods, i.e., branch and bound and dynamic programming, while the other two represent the approximate approach, i.e., genetic algorithm and ant colony optimization algorithm. Experimental results show that the metaheuristic ant colony optimization algorithm outperforms the other three algorithms in terms of efficiency.