System and method for affinity dispatching for task management in an emulated multiprocessor environment
View Patent ↗The disclosure relates generally to managing assignment of tasks among instruction processors (IPs) within a computer system having multiple IPs, and more particularly to binding emulated IPs with a host system's IPs (e.g., processor cores) for facilitating control over affinity-based assignment of tasks among the host system's IPs by a task manager (e.g., OS) that is executing on the emulated IPs, rather than running directly on the host system's IPs. Certain embodiments provide techniques for binding emulated IPs with actual IPs of a computing system that is hosting the emulated IPs, thereby enabling better control of management of the system by a task manager executing on the emulated IPs. For instance, in certain embodiments, a dispatcher (e.g., of an OS running on emulated IPs) performs affinity-based management of task assignment for tasks performed for an application program among IPs of a host system that is hosting the emulated IPs.
1. A method for task management in a multiprocessor computer system, the method comprising:
running a task manager on emulated instruction processors (IPs) that are hosted on a host system having actual IPs;
binding one or more of the host system's actual IPs to one or more of the emulated IPs; and
performing affinity-based task management by said task manager for managing tasks assigned among the host system's actual IPs;
wherein the task manager executes under the control of a legacy OS having a different instruction set that has been assigned to a particular one or more of the emulated IPs;
performing said binding for instances fix at least switching queue levels 1, 2, and 3, where switching queue level means there is a switching queue per IP bus, level 2 means there is a switching queue per subpod, and level 3 means there is a switching queue per pod.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the tasks are processes performed for execution of one or more application programs running on the emulated IPs.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing affinity-based task management by said task manager comprises:
directly managing, by said task manager, assignment of tasks among the emulated IPs, wherein said binding facilitates indirect management of the assignment of tasks among the host system's actual IPs.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein said task manager is implemented in an operating system (OS) running on said emulated IPs.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein said task manager comprises an affinity dispatcher.
6. The method of claim 5 wherein said task manager further comprises switching queues.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein said emulated IPs have a different instruction set than said host system's actual IPs.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein said binding comprises:
receiving an affinity ID of each of said host system's actual IPs; and
associating, by said task manager, said received affinity IDs for one or more of said host system's actual IPs with one or more emulated IDs.
9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
performing said binding responsive to a switching queue level being configured to one of levels 1, 2, and 3, where switching queue level 1 means there is a switching queue per IP bus, level 2 means there is a switching queue per subpod, and level 3 means there is a switching queue per pod.
10. A computer program product having a non-transient computer-readable medium having encoded data that when executed by a programmable computing engine implements a method for managing task assignment among a host system's instruction processors (IPs) of a host system by a task manager running on emulated IPs that are hosted on the host system, the computer program product comprising:
running a task manager on emulated instruction processors (IPs) that are hosted on a host system having actual IPs;
binding one or more of the host system's actual IPs to one or more of the emulated IPs; and
performing affinity-based task management by said task manager for managing tasks assigned among the host system's actual IPs;
wherein the task manager executes under the control of legacy OS having a different instruction set that has been assigned to a particular one or more of the emulated IPs
performing said binding for instances fix at least switching queue levels 1, 2, and 3, where switching queue level means there is a switching queue per IP bus, level 2 means there is a switching queue per subpod, and level 3 means there is a switching queue per pod.
11. The computer program product of claim 10 wherein the tasks are processes performed for execution of one or more application programs running on the emulated IPs.
12. The computer program product of claim 10 wherein said code for performing affinity-based task management comprises:
code for directly managing, by said task manager, assignment of tasks among the emulated IPs, wherein said binding facilitates indirect management of the assignment of tasks among the host system's actual IPs.
13. The computer program product of claim 10 wherein said task manager is implemented an operating system (OS) running on said emulated IPs.
14. The computer program product of claim 10 wherein said code for binding comprises:
code for receiving an affinity of each of said host system's actual IPs; and
code for associating, by said task manager, said received affinity IDs for one or more of said host system's actual IPs with one or more emulated IPs.
15. A system for task management in a multiprocessor computer system, the system comprising:
means for binding one or more of a host system's actual instruction processor's (IPs) to one or more emulated IPs that are hosted on the host system; and
means, running on the emulated IPs for performing affinity-based task management for managing tasks assigned among the host system's actual IPs, wherein the management means directly managing assignment of tasks among the emulated IPs, and wherein the binding means facilitates indirect management of the assignment of tasks among the host system's actual IPs;
wherein the task manager executes under the control of legacy OS having a different instruction set that has been assigned to a particular one or more of the emulated IPs;
performing said binding for instances fix at least switching queue levels 1, 2, and 3, where switching queue level means there is a switching queue per IP bus, level 2 means there is a switching queue per subpod, and level 3 means there is a switching queue per pod.
16. The system of claim 15 wherein the tasks are processes performed for execution of one or more application programs running on the emulated IPs; and wherein said management means is implemented in an operating system (OS) running on said emulated IPs.