Patent ID: 9280458
Filing Date: 2016-03-08
CPC Classification: G06F

Claim Text:
1. In a virtualization platform, a method for reclaiming memory pages, the method comprising: receiving, by a virtual machine of the virtualization platform, an inflate command which directs a balloon driver of the virtual machine to inflate; issuing, by the virtual machine and in response to the inflate command, a sweep request to a hypervisor, wherein the sweep request directs the hypervisor to (i) perform a scan of memory pages allocated to the virtual machine for a predetermined pattern of characters, (ii) de-allocate memory pages having the predetermined pattern of characters from the virtual machine, the de-allocated memory pages including super pages and regular pages, and (iii) update a list of memory page mappings to reflect the de-allocated memory pages; and after the list of memory page mappings is updated, completing balloon driver inflation, wherein issuing the sweep request to the hypervisor includes directing the hypervisor to (i) scan memory pages allocated to the virtual machine for zeroed pages, and (ii) de-allocate memory pages which are zeroed pages from the virtual machine, wherein the list of memory page mappings is a physical address to machine address (P2M) table for the virtual machine, the P2M table including a set of P2M entries, each P2M entry being configured to map a physical memory page address to a real memory page address; and wherein updating the list of memory page mappings includes: