Patent ID: 7698700

Claim:
A method for applying a concurrent update to a logical partitioning operating system while the logical partitioning operating system is running in an environment including a plurality of processors executing a plurality of tasks, comprising: (a) notifying the logical partitioning operating system the concurrent update is available; (b) determining if each task impacted by the concurrent update has reached a quiesced state, wherein determining if each task impacted by the concurrent update is in a quiesced state comprises: placing one or more virtual processors associated with a dispatchable portion of the logical partitioning operating system in an interrupted state, and determining if one or more tasks running in the dispatchable portion of the logical partitioning operating system are blocked on designated wait objects; (c) determining if each processor is in an identifiable quiesced state; and (d) applying the concurrent update to the logical partitioning operating system while the logical partitioning operating system is running only if it is determined for all tasks and processors, that each task impacted by the concurrent update has reached a quiesced state and that each processor is in an identifiable quiesced state, so that all the processors and the tasks impacted by the concurrent update remain in the quiesced state during application of the concurrent update, wherein applying the concurrent update to the logical partitioning operating system comprises: upon determining that the concurrent update applies to a non-dispatchable portion of the logical partitioning operating system, bringing one or more physical processors to a known state in the non-dispatchable portion of the logical partitioning system prior to applying the concurrent update.