Patent ID: 8468288

Claim:
In a first data processing system (DPS) having one or more processors coupled to at least a first memory and providing processor resources and memory resources for a virtual machine, a method comprising: processor resources on the first DPS identifying all memory pages of the virtual machine for a migration of the virtual machine to a second data processing system with a second memory, wherein the migration involves copying of the memory pages from a corresponding first memory resource to the second memory; the processor resources sending a virtual machine transfer notification, via transmission control protocol (TCP), to the second DPS alerting the second DPS of the migration of the virtual machine to the second DPS; receiving via TCP a first acknowledgement from the second DPS, which first acknowledgement includes a maximum allowed transfer rate for copying memory from the first DPS to the second DPS; forwarding via User Datagram Protocol (UDP) a plurality of packets comprising a transmission of the memory pages of the virtual machine identified for migration; sending via TCP a completion message to the second DPS to identify completion of the transmission of the memory pages of the virtual machine via UDP; and responsive to receiving from the second DPS a second notification via TCP indicating that one or more packets or memory pages was not successfully received during the forwarding of the plurality of packets, packaging and forwarding via TCP any missing portions of the memory pages not successfully received by the second DPS.