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zippyjuan
08-25-2005, 09:46 AM
Intel’s Virtualization to Come to Single-Core Chips First.
Intel Unveils Virtualization Technology Roadmap

Category: CPU

by Anton Shilov

[ 08/25/2005 | 12:52 AM ]


Intel Corp. revealed introduction roadmap of its virtualization technology at its Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco. Apparently, single-core desktop chips will be the first to feature the technology later this year, however, already next year Intel incorporates capability across the board.

The first processors to come equipped with Intel Virtualization Technology (VT) will be Intel Pentium 4 processors 600-series with 3.60GHz and 3.80GHz clock-speed, according to a slide Intel demonstrated during the IDF. It is yet unclear when exactly Intel launches its chips with virtualization enabled, furthermore, it is unknown which platforms will be able to support the technology.

Sometime late this year, or early next year, Intel plans to enable Intel Itanium 2-based server platforms with virtualization technology, which is likely to be very important for enterprise customers of the chipmaker.

In the first half of next year virtualization capability will be available across all platforms Intel ships, including Intel Xeon DP/MP servers, Intel Pentium D desktops and Intel Centrino notebooks. It is possible, however, that not all the forthcoming processors and core-logic products support virtualization technology.

Virtualization allows a platform to run multiple operating systems and applications in independent partitions or “containers.” One physical compute system can function as multiple “virtual” systems.

Within the digital office and enterprise, businesses for example will be able to isolate a portion of a managed PC to perform system upgrades and maintenance without interrupting the end-user. IT managers could also create one desktop PC build that can function independently as both a business and personal system, keeping software loads and virus attacks separate, or one that runs different operating systems and software for different or legacy tasks. Multiple servers can be combined into one system, running different applications and operating systems, providing advantages for IT tasks such as server consolidation, legacy migration and security.

Home users could create virtual “partitions” isolating multiple user environments such as dedicating resources to a PC game, productivity, and personal video recorder-type environments, as well as improve defenses against viruses or spyware.

Intel Virtualization Technology (VT) is a set of hardware enhancements to Intel server and client platforms that can improve virtualization solutions.

shocky123
08-25-2005, 01:23 PM
I know I'm blind.. but I didnt see anything about single-core chips having Virtualization capabilities. (Support.. maybe, but being capable of it is completely different)
I dont personally think that virtualization is even possible on a single(single-core) cpu box. Though I can hardly say I know anything about virtualization, I do know a few things about what it might take to drive two operating systems 'simultaneously'.
Maybe Intel is once again confused.
Were they thinking Dual-boot capable single-core (non-smp) systems?
No offense Zippy. I just think this is whack.

~Kyle

Jeffbx
08-26-2005, 04:54 AM
This is nothing revolutionary - it's multitasking, but between OSs rather than applications. You don't need to dedicate a chip per OS. The ability to do this has been around for a long time:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/default.mspx (MS bought the company that makes this software a couple of years ago)

Sounds like they're just optimizing the chips for it, not introducing anything new. Just marketing hype, IMHO.

shocky123
08-26-2005, 06:41 PM
I'm just thinking that the interrupts will be screwed up. How would one get around the memory issues? I.E. partitioning system memory so that each operating system doesnt inadvertantly try to access or overwrite the other os's crucial processes? I dont imagine this can be done on a single-core pentium chip, especially when there isnt to my knowledge any kind of 'onboard' memory controller available on any intel chips.
IMHO, I'd not even think about this, the complexity involved with the architecture here is quite high. I'd think that it'd be easier to make dual-core motherboards that support this very well than run into the problems(including speed) associated with a single-core chip trying to run multiple operating systems.

dual-core motherboards.. dont look into that too much, you know I meant motherboards that support dual-core chips. Also throw in SMP systems in there too.

~Kyle

Jeffbx
08-29-2005, 04:33 AM
I'm just thinking that the interrupts will be screwed up. How would one get around the memory issues? I.E. partitioning system memory so that each operating system doesnt inadvertantly try to access or overwrite the other os's crucial processes? I dont imagine this can be done on a single-core pentium chip, especially when there isnt to my knowledge any kind of 'onboard' memory controller available on any intel chips.


Sure, it's done easily, but through software. You need to dedicate X amount of resources to each OS so there are no contention issues. So yes, single core chips handle this with no problem because they just multitask the processor load between as many OSs as are present. But, as you mentioned, the memory is the bigger issue than the processor, since you're now sharing a fixed resource. Even on a machine with 2GB RAM, if you're sharing 4 OSs, that's only 512MB per OS. Hopefully you're not trying to run a memory heavy app on this setup.