JP7560968B2 - Information processing device and method for controlling information processing device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing device and a control method thereof .

Server virtualization technology that allows multiple virtual machine systems to be started and used on a host OS has been known for some time (Non-Patent Document 1).

Etsuji Nakai, "Practical Use of KVM Server Virtualization", Nikkei Linux, September 2015, pp.138-143

However, with the above conventional technology, the host OS and the guest OS operate as separate systems, so the host OS cannot detect abnormalities in processes on the guest OS or abnormalities in the guest OS itself.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned situation, and one of its objectives is to provide an information processing device and a control method thereof that can detect abnormalities in processes on a guest OS or abnormalities in the guest OS itself from a host OS.

One aspect of the present invention that solves the problems of the above-mentioned conventional examples is an information processing device that has a controller unit including a storage unit, a host side processing means that executes processing of a host operating system, and a guest side processing means that executes processing as a guest operating system on a virtual machine system that runs on the host operating system executed by the host side processing means, and the controller unit is a controller unit that accepts requests for status information as processing of an application program that runs in a guest operating system executed by the guest side processing means, responds to the request, and provides status information that represents the operating status of the guest operating system.

In this way, by configuring the host to periodically request status information and the guest to respond to it, the host OS can detect abnormalities in processes on the guest OS or abnormalities in the guest OS itself.

Here, the host-side processing means of the controller unit may send a request for status information to the guest-side processing means, and if the status information is not obtained in response to the status information request, or if the obtained status information indicates an abnormality, the host-side processing means may restart the guest operating system executed by the guest-side processing means.

This allows the guest OS to be restarted even if an abnormality occurs, improving availability on the guest OS side.

Furthermore, the host-side processing means of the controller unit may send a status information request to the guest-side processing means after rebooting the guest operating system executed by the guest-side processing means, and if no status information is obtained in response to the status information request, or if the obtained status information indicates an abnormality, initialize the guest operating system.

Even if rebooting the guest OS does not restore it, you can improve the availability of the guest OS by initializing it.

The host-side processing means of the controller may also store an installation disk image of a virtual machine system including a guest operating system, and when initializing the guest operating system, the installation disk image may be used to reinstall the virtual machine system including the guest operating system.

This improves the restartability of the guest OS and increases availability on the guest OS side.

Another aspect of the present invention is a method for controlling an information processing device, in which a controller unit executes a host-side processing step for executing processing of a host operating system, and a guest-side processing step for executing processing as a guest operating system on a virtual machine system that operates on the host operating system executed in the host-side processing step, and the controller unit accepts a request for status information as processing of an application program that operates within the guest operating system executed in the guest-side processing step, responds to the request, and provides status information that indicates the operating status of the guest operating system.

Yet another aspect of the present invention is a program that causes a computer that executes a host operating system to function as a means for operating a virtual machine system on the host operating system, a means for executing a guest operating system on the virtual machine system, and a status checking means that is executed on the host operating system and checks the status of a process executed on the guest operating system.

According to this invention, the host OS can detect abnormalities in processes on the guest OS, as well as abnormalities in the guest OS itself.

1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of an information processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a functional block diagram illustrating an example of an information processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing on a guest OS of an information processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process for managing a guest OS in an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, an information processing device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a control unit 11, a main memory unit 12, an interface unit 13, a storage unit 14, and a network communication unit 15. Here, the control unit 11, the main memory unit 12, the interface unit 13, and the network communication unit 15 correspond to the controller unit of the present invention.

The control unit 11 is a program-controlled device such as a CPU, and operates according to a program stored in the main memory unit 12. In one example of this embodiment, the control unit 11 operates as a first operating system (hereinafter referred to as a host OS), and also executes processing as a virtual machine system (VM) on this first operating system. Furthermore, the control unit 11 runs a second operating system (hereinafter referred to as a guest OS) on the virtual machine system.

The control unit 11 executes the processing of the corresponding application programs on each of the operating systems, the host OS and the guest OS. The specific content of the processing of the control unit 11 will be described later.

The main memory unit 12 is a memory device or the like, and stores the programs executed by the control unit 11. These programs are read from within a system area set in the storage unit 14 and stored in the main memory unit 12. The main memory unit 12 also operates as a work memory for the control unit 11.

The interface unit 13 is interposed between the control unit 11 and the storage unit 14, and performs the process of writing data to the storage unit 14 or reading data from the storage unit 14 according to instructions input from the control unit 11.

The storage unit 14 is a disk device such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid state drive (SSD), and stores various data. In one embodiment of the present invention, the storage unit 14 has a memory area divided into a program memory area 14a, a system area 14b, and a user data area 14c.

Of these, the program memory area 14a stores the host OS program and application programs executed on the host OS.

The system area 14b also stores image files of the file system for the guest OS, their backups, and information on the access rights for each user to each file and directory in the user data area 14c, as well as user registration and authentication information. One of the distinctive features of this embodiment is that the data of the installation image (initial image) of the image file of the file system for the guest OS is stored as a backup separately from the image file of the file system used by the virtual machine system.

At least one directory (hereafter referred to as a shared directory for convenience) is stored in the user data area 14c, and files that are user data are stored under each shared directory.

The network communication unit 15 includes multiple network interfaces LAN1, LAN2, etc. (hereinafter, when there is no need to distinguish between them, the reference numerals will be abbreviated to LAN). This network communication unit 15 is connected to the network via one of the network interfaces LAN, and transmits and receives information to and from computer devices (including itself) on the network according to instructions input from the control unit 11.

In one example of this embodiment, the network communication unit 15 has three network interfaces LAN1, LAN2, and LAN3. Here, the IP address and other communication parameters of LAN1 are set by the guest OS, and it is assumed that it is controlled by the guest OS. The IP address and other communication parameters of LAN2 and LAN3 are set by the host OS, and it is assumed that it is controlled by the host OS.

In other words, application programs on the guest OS send and receive information to and from computer devices on the network via network interface LAN1. In this embodiment, the guest OS logically sets up a virtual network interface (virtual NIC) within itself. The virtual machine system then passes through (outputs as is) data that it is instructed to send via this virtual network interface to network interface LAN1. The virtual machine system also passes through data that arrives at network interface LAN1 to the virtual network interface set up by the guest OS.

In addition, in this example, application programs on the host OS send and receive information between computer devices on the network via network interface LAN2 or LAN3.

Next, the operation of the control unit 11 will be described. Functionally, the control unit 11 in this embodiment includes a host-side processing unit 20 that executes a host OS and operates as the host OS, and operates according to application programs on the host OS, and a guest-side processing unit 30 that executes a guest OS and operates as the guest OS, and operates according to application programs on the guest OS, as shown in FIG. 2.

The host-side processing unit 20 functionally includes a file management unit 21, a virtual machine system unit 22, and a guest OS management unit 23. The guest-side processing unit 30 functionally includes a file system sharing processing unit 31, a file search unit 32, and a response processing unit 33.

The file management unit 21 accepts access requests from other information processing devices (such as personal computers) on the network at the instruction of their users. The file management unit 21 authenticates the user of the information processing device that is the source of the access request. This authentication may be performed by a conventionally known method, such as receiving authentication information such as the user name and password of the user from the information processing device and comparing it with the user name and password recorded in the registered authentication information previously stored in the system area 14b of the storage unit 14.

The file management unit 21 accepts requests from the other information processing devices operated by the authenticated user to write user data to the user data area 14c of the storage unit 14 and to read user data stored in the user data area 14c.

In one example of this embodiment, a shared directory is generated in the user data area 14c. Also, the system area 14b stores access rights information for each shared directory that associates information identifying the shared directory with information indicating whether each user can read and write to the user data (files) in the shared directory. Also, the information identifying the shared directory here may be the path name of the shared directory.

When the file management unit 21 receives user data (various files) and information identifying the shared directory in which the data is to be stored from the other information processing device operated by the authenticated user, it refers to the access rights information and checks whether the authenticated user is allowed to write to the shared directory in which the data is to be stored (storage destination) identified by the information. Then, when the user is set to be allowed to write to the storage destination, the file management unit 21 stores the received user data in the shared directory in which the data is to be stored.

When the file management unit 21 receives information (which may be a path name including a shared directory specification) that identifies user data from the other information processing device operated by the authenticated user, it refers to the access rights information to check whether the authenticated user is allowed to read data from the shared directory (read source) identified by the information. If the user is set to be allowed to read data from the read source, the file management unit 21 reads the user data identified by the received information from the read source shared directory and sends it to the other information processing device via the network.

In other words, in this embodiment, the access rights for each file are determined based on the access rights information for the shared directory that contains the file.

The file management unit 21 also allows users who are set as administrators to rewrite the access rights information, and also processes user data such as moving and deleting data. However, since the file management unit 21 operates as a so-called NAS (Network Attached Storage) and is widely known, a detailed explanation will be omitted here.

The virtual machine system unit 22 is realized by using a virtual machine system program that runs on the host OS, such as KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine)/QEMU. This virtual machine system unit 22 provides functions as a virtual CPU, virtual memory, virtual input/output interface, and virtual network interface (virtual NIC), and runs a guest OS on it.

In this embodiment, the virtual machine system unit 22 sets up a virtual file system (such as VirtFS) to enable access from the guest OS to the system area 14b and the user data area 14c of the storage unit 14 of the information processing device 1. As a result, the host-side processing unit 20 makes the user authentication information (user name, etc.) in the host OS and the access right information of each user set on the host OS side for each file stored in the user data area 14c of the storage unit 14 accessible from the guest OS executed by the guest-side processing unit 30.

The virtual machine system unit 22 also mounts the file of the file system image for the virtual machine system stored in the system area 14b as a file system in a virtual disk device logically connected to the virtual machine system, and starts the guest OS program recorded in the file system image. The file system image also records data such as application programs executed on the guest OS.

In this embodiment, the virtual machine system unit 22 also provides at least one logical virtual network interface.

The guest OS management unit 23 repeatedly sends requests for status information to the guest side processing unit 30 at predetermined times (for example, at regular intervals). The guest OS management unit 23 also waits for a response from the guest side processing unit 30 to the request for status information sent out. The guest OS management unit 23 measures the time spent waiting for a response, and when this time exceeds a predetermined time threshold, it assumes that status information has not been obtained and executes abnormality processing, which will be described later.

If the guest OS management unit 23 receives a response to the request for status information from the guest side processing unit 30 before the time threshold is exceeded, the guest OS management unit 23 determines whether the content of the response indicates an abnormality. If the content of the response does not indicate an abnormality, the guest OS management unit 23 waits until it sends a request for status information at the next timing. On the other hand, if the content of the received response indicates an abnormality, the guest OS management unit 23 executes the next abnormality processing.

If the guest OS management unit 23 does not obtain status information in response to a request for status information, or if the obtained status information indicates an abnormality, the guest OS management unit 23 executes the following processing as an abnormality processing.

That is, the guest OS management unit 23 instructs the guest side processing unit 30 to restart the guest OS. This instruction can be given, for example, as an instruction to reboot the guest OS.

After issuing an instruction to restart, the guest OS management unit 23 repeatedly sends out a request for status information at a predetermined timing (for example, at regular intervals). If the guest OS management unit 23 fails to obtain status information in response to the request for status information even after a predetermined time (restart wait time) has elapsed after issuing an instruction to restart, or if the obtained status information indicates an abnormality, the guest OS management unit 23 initializes the guest OS.

Specifically, when the guest OS management unit 23 initializes the guest OS, it stops the operation of the virtual machine system unit 22. Next, the guest OS management unit 23 deletes the file of the file system image for the virtual machine system stored in the system area 14b, and copies the backup file (initial image) of the file system image for the virtual machine system stored in the system area 14b. The file obtained by this copying becomes the file of the file system image for the new virtual machine system.

In other words, this causes the guest OS management unit 23 to reinstall the virtual machine system including the guest OS.

Then, the guest OS management unit 23 restarts the virtual machine system unit 22. In this case, the virtual machine system unit 22 restarts using the file system image for the virtual machine system that has become the new initial image.

The file system sharing processing unit 31 of the guest side processing unit 30 mounts (makes accessible) the file system of the storage unit 14 under the control of the host OS as a file system of the guest OS via a virtual file system (e.g., VirtFS) provided by the virtual machine system unit 22 running on the host OS side.

In this embodiment, the file system sharing processing unit 31 mounts the system area 14b and the user data area 14c in the storage unit 14 on the guest OS side.

In this embodiment, the user settings in the host OS are not the same as those in the guest OS, so the access rights of the host OS user are ignored on the guest OS side. Under this setting, commands that operate with the authority of any user account from the guest OS side can access all files in the system area 14b and user data area 14c of the storage unit 14 on the host OS side.

The file system sharing processing unit 31 also accepts input of authentication information from a file search unit 32 (application program) described later, which includes information identifying the user who requested the file search (user name) and information about the user's password.

The file system sharing processing unit 31 refers to the registration authentication information of the host OS stored in the system area 14b in the storage unit 14, and compares the user name and password recorded in the registration authentication information with the user name and password received from the file search unit 32 to authenticate the user of the file search unit 32.

If authentication is successful, the file system sharing processing unit 31 refers to the access rights information managed by the host OS that is stored in the system area 14b in the storage unit 14, and reads the access rights information for the authenticated user.

The file system sharing processing unit 31 outputs information to the file search unit 32 that identifies the shared directory that the authenticated user is permitted to read based on the access right information that has been read. The file system sharing processing unit 31 then instructs the file search unit 32 to search only for files under the shared directory identified by that information.

When the file search unit 32 fails to authenticate the user, the file system sharing processing unit 31 outputs information to the file search unit 32 indicating that authentication has failed. Alternatively, when the file search unit 32 fails to authenticate the user, the file system sharing processing unit 31 outputs information to the file search unit 32 specifying a shared directory to which a guest user (a user with no user name set) is permitted to access.

The file search unit 32 accepts a request to search for user data in the user data area 14c of the storage unit 14 from a user on the network via a virtual network interface provided by the virtual machine system unit 22. The file search unit 32 requests the user who has made the search request to input a user name and password, and outputs the input user name and password to the file system sharing processing unit 31.

When the file search unit 32 receives information from the file system sharing processing unit 31 that identifies the shared directory that contains the file to be searched, the file search unit 32 requests the user who requested the search to input information that will be the search key. The file search unit 32 may request the input of this information by presenting a web page to the user.

When the user inputs search key information, the file search unit 32 uses the search key information to search for files under a shared directory in the user data area 14c of the storage unit 14, which are identified by the information input from the file system sharing processing unit 31. The file search unit 32 then presents the results of the search to the user who requested the search.

This search process may be similar to the process performed using a search system such as Apache Solr (trademark) provided by the Apache Software Foundation, so a detailed explanation will be omitted here.

Application programs such as the file search unit 32 generate various information (hereinafter referred to as preference information) used for their processing, such as file index information and operation setting information. In this embodiment, application programs such as the file search unit 32 write this preference information directly to the system area 14b of the host OS storage unit 14 via a virtual file system provided by the virtual machine system unit 22 operating on the host OS side. As a result, even when the guest OS is initialized as described above, the preference information required for the operation of application programs such as the file search unit 32 is maintained in the state before initialization.

Note that the preference information here may include various types of data generated by application programs in addition to the information described above. For example, it may include media data such as documents, image data, and audio data generated by application programs, various data obtained by calculations such as calculation results and mechanical learning data, and other data.

In addition, in this embodiment, when the file search unit 32 receives information from the file system sharing processing unit 31 indicating that authentication has failed, it presents the user who made the search request with information indicating that the entered authentication information is incorrect, and asks the user to enter the username and password again.

The response processing unit 33 accepts requests for status information from the guest OS management unit 23 of the host-side processing unit 20 and sends out status information in response to the request. In one example of this embodiment, the response processing unit 33 accepts requests for status information by HTTP (Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol) and sends out status information in response to the request. In this case, the response processing unit 33 sends and receives requests and responses to and from the guest OS management unit 23 of the host-side processing unit 20 via, for example, a virtual network interface, network interface LAN1, a network, and network interface LAN2 (or LAN3).

When the response processing unit 33 receives a request for status information from the guest OS management unit 23 of the host-side processing unit 20, it checks the operation status (process status) of predetermined application programs such as the file search unit 32.

If the operating status of a predetermined application program such as the file search unit 32 indicates an abnormality (for example, the process is not running, the memory consumption exceeds a predetermined threshold, or the process remains in a state waiting for a specified process after termination), the response processing unit 33 sends status information indicating the abnormality to the guest OS management unit 23 of the host-side processing unit 20.

In addition, if the operation status of a predetermined application program such as the file search unit 32 does not indicate an abnormality, the response processing unit 33 sends status information indicating that the operation is normal to the guest OS management unit 23 of the host-side processing unit 20.

In addition, if the guest OS is not operating normally or if the response processing unit 33 is not running (terminates abnormally), the response processing unit 33 will not be able to send a response to the above request.

[Action]
The information processing device 1 of this embodiment basically has the above configuration and operates as follows. In this example, the information processing device 1 stores user data of a user in the storage unit 14. The information processing device 1 also operates a host OS, and further operates a virtual machine system on the host OS, and operates a guest OS in the virtual machine system.

The information processing device 1 operates as a NAS using a program running on the host OS, and receives instructions to write (store) user data and instructions to read user data stored in the storage unit 14 from a personal computer PC used by a user via the network.

Here, the network interface LAN1 of the information processing device 1 is set as an interface for the guest OS running on the virtual machine system to communicate with PCs and the like on the network. Also, the network interfaces LAN2 and 3 are set as interfaces for the host OS to communicate with PCs and the like on the network.

In the following example, the storage unit 14 is assumed to have a memory area divided into a program memory area 14a, a system area 14b, and a user data area 14c. The system area 14b is assumed to store registration authentication information for authenticating users, and access rights information that records the access rights for each user to the shared directory in the user data area 14c.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, a file of a file system image for a virtual machine system is stored in this system area 14b. The virtual file system recorded in this file stores the guest OS, application programs that run on the guest OS, and various data used by them.

The system area 14b also stores a backup (initial image) of the file system image for the virtual machine system. This initial image corresponds to the image immediately after the guest OS and applications that run on it are installed, and is in a state where operation is guaranteed in advance.

The information processing device 1 receives an instruction to write or read user data from a personal computer PC used by a user via the network interface LAN2 or LAN3. The information processing device 1 authenticates the user of the PC that is the source of the access request using the registered authentication information stored in the system area 14b of the storage unit 14.

When the information processing device 1 has successfully authenticated the user, it refers to the instruction accepted from the user. If the instruction accepted from the user here is, for example, an instruction to store user data, specifying a shared directory as the storage destination, it determines whether the user has permission to write to the specified shared directory based on access right information that has been predefined for the user. Then, when the user is set to be able to write to the specified shared directory, the information processing device 1 stores the accepted user data in the shared directory specified as the storage destination.

When the information processing device 1 receives an instruction from a successfully authenticated user that includes information identifying user data (which may be a path name including a shared directory specification) and an instruction to read the user data identified by that information, it refers to the access rights information previously defined for that user to check whether the authenticated user is allowed to read data from the shared directory (read source) identified by the information. If the user is set to be allowed to read from the read source, the information processing device 1 reads the user data identified by the received information from the read source shared directory and sends it to the PC used by the user via the network.

On the other hand, the information processing device 1 is assumed to be running, for example, a file search application program as processing on the guest OS side. Such an example corresponds to a case in which an application program for a NAS function that corresponds to the host OS but does not run on the guest OS, and a file search application that runs on the guest OS but does not run on the host OS, are run on a single information processing device 1.

The guest OS runs on a virtual machine system that runs on the host OS, and mounts the system area 14b and user data area 14c in the storage unit 14 managed by the host OS on the guest OS side. As already mentioned, the user settings in the host OS are not the same as those in the guest OS, so the access rights of the host OS user are ignored and set on the guest OS side. Therefore, all files in the system area 14b and user data area 14c of the storage unit 14 on the host OS side can be accessed from a command that runs with the authority of any user account on the guest OS.

When an application program on a guest OS accesses a file stored in the user data area 14c or the like under the management of the host OS, such as for a file search, the information processing device 1 operates as shown in FIG. 3.

That is, the information processing device 1 accepts a request to search for user data, for example, in the user data area 14c of the storage unit 14, from the user's PC via the network interface LAN1 that the guest OS uses to communicate with PCs and the like on the network (S1).

The information processing device 1 requests the user who has requested the search to input a user name and password (S2), and when authentication information such as a user name and password is input, it compares the authentication information with the registered authentication information of the host OS stored in the system area 14b in the storage unit 14, and authenticates the user (S3). In the following, it is assumed that authentication has been successful.

The information processing device 1 refers to the access rights information managed by the host OS, which is stored in the system area 14b in the storage unit 14, and reads the access rights information for the authenticated user (S4).

Then, based on the read access right information, the information processing device 1 identifies a shared directory in the user data area 14c that is permitted for reading by the authenticated user (S5). The information processing device 1 then sets the files in the shared directory identified in step S5 as search targets (S6).

The information processing device 1 also requests the user who made the search request to input search key information (S7), and when the user inputs the search key information (S8), the information processing device 1 uses the search key information to search for files matching the input search key among the files that were the subject of the search in step S6 (search process: S9). The information processing device 1 then sends and presents the results of the search process in step S9 to the user who made the search request (S10).

In this example of the present embodiment, the application program on the guest OS references the user authentication information on the host OS and the access rights setting information used by the host OS for files and directories, and executes processing for a user authenticated by the authentication information within the scope of access rights defined by the referenced setting information. Therefore, even if the user authority settings of the host OS and the guest OS are different, the application program running on the guest OS can access files on the file system taking into account the user authority of the host OS.

In addition, the information processing device 1 of this embodiment monitors the operating status of the guest OS as the operation of the application program on the host OS, and maintains the services provided by the application program on the guest OS.

For this purpose, the guest OS executes a process of accepting a request for status information from the host OS and sending status information in response to the request. In one example of this embodiment, the request for status information is sent from the host OS to the guest OS via the network, and the guest OS sends a response to the request to the host OS via the network. Here, the sending and receiving of the request and response is performed using a well-known protocol such as HTTP.

As a process on the guest OS side, the information processing device 1 checks the status of a process of a predetermined application program, such as a file search application program, each time it receives a request for status information from the host OS side. If the status of the process indicates an abnormality, the information processing device 1 sends status information indicating that the process is abnormal to the host OS side. If the status of the process does not indicate an abnormality, the information processing device 1 sends status information indicating that the process is normal to the host OS side.

As already mentioned, if the guest OS is not working properly or if the process for the above response is not working properly, no response to the above request will be sent.

In this example, the information processing device 1 executes an application program for managing the guest OS on the host OS, and performs the process illustrated in FIG. 4. The following process is performed as a process on the host OS.

The information processing device 1 repeatedly sends a request for status information at a predetermined timing (e.g., at regular intervals) to the network interface LAN1 that the guest OS uses to communicate with the network (S11).

The information processing device 1 then waits for a response to the request and determines whether or not status information has been obtained before a predetermined time threshold is exceeded (i.e., before a timeout occurs) (S12).

If a response to the request for status information is received from the guest OS via the network before the timeout (S12: Yes), the information processing device 1 determines whether the content of the response indicates an abnormality (S13).

If the content of the response indicates an abnormality in step S13 (S13: Yes), the information processing device 1 proceeds to step S14. Also, if there is no response to the request for status information from the guest OS via the network before the timeout in step S12 (S12: No), the information processing device 1 proceeds to step S14 and continues processing.

In step S14, the information processing device 1 instructs the guest OS to restart (S14). The information processing device 1 then waits for a predetermined time required for the restart and sends a request for status information (S15).

The information processing device 1 waits for a response to the request and determines whether or not status information has been obtained before a predetermined time threshold is exceeded (i.e., before a timeout occurs) (S16).

If a response to the request for status information is received from the guest OS via the network before the timeout (S16: Yes), the information processing device 1 determines whether the content of the response indicates an abnormality (S17).

If the content of the response indicates an abnormality in step S17 (S17: Yes), the information processing device 1 proceeds to step S18. Also, if there is no response to the request for status information from the guest OS via the network before the timeout in step S16 (S16: No), the information processing device 1 proceeds to step S18 and continues processing.

The information processing device 1 initializes the guest OS as the process of step S18 (S18). This initialization of the guest OS is performed as follows. Specifically, the information processing device 1 stops the operation of the virtual machine system running on the host OS, deletes the file of the file system image for the virtual machine system stored in the system area 14b, copies the file of the backup (initial image) of the file system image for the virtual machine system stored in the system area 14b, and reinstalls the virtual machine system including the guest OS. The information processing device 1 then starts up the virtual machine system on the host OS again. After that, the information processing device 1 returns to step S11 and continues the process.

On the other hand, if the content of the response does not indicate an abnormality in step S13 or step S17 (S13, S17: No), the information processing device 1 returns to step S11 and continues processing.

As a result, in this embodiment, the host OS can detect abnormalities in processes on the guest OS or abnormalities in the guest OS itself, and execute processing to address the abnormality, improving the availability of services provided on the guest OS.

[Local Bridge Settings]
In the description of this embodiment so far, the host OS and guest OS executed on the information processing device 1 share at least a part of the memory area of the storage unit 14 in a virtual file system, and also communicate with each other via the network interfaces LAN1, 2, and 3 to execute the above-mentioned processes. However, this embodiment is not limited to this.

For example, a virtual machine system running on a host OS may set up a virtual network bridge. In this example, the host OS and guest OS each set up a virtual network interface and connect to this virtual network bridge. This allows the host OS and guest OS to perform network communication using various protocols such as HTTP via this virtual network bridge.

In this example, therefore, the guest OS management unit 23 on the host OS and the response processing unit 33 on the guest OS may send and receive requests and responses via this virtual network bridge.

In this case, the host OS and guest OS set the IP addresses of the virtual network interfaces to connect to the virtual network bridge after the IP addresses assigned to the physical network interfaces LAN1, 2, and 3 are set (by a DHCP server, etc.). At this time, the host OS and guest OS make the network addresses of the IP addresses assigned to the network interfaces LAN1, 2, and 3 different from the network addresses of the IP addresses of the virtual network interfaces. This prevents problems caused by multiple devices with the same IP address appearing on the network.

[Using NFS]
Furthermore, if operations such as search processing via a virtual file system cannot reach a practical speed due to some reason such as hardware issues, NFS may be used.

In this example, the host OS executed by the host-side processing unit 20 sets up at least a portion of the file system in the storage unit 14 managed by the host OS itself so that it can be accessed by application programs, etc. executed under the management of the guest-side processing unit 30 via NFS mount.

Then, the guest OS executed by the guest side processing unit 30 mounts the user data area 14c of the storage unit 14 on the guest OS side via the virtual network bridge, or via the network interfaces LAN1 and LAN2 or LAN3 using a network file system (NFS).

In this example, the guest OS side also uses the registered authentication information on the host OS side to authenticate the user who has accessed the file search unit 32 through the operation of the file system sharing processing unit 31. The file system sharing processing unit 31 also instructs the file search unit 32 to search only files in shared directories in the user data area 14c of the NFS-mounted storage unit 14 for which access rights are set as readable for the authenticated user (access rights are set on the host OS side).

In this embodiment, the system area 14b of the storage unit 14 records configuration information (NFS route information, etc.) to be used for NFS mounting, and makes it possible to refer to it from the guest OS. In addition to the information described above, the system area 14b of the storage unit 14 also records information that needs to be referred to by the guest OS, such as network settings (participation domain name, etc.).

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 information processing device, 11 control unit, 12 main memory unit, 13 interface unit, 14 storage unit, 15 network communication unit, 20 host side processing unit, 21 file management unit, 22 virtual machine system unit, 23 guest OS management unit, 30 guest side processing unit, 31 file system sharing processing unit, 32 file search unit, 33 response processing unit.

Claims (5)

An information processing device,
A storage section;
a controller unit including a host side processing means for executing processing of a host operating system, and a guest side processing means for executing processing as a guest operating system on a virtual machine system that operates on the host operating system executed by the host side processing means;
The controller unit
the guest-side processing means accesses user access right information set by a host operating system stored in the storage unit, and controls user access to a file system of the storage unit using the access right information;
a controller unit that receives a request for status information from the host processing means as a process of an application program that operates within a guest operating system executed by the guest processing means, responds to the request, and provides status information that represents an operation status related to the guest operating system ;
the host operating system and the guest operating system each set a network interface, and the host operating system and the guest operating system transmit and receive a request for the status information and status information in response to the request via the set network interface;
An information processing apparatus in which the host operating system virtually sets a file system of the storage unit to a state where it can be accessed as a file system of the guest operating system . 2. The information processing device according to claim 1,
An information processing device in which the host side processing means of the controller unit sends a request for status information to the guest side processing means, and if the status information is not obtained in response to the status information request, or if the obtained status information indicates an abnormality, the information processing device restarts the guest operating system executed by the guest side processing means. 3. The information processing device according to claim 2,
An information processing device in which the host side processing means of the controller unit sends a status information request to the guest side processing means after restarting the guest operating system executed by the guest side processing means, and if no status information is obtained in response to the status information request, or if the obtained status information indicates an abnormality, initializes the guest operating system. 4. The information processing device according to claim 3,
An information processing device in which the host side processing means of the controller unit holds an installation disk image of a virtual machine system including a guest operating system, and when initializing the guest operating system, uses the installation disk image to reinstall the virtual machine system including the guest operating system. A method for controlling an information processing device having a storage unit and a controller unit , comprising:
The controller unit
a host side process for executing processes of a host operating system;
A guest side processing step for executing processing as a guest operating system on a virtual machine system that operates on a host operating system executed in the host side processing step;
In the guest-side processing step, accessing user access right information set by a host operating system and stored in the storage unit, and controlling user access to a file system of the storage unit using the access right information;
accepting a request for status information from the host operating system as a process for an application program operating within the guest operating system executed in the guest-side processing step, responding to the request, and providing status information representing an operation status related to the guest operating system ;
In processing between the host operating system and the guest operating system, a network interface is set, and the host operating system and the guest operating system transmit and receive a request for the status information and status information in response to the request via the set network interface;
A control method for an information processing apparatus , which, in processing of the host operating system, sets a file system of the storage unit to a state where it can be accessed virtually as a file system of the guest operating system .

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