The Optimization of Xen Network Virtualization

Despite the benefits brought by virtualization technology, the network I/O performance degradation remains as a barrier for its wide usage. This paper presents the design and implementation of a new method to improve Xen network virtualization performance by optimizing the interrupt deliver route and shortening the network I/O path. With the above optimization techniques, network throughput of a HVM guest domain is improved by 50%, CPU utility of QEMU driver model is reduced by 70%, TLB miss and cache miss is improved by 40% to 80%. The rationale behind our optimization model can also be extended for other I/O device virtualization in HVM guest domain.