Amazon patents cloud servers that let users share hardware slots
Amazon has been granted a patent for a method where cloud customers can request a second virtual machine to share the same hardware slot as an existing one. This allows two virtual machines to split the specific hardware resources allocated to that slot, rather than each requiring its own separate allocation.
In the filing’s own words
Techniques for customer-initiated virtual machine resource allocation sharing are described. A hardware virtualization service of a cloud provider network receives a request to launch a first virtual machine, wherein the first virtual machine is of a first virtual machine type, the first virtual machine type having a resource amount allocated to virtual machines of the first virtual machine type. The hardware virtualization service causes a launch of the first virtual machine on a host computer system of the cloud provider network. The host computer system shares an allocation of the resource amount from a corresponding resource of the host computer system between the first virtual machine and a second virtual machine, wherein the second virtual machine is of the first virtual machine type.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A computer-implemented method comprising: hosting a first virtual machine of a first virtual machine type on a host computer system of a cloud provider network, the first virtual machine type having a resource amount allocated to virtual machines of the first virtual machine type, wherein the host computer system comprises hardware resources divided into slots, each slot representing a discrete allocation of the hardware resources, and wherein the first virtual machine occupies a slot of the slots; receiving, by a hardware virtualization service of the cloud provider network, a request from a customer of the cloud provider network, the request to launch a second virtual machine to share resources with the first virtual machine, the request including an identification of the first virtual machine; determining an identification of the host computer system based at least in part on the identification of the first virtual machine; causing, by the hardware virtualization service, an agent of the host computer system to launch the second virtual machine in a standby state on the host computer system, wherein the second virtual machine occupies the slot such that a portion of the hardware resources allocated to the slot and originally allocated to the first virtual machine is shared between the first virtual machine and the second virtual machine; and updating, by the hardware virtualization service, tracking data of the host computer system to associate the first virtual machine and the second virtual machine with the slot, wherein the slot is associated with the first virtual machine type.
Facts
- Company
- Amazon (Amazon Technologies, Inc.)
- Official title
- Customer-initiated virtual machine resource allocation sharing
- Patent number
- US12730683B2
- Application number
- 17958084
- Filed
- Sep 30, 2022
- Granted
- Sep 8, 2026
- Inventors
- 2
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G06F 9/5077 Physics & computingG06F 9/45558 Physics & computingG06F 2009/4557 Physics & computingG06F 2009/45595 Physics & computingMore from Amazon in AI & software
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.