International Business Machines Corporation
Self-determination for cancellation of in-progress memory removal from a virtual machine

Abstract:

An aspect of the invention is a method that includes receiving a request from a requestor to reclaim a portion of a memory assigned to a virtual machine (VM). The memory includes real memory that is divided into a plurality of increments. An amount of paging space that will be occupied by the VM subsequent to reclaiming the portion of the memory is predicted. Based on the predicted amount of paging space exceeding a threshold, the requestor is notified that the portion of the memory cannot be reclaimed. Based on the predicted amount of paging space not exceeding the threshold, a reclamation of the portion of the memory is initiated. The reclamation includes vacating an increment of the plurality of increments and removing an assignment of the increment to the VM.