Pre-copy live migration refers to the process of moving a running virtual machine or application between dierent physical machines without disconnecting the client or application. A live migration keeps the guest running on the source host and begins moving the memory without stopping the guest. All modied memory pages are monitored for changes and sent to the destination while the image is sent. The memory is updated with the changed pages. The process continues until the amount of pause time allowed for the guest equals the predicted time for the nal few pages to be transferred.
A problem with pre-copy live migration is that depending on the access pattern in the guest system, the migration process might be unable to reduce the number of dirty pages below the number necessary for the congured pause time to be met.
This presentation analyzes the optimal pattern to copy memory assuming the guest access pattern is cyclic and known in advance.
