Checkpointing SystemC-Based Virtual Platforms

Abstract

The ability to restore a virtual platform from a previously saved simulation state can considerably shorten the typical edit-compile-debug cycle for software developers and therefore enhance productivity. For SystemC based virtual platforms (VP), dedicated checkpoint/restore (C/R) solutions are required, taking into account the specific characteristics of such platforms. Apart from restoring the simulation process from a checkpoint image, the proposed checkpoint solution also takes care of re-attaching debuggers and interactive GUIs to the restored virtual platform. The checkpointing is handled automatically for most of the SystemC modules, only the usage of host OS resources requires user provision. A process checkpointing based C/R has been selected in order to minimize the adaption required for existing VPs at the expense of large checkpoint sizes. This drawback is overcome by introducing an online compression to the checkpoint process. A case study based on the SHAPES Virtual Platform is conducted to investigate the applicability of the proposed framework as well as the impact of checkpoint compression in a realistic system environment.