A method for inter partition communication within a logical partitioned
data processing system where each partition is configured for an inter
partition communication area (IPCA) allocated from partition's own system
memory. Each partition's IPCA combined together forms a non-contiguous
block of memory which is treated as a virtual shared resource (VSR).
Access to VSR is controlled by hypervisor to maintain data security and
coherency of the non-shared resources of a partition. Messages are
written to and read from VSR under a specific partition's IPCA for inter
partition communication. No physical shared or non-shared resources are
involved during inter partition communication, hence no extra overhead on
those resources, thus achieving optimized performance during inter
partition communication.