NVCache: A Plug-and-Play NVMM-based I/O Booster for Legacy Systems

Dulong, Rémi; Pires, Rafael; Correia, Andreia; Schiavoni, Valerio; Ramalhete, Pedro; Felber, Pascal; Thomas, Gaël

doi:10.1109/dsn48987.2021.00033

Cited by 6 publications

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References 39 publications

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“…NVCACHE is available either as a library or as a modified libc [36]. The library that can be included in a target application, providing I/O primitives such as nvopen, nvwrite, nvread, and nvclose.…”

Section: Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards new memory paradigms : integrating non-volatile main memory and remote direct memory access in modern systems

Dulong

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Modern computers are built around two main parts: their Central Processing Unit (CPU), and their volatile main memory, or Random Access Memory (RAM). The basis of this architecture takes its roots in the 1970's first computers. Since, this principle has been constantly upgraded to provide more functionnality and performance.In this thesis, we study two memory paradigms that drastically change the way we can interact with memory in modern systems: non-volatile memory and remote memory access. We implement software tools that leverage them in order to make them compatible and exploit their performance with concrete applications. We also analyze the impact of the technologies underlying these new memory medium, and the perspectives of their evolution in the coming years.For non-volatile memory, as the main memory performance is key to unlock the full potential of a CPU, this feature has historically been abandoned on the race for performance. Even if the first computers were designed with non-volatile forms of memory, computer architects started to use volatile RAM for its incomparable performance compared to durable storage, and never questioned this decision for years. However, in 2019 Intel released a new component called Optane DC Persistent Memory (DCPMM), a device that made possible the use of Non-Volatile Main Memory (NVMM). That product, by its capabilities, provides a new way of thinking about data persistence. Yet, it also challenges the hardware architecture used in our current machines and the way we program them.With this new form of memory we implemented NVCACHE, a cache designed for non-volatile memory that helps boosting the interactions with slower persistent storage medias, such as Solid State Drive (SSD). We find NVCACHE to be quite performant for workloads that require a high granularity of persistence guarantees, while being as easy to use as the traditional POSIX interface. Compared to file systems designed for NVMM, NVCACHE can reach similar or higher throughput when the non-volatile memory is used. In addition, NVCACHE allows the code to exploit NVMM performance while not being limited by the amount of NVMM installed in the machine.Another major change of in the computer landscape has been the popularity of distributed systems. As individual machines tend to reach performance limitations, iii

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Section: Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%