[HN Gopher] vmcache: Virtual-Memory Assisted Buffer Management [...
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       vmcache: Virtual-Memory Assisted Buffer Management [pdf]
        
       Author : smasher164
       Score  : 31 points
       Date   : 2023-12-31 11:44 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.cs.cit.tum.de)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.cs.cit.tum.de)
        
       | markhahn wrote:
       | It's interesting that this paper, and even the one it references
       | to blame the kernel - these groups don't seem to be interested in
       | fixing kernel problems. Maybe it's just that there are more
       | people doing research on the application level, and for them,
       | working around the kernel makes more sense. Making changes that
       | improve the kernel would have large knock-on benefits in other
       | areas, but those are outside the groups' domain.
       | 
       | Tuning kswapd and shootdown would be worthwhile, especially since
       | systems are getting dramatically fatter (even ignoring the
       | appearance of low-latency storage).
        
         | smasher164 wrote:
         | > these groups don't seem to be interested in fixing kernel
         | problems
         | 
         | I mean, they built a whole kernel module that addresses page
         | allocation/deallocation scalability issues. Whether that gets
         | brought upstream, I'm not sure.
        
         | aengelke wrote:
         | Disclosure: I work in one of TUM's database groups.
         | 
         | From a researcher's perspective, upstream (Linux) kernel
         | development is not attractive: it's a very time-consuming and
         | lengthy process, often involving several iterations, which
         | doesn't help with getting things done (i.e., PhD thesis and/or
         | publications). Working around the kernel is much easier and,
         | moreover, typically results in better performance, due to fewer
         | context switches, better integration with the rest of the
         | system, and more predictable behavior when running on other
         | machines.
         | 
         | That said, some people in our group started looking into
         | operating systems, but focus more on unikernels for cloud
         | environments.
        
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       (page generated 2024-01-01 23:01 UTC)