Collaborative Research: CNS Core: Medium: Reinvented Data Plane for Memory-Disaggregated Datacenters

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Cloud computing has become one of the most crucial elements behind how the human society operates today. The cloud is powered by large datacenters, each containing thousands of machines deployed across the globe. Recently, resource disaggregation has been proposed as an effective means to improve datacenter reliability and resource utilization by building each resource type as a standalone resource “blade” and connecting different resource blades with a network fabric. This project develops a novel kernel/runtime data plane that allows users to run their applications efficiently on memory-disaggregated clusters. It builds on an important insight: the current kernel/runtime modules do not have any coordination between themselves, leading to severe performance problems. We solve the problem with four major thrusts. The first two thrusts develop semantics-aware caching, prefetching, and swapping modules so that these low-level systems can operate with the consideration of what applications need, improving efficiency. The last two thrusts develop disaggregation-aware runtime and application support, making it possible for application/runtime developers to leverage objects' location information to unlock massive optimization opportunities. This project builds a brand-new kernel/runtime data plane, making it possible for future resource-disaggregated datacenters to deliver superior efficiency to user applications. The development of the project includes a postdoctoral scholar as well as several graduate and undergraduate students, including students from minority groups. It not only advances the state of the art of resource disaggregation, but also trains current and future system developers. The project produces a set of artifacts including technical reports, published papers, as well as code repositories. All artifacts are made available online at the PIs' websites.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.