Improving Operating Systems by Replacing Hard Disks with Persistent Solid State Memory

持久性RAM在消费品中的使用增加了它的容量，降低了它的价格。这些趋势表明，在不久的将来，典型的计算机可能会包含大量此类内存。这个项目将研究如何改变工作站和服务器机器的操作系统设计，以最大限度地利用大量持久RAM的可用性。特别是，该项目将调查永久RAM用于机器的主要稳定存储，取代硬盘的使用。该项目将进行测试设计和实施，以证明这一概念的可行性，并提出该方法的可能优势。这一实施将在Linux系统上执行，该系统增加了2 GB或更大的RAM，用作其主存储设备，硬盘仅用于存储大文件，如视频和音频数据。该项目将展示该系统在速度和简单性方面的优势。它还将指出通过使用持久RAM来改进操作系统服务的有趣可能性。

The use of persistent RAM in consumer products has increased its capacity and decreased its price. These trends suggest that typical computers could contain large quantities of this kind of memory in the near future. This project will investigate how to change operating system design for workstation and server machines to make best use of the availability of large quantities of persistent RAM. In particular, the project will investigate the use of persistent RAM for a machine's primary stable storage, replacing hard disks. The project will perform a test design and implementation to demonstrate the feasibility of the concept and to suggest possible advantages of the approach. This implementation will be performed on a Linux system augmented with 2 Gbytes or more of RAM that will serve as its primary storage device, with a hard disk used only for large files, such as video and audio data. The project will demonstrate advantages in speed and simplicity of the system. It will also point out interesting possibilities for improvements in operating system services made possible by the use of persistent RAM.