CAREER: A Split Operating System Architecture for Servers with Memory-to-Memory Communication

本提案旨在研究新的I/ o技术对网络服务器操作系统架构的影响。所提出的方法的关键成分是内存到内存的服务器内部互连，它允许主机和智能设备之间的非侵入式通信。内存到内存通信消除或显著降低了通常与传统通信协议相关的开销。这一好处已经被广泛研究，以提高分布式应用程序的性能，但尚未在支持操作系统性能方面进行探索。该研究将集中于如何在计算节点和智能设备的集群中拆分操作系统的功能。将探索基于内存到内存通信的两种新的操作机制：(i)直接应用程序到设备通信，将TCP/IP协议处理卸载到在智能网络接口或专用节点上执行的TCP服务器，以及（ii）内存映射文件服务器和TCP服务器之间的直接通信。该研究还将研究如何使用内存到内存通信来支持协作文件和网络服务器的可用性和负载平衡。这项研究受到了对VIA、InfiniBand和可编程设备控制器日益增长的兴趣的极大推动。它的最终目标是有助于理解如何设计系统软件来利用和结合这些新技术。

This proposal aims to investigate the impact of the new I/Otechnologies on the operating system architecture of the network servers. The key ingredient of the proposed approach is the memory-to-memory intra-server interconnect which allows non-intrusive communication between hosts and intelligent devices. Memory-to-memory communication eliminates or significantly reduces the overhead typically associated with conventional communication protocols. This benefit has been extensively studied to improve the performance of distributed applications but has not been yet explored in support of the operating system performance. The research will focus on how to split the operating system functionalityacross a cluster of computing nodes and intelligent devices. Two novel operating mechanisms based on memory-to-memory communication will be explored: (i) direct application-to-device communication to offload the TCP/IP protocol processing to TCP servers executed on intelligent network interfaces or dedicated nodes, and (ii) direct communication between memory-mapped file servers and TCP servers. The research will also investigate how to use memory-to-memory communication to support cooperative file and network servers for availability and load-balancing.This research has been considerably motivated by the increasing interestin VIA, InfiniBand, and programmable device controllers. Its ultimate goal is to contribute to the understanding of how systems software should be designedto exploit and combine these new technologies.