Shared virtual memory: progress and challenges

Author

Iftode, Liviu ; Singh, Jaswinder Pal

Author_Institution

Dept. of Comput. Sci., Rutgers Univ., Piscataway, NJ, USA

Volume

87

Issue

3

fYear

1999

fDate

3/1/1999 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

498

Lastpage

507

Abstract

Shared virtual memory, a technique for supporting a shared address space in software on parallel systems, has undergone a decade of research, with significant maturing of protocols and communication layers having now been achieved. We provide a survey of the key developments in this research, placing the multitrack flow of ideas and results obtained so far in a comprehensive new framework. Four major research tracks are covered: relaxed consistency models; protocol laziness; architectural support; and application-driven research. Several related avenues are also discussed, such as fine grained software coherence, software protocols across multiprocessor nodes, and performance scalability. We summarize comparative performance results from the literature, discuss their limitations, and identify lessons learned so far, key outstanding questions, and important directions for future research in this area

Keywords

memory protocols; performance evaluation; shared memory systems; virtual storage; application-driven research; architectural support; communication layers; comparative performance results; fine grained software coherence; multiprocessor nodes; multitrack flow; parallel systems; performance scalability; protocol laziness; protocols; relaxed consistency models; research tracks; shared address space; shared virtual memory; software protocols; Application software; Coherence; Computer science; Costs; Electronic switching systems; Protocols; Scalability; Software performance; Software tools; Support vector machines;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Proceedings of the IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9219

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/5.747870

Filename

747870