NHR PerfLab seminar talk on heterogeneous memory systems
We are happy to welcome Steffen Christgau from the Zuse Institute Berlin (ZIB) for a seminar talk.
Title: On the Interaction of Memory, Application and Operating System on a Heterogeneous Memory System
Date: 2021-03-16
Time: 2 p.m. – 3 p.m.
Abstract:
Storage Class Memory (SCM) opens new possibilities for workloads requiring a large memory footprint. This talk will introduce the audience to the functionality of Optane Data Center Persistent Memory (DCPM), an SCM product by Intel, and challenges we observed in its practical usage. The presentation covers the different operating modes, technical details of the inner workings, and how DCPM can be used by applications. With the parallel large-eddy simulation code PALM, a case study of how to exploit the new possibilities of heterogeneous memory systems with a legacy Fortran application is presented. One such possibility is the partitioning of application data between different types of memory which can improve performance but also exhibits new challenges. Additionally, effects that are caused by the operating system’s memory subsystem must be taken into account to avoid performance degradation which will also be addressed in the presentation.