Workshops Archive

Fast on-demand Memory Mapping for Shared Memory and Disaggregated Systems

Workshop: International Workshop on RESource DISaggregation in High Performance Computing (RESDIS)

Authors: Yuang Yan and Ryan Grant (Queen's University)

Abstract: Efficient synchronization of memory mapping information is increasingly important as systems evolve toward greater resource disaggregation and heterogeneity. When memory is exported between processes, establishing shared mapping often requires costly page table walk and updates, particularly in fault-driven models. To study these costs, we implement an XPMEM-inspired shared-memory driver and evaluate techniques to reduce mapping overhead. Our approach combines parallel batched on-demand pinning, bypassing unnecessary cache-policy lookups in PFN mapping, and dynamic re-registration to expand registered regions without tearing down existing mappings. In our evaluation, these optimizations reduce cold-start memory copy by up to 13.22x over XPMEM in multi-process workloads, with particular benefits for collective communication patterns and rapidly resizing buffers. While developed in a shared-memory context, the results highlight general strategies—avoiding redundant translation work, enabling parallel mapping operations, and preserving mapping state—that can inform the design of memory management in disaggregated systems, including GPU disaggregation and heterogeneous memory environments.

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