FluidMem: Memory as a Service for the Datacenter

Abstract: Disaggregating resources in data centers is an emerging trend. Recent work has begun to explore memory disaggregation, but suffers limitations including lack of consideration of the complexity of cloud-based deployment, including heterogeneous hardware and APIs for cloud users and operators. In this paper, we present FluidMem, a complete system to realize disaggregated memory in the datacenter. Going beyond simply demonstrating remote memory is possible, we create an entire Memory as a Service. We define the requirements of Memory as a Service and build its implementation in Linux as FluidMem. We present a performance analysis of FluidMem and demonstrate that it transparently supports remote memory for standard applications such as MongoDB and genome sequencing applications.