Remote one-sided persistent writes

Abstract

A shared storage architecture persistently stores database files in non-volatile random access memories (NVRAMs) of computing nodes of a multi-node DBMS. The computing nodes of the multi-node DBMS not only collectively store database data on NVRAMs of the computing nodes, but also host database server instances that process queries in parallel, host database sessions and database processes, and together manage access to a database stored on the NVRAMs of the computing nodes. To perform a data block read operation from persistent storage, a data block may be transferred directly over a network between NVRAM of a computing node that persistently stores the data block to a database buffer in non-volatile RAM of another computing node that requests the data block. The transfer is accomplished using remote direct memory access ('RDMA). In addition to techniques for performing a data block read operation to NVRAM, computing nodes perform a data block write operation to data blocks stored in NVRAM of the NVRAM shared storage architecture. The data block write operation is referred to herein as a one-sided write because only one database process needs to participate in the writing of a data block to NVRAM in order to successfully commit the write.