Method, system, and computer program product for allocating physical memory in a distributed shared memory network

Abstract

A method, system, and computer program product for allocating physical memory in a distributed shared memory (DSM) network is provided. Global geometry data is stored that defines a global geometry of nodes in the DSM network. The global geometry data includes node-node distance data and node-resource affinity data. The node-node distance data defines network distances between the nodes for the global geometry of the DSM network. The node-resource affinity data defines resources associated with the nodes in the global geometry of the DSM network. A physical memory allocator searches for a set of nodes in the DSM network that fulfills a memory configuration request based on the global geometry data. The memory configuration request can have parameters that define at least one of a requested geometry, memory amount, and resource affinity. The physical memory allocator in an operating system searches the global geometry data for a set of the nodes within the DSM network that fulfill the memory configuration request and minimize network latency and/or bandwidth. During the search, each node can be evaluated to ensure that the node has sufficient available memory amount and resource affinity. The physical memory allocator can begin a search at locations which are determined based on CPU load, actual memory usage or pseudo-randomly. Faster search algorithms can be used by approximating the DSM network by Boolean cubes.