Nu - Achieving Microsecond-Scale Resource Fungibility with Logical Processes

Explore a groundbreaking conference talk from NSDI '23 that introduces Nu, a novel system designed to achieve microsecond-scale resource fungibility in datacenters. Delve into the concept of logical processes, which splits traditional UNIX processes into smaller units called proclets. Learn how these proclets can be rapidly migrated within datacenter racks to optimize resource allocation and adapt to changing compute and memory needs. Discover the implementation of Nu through three diverse applications: a social network, a MapReduce system, and a scalable key-value store. Examine the impressive evaluation results from a 32-server setup, showcasing Nu's ability to migrate proclets in approximately 100 microseconds while maintaining high efficiency and minimal disruption to tail latency and throughput. Gain insights into how this innovative approach addresses the significant waste of compute and memory resources in modern datacenters, potentially revolutionizing resource management in large-scale computing environments.