P2CACHE: Exploring Tiered Memory for In-Kernel File Systems Caching

Explore a novel in-kernel caching mechanism called P2CACHE in this 19-minute conference talk from USENIX ATC '23. Learn how P2CACHE leverages persistent memory (PM) and DRAM in a tiered memory system to enhance legacy kernel file systems. Discover how this approach provides instant data durability and strong crash consistency while significantly improving I/O performance. Understand the challenges of integrating byte-addressable PM with block-based file systems and how P2CACHE addresses these issues. Examine the read/write-distinguishable memory hierarchy and the synchronization model employed by P2CACHE. Gain insights into the performance improvements achieved, such as a 200x increase for RocksDB on Ext4. Delve into the potential of P2CACHE to bridge the gap between traditional file systems and the emerging capabilities of persistent memory technologies.