A Buffer Cache Replacement Algorithm for Considering both Hybrid Main Memory and Storage

PRAM is being considered as a potential successor to DRAM because of its characteristics such as byte-addressability, non-volatility, and high density. To gain its benefits, buffer cache replacement algorithm based on PRAM has been actively studied. However, most of the previous studies on buffer cache replacement algorithm limitedly exploit the byte-level performance of PRAM by focusing its limited lifetime and slower access latency compared to DRAM. In this paper, we propose a novel buffer cache replacement algorithm that fully considers the byte-level performance of PRAM and the performance of secondary storage. To take advantage of small size write on PRAM, proposed scheme keeps pages, which are frequently accessed with a small size write, on PRAM and allows the selective page migration from DRAM to PRAM. As a result, our scheme significantly reduces the number of PRAM writes. Our experimental results indicate for real workloads that our scheme reduces the number of PRAM writes by up to 92% and improves its performance by up to 62% compared to CLOCK.