Optimizing Persistent Memory Allocation: Reducing Latency,
Fragmentation, and NUMA Overheads
Problem Statement
Persistent memory is becoming an essential component in modern computing, enabling faster data
access and improved performance. However, existing persistent memory allocators struggle with
inefficiencies that negatively impact their performance. These issues include frequent cache line
reflushes, excessive small random accesses, and increased memory fragmentation due to rigid
allocation strategies. Additionally, many allocators fail to consider the impact of Non-Uniform
Memory Access (NUMA) architectures, leading to inefficient memory distribution and slower
performance.
To address these challenges, this research explores a more efficient approach to persistent memory
allocation, focusing on reducing latency, improving memory utilization, and optimizing performance
in NUMA environments.
Abstract
Efficient memory allocation is critical for high-performance computing, especially with the increasing
adoption of persistent memory. However, traditional memory allocators introduce significant
performance bottlenecks due to excessive cache line flushes, random memory accesses, and
inefficient memory usage. Furthermore, most existing allocators do not account for NUMA
architectures, leading to unnecessary remote memory accesses and performance degradation.
This research presents a novel approach to optimizing persistent memory allocation by introducing
techniques such as interleaved mapping to minimize cache reflushes, adaptive slab management to
reduce fragmentation, and NUMA-aware allocation policies to enhance memory locality.
Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method significantly improves allocation
efficiency, reducing memory access latency and increasing overall system performance.
1. Introduction
1.1 Background on Persistent Memory Allocation
Persistent memory (PM) bridges the gap between volatile DRAM and traditional storage, offering the
speed of RAM with the durability of storage devices. This technology is widely used in applications
that require fast data persistence, such as in-memory databases, caching systems, and high-
performance computing. However, managing persistent memory efficiently remains a challenge due
to allocation inefficiencies and high metadata overhead.
1.2 Existing Memory Allocator Limitations
Most current persistent memory allocators face four key problems:
1. Frequent Cache Line Reflushes – Allocators often flush the same cache lines repeatedly,
increasing memory latency.
2. Small Random Memory Accesses – Poor metadata management leads to frequent,
inefficient memory accesses, degrading performance.
3. Memory Fragmentation – Traditional slab segregation methods result in wasted memory
when allocation sizes change dynamically.
4. Lack of NUMA Awareness – Many allocators fail to optimize for multi-socket systems,
leading to costly remote memory accesses.
These inefficiencies lead to slow application performance, increased memory consumption, and
wasted computational resources.
1.3 Research Problem and Motivation
Despite the growing importance of persistent memory, its allocation remains inefficient due to
outdated allocation strategies and lack of NUMA optimizations. Current solutions focus on
incremental improvements but fail to address these challenges holistically.
This research investigates novel allocation techniques that reduce cache reflushes, improve memory
utilization, and enhance NUMA-aware memory placement. By rethinking how persistent memory is
allocated and managed, we aim to provide a solution that significantly boosts system performance
while reducing memory overhead.
1.4 Research Objectives
This study aims to:
Identify the inefficiencies in current persistent memory allocation strategies.
Develop an optimized allocator that minimizes cache flushes and memory fragmentation.
Introduce NUMA-aware memory allocation techniques to enhance locality and reduce
latency.
Evaluate the proposed approach through performance benchmarking and real-world
applications.
1.5 Scope of the Study
This research focuses on optimizing memory allocation in persistent memory environments,
particularly in multi-core and multi-socket systems. It does not cover application-level optimizations
or security concerns related to persistent memory usage.
By addressing these critical issues, this study aims to improve the performance of persistent
memory-based applications, making them more efficient, scalable, and adaptable to modern
computing environments.
