CAREER: Rebuilding the Virtual Memory Abstraction Across Hardware and Operating Systems

Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

Virtual memory is a cornerstone abstraction of modern computing systems that enables virtualization, programmability, and isolation of memory resources. However, existing virtual memory mechanisms have not been designed for the current era of datacenter computing with ample memory capacity, a plethora of heterogeneous hardware resources, and microarchitectural attacks that are able to bypass current isolation mechanisms. To address these inefficiencies this project will rebuild virtual memory from the ground up. The proposed research agenda will enable high utilization of hardware resources and greatly improve the security of software and hardware systems leading to efficient, sustainable, and secure datacenters. The project includes a comprehensive education plan that is integrated with the proposed research agenda. This includes undergraduate and graduate course offerings, research opportunities, and outreach activities. The research project tackles fundamental research challenges in designing and building a pliable virtual memory abstraction that is scalable, heterogeneous, and secure. The technical approach is based on a virtual memory abstraction that will enable: (i) scalable address translation for terabyte-scale memory systems, (ii) heterogeneous hardware-aware virtual memory support across the stack, and (iii) strong and configurable security for multi-tenant environments in the presence of microarchitectural vulnerabilities. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.