A virtual disk is provided to a computing environment. The virtual disk includes identity information to enable identification of a virtual machine within the computing environment. A size of the virtual disk is increased within the computing environment to enable the virtual disk to act as a storage for the identity information and as a cache of other system data to operate the virtual machine. The virtual machine is booted within the computing environment. The virtual machine is configured to at least access the virtual disk that includes both identity information and caches other system data to operate the virtual machine. Related apparatus, systems, techniques and articles are also described.

Processing prefetch memory operations and transactions. A local processor receives a write prefetch request from a remote processor. Prior to execution of a write prefetch request received from a remote processor, determining whether a priority of the write prefetch request is greater than a priority of a pending transaction of a local processor. The write prefetch request is executed in response to a determination that the priority of the write prefetch request is greater than the priority of a pending transaction. Prefetch data produced by execution of the write prefetch request is provided to the remote processor.

A processing system indicates the pendency of a memory access request for data at the cache entry that is assigned to store the data in response to the memory access request. While executing instructions, the processor issues requests for data to the cache most proximal to the processor. In response to a cache miss, the cache controller identifies an entry of the cache to store the data in response to the memory access request, and stores an indication that the memory access request is pending at the identified cache entry. If the cache controller receives a subsequent memory access request for the data while the memory access request is pending at the higher level of the memory hierarchy, the cache controller identifies that the memory access request is pending based on the indicator stored at the entry.

The disclosure relates generally to improvements in caching operations in storage controllers, including caching operations utilizing direct memory access (DMA) systems, and related devices. Rather than the firmware running on the processor of the storage controller having to traverse a dirty cache sector bitmap and manipulate an original scatter-gather (SG) list in order to generate the two separate SG lists, namely one for the cache and one for the storage device, these operations are offloaded onto new specialized hardware referred to herein as a smart DMA engine in order to free up the processor of the storage controller.

Embodiments described herein provide a scalable coherency tracking implementation that utilizes shared virtual memory to manage data coherency. In one embodiment, coherency tracking granularity is reduced relative to existing coherency tracking solutions, with coherency tracking storage memory moved to memory as a page table metadata. For example and in one embodiment, storage for coherency state is moved from dedicated hardware blocks to system memory, effectively providing a directory structure that is limitless in size.

One embodiment of the present invention provides a system for efficiently warming up a cache. During operation, the system determines a cache prediction based on a user request. The cache prediction determines replication data from a database; the replication data is data that is to be replicated in the cache from the database for warming up the cache. The system generates a control signal comprising a replication proportion, which determines the volume of the replication data, for the replication model. The system then stores the replication data prior to receiving a request for the replication data, thereby warming up the cache with the replication data.

Systems, apparatuses and methods may provide for technology to automatically identify a plurality of non-volatile memory locations associated with a file in response to a close operation with respect to the file and automatically conduct a prefetch from one or more of the plurality of non-volatile memory locations that have been most recently accessed and do not reference cached file segments. The prefetch may be conducted in response to an open operation with respect to the file and on a per-file segment basis.

Techniques to manage usage of a flash-based storage are disclosed. In various embodiments, the execution time of the flash-based storage is divided into quanta. Within each quantum comprising at least a subset of quanta, flash erasures are allowed without restriction up to a prescribed erasure quota. Erasures are throttled within a slack range bound at a lower end by the erasure quota and at an upper end by an upper bound, including by dividing the slack range into two or more intervals and within each interval applying a corresponding erasure control policy, wherein the respective corresponding erasure control policies applied to successive intervals in the slack range become increasingly strict in a stepwise manner.

A method of storing data in a memory module including an in-module prefetcher, an in-module prefetch buffer, memory, and a memory controller, the method including sending address information from the in-module prefetcher to the memory controller and to the prefetch buffer, determining prefetch accuracy based on a comparison of the address information sent to the memory controller and the address information sent to the prefetch buffer, determining a prefetch mode based on the prefetch accuracy, and storing the data in the memory based on the prefetch mode.

A shack-sensor apparatus may include a sensor configured to detect a positional state of a hard-drive drawer. The shock-sensor apparatus may also include a mounting component coupled to the sensor and configured to mount the sensor in a location to monitor the positional state of the hard-drive drawer. In addition, the shock-sensor apparatus may include a computing module, electronically coupled to the sensor, that analyzes sensor data provided by the sensor to predict a shock event of the hard-drive drawer and send, in response to predicting the shock event, a signal to at least one hard drive in the hard-drive drawer to prevent damage to the hard drive. Various other apparatuses, systems, and methods are also disclosed.