What is NVDIMM (Non-Volatile Dual In-line Memory Module)?

An NVDIMM (non-volatile dual in-line memory module) is hybrid computer memory that retains data during a service outage. NVDIMMs integrate non-volatile NAND ... Home Flash StorageAdmin NVDIMM(Non-VolatileDualIn-lineMemoryModule) Sharethisitemwithyournetwork: By GarryKranz AnNVDIMM(non-volatiledualin-linememorymodule)ishybridcomputermemorythatretains data duringaserviceoutage.NVDIMMsintegratenon-volatile NANDflashmemory withdynamicrandomaccessmemory(DRAM)anddedicatedbackup power onasinglememorysubsystem. Non-volatile DIMM cardsmaybeusedtoextend system memoryorsupplyhigh-performancestorage. TheNVDIMMformfactorplugsintoastandardDIMMconnectoronamemory bus. Theon-moduleflashmemoryisusedexclusivelytobackupand restore storageinDRAM. NVDIMMsoperateatornearthespeedofthememorybus,butarenot native plug-and-play devices.Manufacturersmustmodifyservermotherboardsand BIOS/UEFI driverstorecognizethe discrete memorytypespresentedbyanNVDIMM. ThereissomedebatewhethertheNVDIMMacronymismisleading,sincethedevicesprimarilyuse volatilememory toprocessnormalproceduresandonlyinvoketheflashelementviaabackup battery or capacitor topreservedata. DIMMsandNVDIMMs AnNVDIMMisoneofseveraltypesofhybridDIMMsonthemarket.ServermanufacturershistoricallyhavedesignedsystemmemorywitheitherregisteredDIMMs(RDIMMs)orunregisteredDIMMs(UDIMMs). RDIMMsuseanonboard register toelectricallyisolatetheserver'smemory module fromothercircuitryonthe motherboard.Conversely,aUDIMMisanRDIMMthatlacksanonboard buffer.UDIMMsnormallyareusedinserversthatrequireonlymodestamountsofmemorywithminimallatency. Load-reducedDIMMs(LRDIMMs)refertoanewer formfactor thatalsousesabuffertoreducetheelectricityload,butwithoutriskingpowerandmemoryperformance. Adding non-volatilememory toaDIMMmakesDRAMpersistent.TheDRAMprovideshighperformanceandlowlatency;theflashandbackuppowerhandle dataprotection. AdvantagesofNVDIMMsinservers NVDIMMtechnologyisemergingasanalternatetoDRAMbecauseitisan orderofmagnitude fasterthanwritingdatato4K blockstorage.NVDIMMscanbeusefulforaccelerating workloads onnext-generation server and datastorage platforms. NVDIMMsprovidehigh-speedDRAM performance coupledwithflash-backed persistentstorage.Asidefromprovidinganadditionalmemorytierinservers,NVDIMMpersistenceallowsapplicationstocontinueprocessing I/O trafficduringplannedorunexpectedsystemfailures. TheonboardDRAMcontrollertriggersabackupprocessifitsensesapowerfailureisimminent. Copydata isimmediatelywrittentotheonboardflash. Oncesystempowerisrestored,theNVDIMM controller reversestheprocess,copyingdatafromflashbacktoDRAMwithout dataloss tosupportaresumptionofnormaloperations. NVDIMMsprovideanadditionalenterpriseoptionfor Server-sideflash storage.Theycanbeanadditionoranalternativetotraditionalsolid-statedrives(SSDs)inservers,add-in PeripheralComponentInterconnectExpress SSDs,internallymounted M.2 SSDsor mSATA storagedevices. Theyboost resiliency byretainingdataintheeventofanelectricalpowerlossorsystemcrash.Anenterprise datacenter reliesonan uninterruptiblepowersupply tosafeguarddata.Inthisscenario,rebuildtimedependsonhowlongittakestowritecriticaldatatoa storageareanetwork or network-attachedstorage system. IntegratingNVDIMMscouldhelpmitigatedatalossand downtime associatedwithwritingbackupcopies. WorkloadsfornonvolatileDIMMs Asenterprise datasets becomeincreasinglycomplex,NVDIMMshaveemergedasonepossiblewaytobridgethegapinexisting scale-outstorage architectures.TheirspeedandperformanceadvantagesgearNVDIMMstoward hotdata,warmstorage, cache accelerationand in-memorydatabase processingassociatedwithreal-time bigdataanalytics. NVDIMMshavethepotentialtoboostapplicationperformance,data security and disasterrecovery.Theyalsoservetoboostthe writeendurance andperformanceofSSDs. NVDIMM-Nvs.NVDIMM-F AccesstoanNVDIMM-NdeviceoccursatornearthespeedofDRAM,withthegoaloffast datatransfer.TheDRAMismappedtothesystemmemory.ApplicationstypicallyseeanNVDIMM-Nasablockdevice.EachNVDIMM-Nusesapproximately16GBofDRAM,matchedwithanequalshareofNANDcapacity,tocreatedevicesthatcurrentlyhaveatopcapacityof32gigabyte(GB). TheDRAMhandlesroutinedatatransfers.Forpersistentstorage,NVDIMM-NsavesdatatotheonboardNANDflashelementduringan interrupt,andthenrestoresittoDRAMwhenpowerisresumed.OffloadingdataprotectiontoflashcutsI/O latency to nanoseconds,althoughcurrentDRAMpowerandpackaginglimitationsrestrictNVDIMMcapacitiestothegigabyterange. NVDIMM-Fisanall-flashDIMMofmemory-mappedNANDthatcanoperateintwomodes: Storagemode. NVDIMM-Fbehavesinsimilarfashiontoadiskdrivewith block I/O.TheNVDIMM-Fflashelementisaccessedin native blockformatviaasharedcommandbuffersuchasa mounteddrive. Memorymode. NVDIMM-FoperatesalongsideDRAMDIMMsfor byte-addressablestorage,scalingto terabytes ofapplicationmemoryinasinglesystem. ANVDIMM-FdevicehasslowerperformancethanaNVDIMM-Ndevice. EmergingNVDIMMhardware,softwarestandards TheevolutionofNVDIMMsistiedtoadvancesindoubledataratesynchronousDRAM(DDRSDRAM)memorychips.Asthenameimplies,DDRSDRAMmemorycapturesdataattwicethe frequency ofthe clockspeed ofacomputer processor.DataistransferredinDDRSDRAMtwiceperclockcycle:onceatthefallingedgeoftheclock,andonceattherisingedge. UpdatestoDDRincludeversionsDDR2andDDR3.Doubledataratefourth-generation(DDR4)isthemostrecentversion.SpecificationsforDDR4-complianthybridNVDIMMswerepublishedin2015bytheJEDECSolidStateTechnologyAssociation,astandardsbodyforthemicroelectronicsindustry.The JEDEC standardsencompasssupportforbothNVDIMM-FandNVDIMM-N. JEDECandthe StorageNetworkingIndustryAssociation arereviewingproposalstostandardizeNVDIMM-PdevicesthatwouldmapDRAMandNANDinthesamememoryspace.Asproposed,NVDIMM-Pwouldprovidebothbyte-andblock-orienteddriveaccess. LeadingNVDIMMvendors NVDIMMsareavailablefromvarietyofvendors,eitherdirectlyorthrough resellers.FlashDIMMvendorsincludeAgigATechInc.,MicronTechnologyInc.,NetListInc.(viadevelopmentdealswithSamsungElectronicsCo.Ltd.and Supermicro),SKhynixInc.,SmartModularTechnologiesandVikingTechnology. IntelCorp.,throughadevelopmentpartnershipwithMicron,hasannouncedforthcomingNVDIMMsbasedonits 3DXPoint storagetechnology.Thecheckerboard-likearchitecturehousestwocolumnsthatsitatopacomposite-basedswitchingmechanismthatmanagesreadsandwritesbyvaryingthevoltageacrosshundredsofbillionsofmemorycells.BilledasabridgebetweenDRAMandNANDstorage,thevendorsclaim3DXPointwillbemuchfaster,havegreaterenduranceandprovidehigher storagedensity thanNAND. CapacitiesofNVDIMMdevicesareexpectedtoincreaseasenterpriseserverandstoragemakersstartdeliveringtheirownbrandeddevices.Forexample,Hewlett-PackardEnterprise(HPE)in2016introducedan8GBNVDIMMforusewithitsHPEPersistentMemorystoragesystem,basedonHPEProLiantGen9servers. ThiswaslastupdatedinJanuary2017 ContinueReadingAboutNVDIMM(Non-VolatileDualIn-lineMemoryModule) HowNVDIMMdiffersfrommemorychannelflashstorage NVDIMMtechnologyprovidesvirtualizationbenefits Changescomingtonon-volatileDIMM RelatedTerms complementarymetal-oxidesemiconductor(CMOS) Acomplementarymetal-oxidesemiconductor(CMOS)isthesemiconductortechnologyusedinmostoftoday'sintegratedcircuits,... See complete definition Hammingcode Hammingcodeisanerrorcorrectionsystemthatcandetectandcorrecterrorswhendataisstoredortransmitted. See complete definition Transistor Atransistorisaminiaturesemiconductorthatregulatesorcontrolscurrentorvoltageflow. See complete definition DigDeeperonFlashmemoryandstorage UnderstandtheIntelOptaneshutdown By:Jim Handy Hands-OnTestingofPersistentMemory'sEffectsonAnalyticsPerformance IntroductiontoBigMemory 3DXPointvs.NANDflash:Whythere'sroomforboth By:Jim Handy SponsoredNews SoftwareProtectionIsn’tEnoughfortheMaliciousNewBreedofLow-Level... –Intel BuiltforBusiness,BuiltforNow –Intel SeeMore VendorResources AComputerWeeklyBuyer'sGuidetoNext-GenerationStorage –ComputerWeekly.com LatestTechTargetresources DisasterRecovery DataBackup DataCenter SearchDisasterRecovery UseISO/TS22317:2021toshapeyourbusinessimpactanalysis ISO/TS22317:2021isausefultoolforBCDRpractitionersandotherpersonneltaskedwithexecutingaBIA,whichcanoftenbea... WheredoesAIfitintoariskassessmentstrategy? AIisahelpfulwaytotakeadifferentlookatriskassessmentanddisasterrecovery.AIsiftsthroughmassiveamountsofrisk... FreedisasterrecoverybudgettemplatetojustifyBCDRspending Budgetingfordisasterrecoverydoesnotneedtobedifficult.Withdetailedguidancefromourfreebudgettemplate,IT... SearchDataBackup Continuousdataprotectionadvantagesanddisadvantages Continuousdataprotectioncaneliminateyourbackupwindow.However,therearemanyissuestoconsider,includingapplication... FolioPhotonicsseesopticaldiskasalternativeforarchive FolioPhotonicshasincreasedthelayersofopticaldisk,loweringthecostandincreasingthecapacitywhiledeliveringhigher... XenData'stapeworkaroundcutsoutegressfees Tohelpcustomersavoidcostlyegressandgeo-replicationfees,XenDatahasintroducedanewtapearchiveapplianceforlocal... SearchDataCenter IBMtargetsenergy-savingmainframesatLinuxusers IBMsnewgenerationofLinux-basedmainframescansignificantlyreduceenergyuseforcompanieswillingtoreplacex86servers... IBMiSeriessubscriptionplanaimstosimplifyITbudgets FollowingtheleadofcompetitorsincludingDellandHPE,IBMhasdebutedanall-in-onesubscriptionplanforiSeriesthat... Howtoimplementfileclassificationinfileservers FileclassificationwithFileServerResourceManagerenablesadminstoclassifyandorganizedata.Thistutorialshowshowto... Close