METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PERFORMING MEMORY SPACE RESERVATION AND MANAGEMENT

• US 20180293162A1
• Filed: 11/14/2017
• Published: 10/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/06/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Synology Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Synology Incorporated
• Inventors: Tsai, Chuan-Yu, Lin, Yi-Chun
• Granted Patent: US 10,365,999 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/023 Free address space management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45583 Memory management, e.g. access or allocation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/1044 Space efficiency improvement
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/657 Virtual address space management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0619 in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0631 by allocating resources to storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0643 Management of files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0653 Monitoring storage devices or systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/068 Hybrid storage device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

A method and an apparatus for performing memory space reservation and management are provided, wherein the method is applied to a server system. The method includes: providing a mount point at a file system of a server in the server system, and creating a file at the mount point to occupy partial memory space of a physical memory; mapping the file to a section of virtual memory addresses to prevent any swap operation from being applied to the partial memory space; and updating file information of the file into a memory space management list to dynamically manage the partial memory space.

Claims

1. A method for performing memory space reservation and management, wherein the method is applied to a server system, and the method comprises:

providing amount point at a file system of a server in the server system through a predetermined command, and creating a file at the mount point to occupy partial memory space of a physical memory;

mapping the file to a section of virtual memory addresses to prevent any swap operation from being applied to the partial memory space; and

updating file information of the file into a memory space management list to dynamically manage the partial memory space.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the mount point corresponds to a predetermined directory of the file system of the server, and the memory space management list is updated according to at least one monitoring result of the predetermined directory.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one monitoring result comprises a first monitoring result;

and the method further comprises;

monitoring the predetermined directory to determine whether any file belonging to a predetermined type exists in the predetermined directory, to generate the first monitoring result, wherein the file belongs to the predetermined type; and

triggering the step of mapping the file to the section of virtual memory addresses when the first monitoring result indicates that the file belonging to the predetermined type exists in the predetermined directory.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one monitoring result comprises a second monitoring result;

and the method further comprises;

monitoring the predetermined directory to determine whether the file belonging to the predetermined type exists in the predetermined directory, to generate the second monitoring result; and

when the memory space management list indicates that the file is mapped to the section of virtual memory addresses, and the second monitoring result indicates that the file belonging to the predetermined type does not exist in the predetermined directory, unmapping the file from the section of virtual memory addresses, and removing the file information of the file from the memory space management list, to dynamically manage the partial memory space.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

according to the memory space management list, monitoring the predetermined directory to determine whether the file exists in the predetermined directory; and

when the file does not exist in the predetermined directory, unmapping the file from the section of virtual memory addresses, and removing the file information of the file from the memory space management list, to dynamically manage the partial memory space.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting the file in the physical memory for a target process according to a characteristic of the target process.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the file information comprises a file name of the file;

and the step of updating the file information of the file into the memory space management list to dynamically manage the partial memory space further comprises;

updating a set of mapping information corresponding to the file into the memory space management list to dynamically manage the partial memory space, wherein the set of mapping information comprises the file information and the section of virtual memory addresses.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the file information further comprises a size of the file.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

when the partial memory space does not need to be used, deleting the file, unmapping the file from the section of virtual memory addresses, and removing the file information of the file from the memory space management list to dynamically manage the partial memory space.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the server system is equipped with a high availability function;

and the method further comprises;

when the high availability function is enabled, triggering an operation of creating the file at the mount point to occupy the partial memory space, wherein the server is a backup server of the high availability function.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the server system is equipped with a virtual machine (VM) function, and a VM running on the server system is arranged to control a portion of operations of the server system;

and the method further comprises;

when the VM is created, mapping the file to virtual memory addresses of the VM, wherein the partial memory space is reserved for the VM.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the server system is equipped with a high availability (HA) function;

the server system comprises a plurality of servers, and the plurality of servers comprises the server and another server; and

the method further comprises;

when the HA function is enabled, providing a user interface to allow a user of the server system to assign the other server as a start-up server, and assign the server as a backup server, wherein the VM operates in the start-up server when booting up, and the VM operates in the backup server in a backup status.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein another VM running on the server system is arranged to control another portion of operations of the server system;

and the method further comprises;

creating another file at the mount point to occupy other partial memory space of the physical memory;

mapping the other file to another section of virtual memory addresses to prevent any swap operation from being applied to the other partial memory space;

updating file information of the other file into the memory space management list to dynamically manage the other partial memory space; and

when the other VM is created, mapping the other file to virtual memory addresses of the other VM, wherein the other partial memory space is reserved for the other VM.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating another file at the mount point to occupy other partial memory space of the physical memory;

mapping the other file to another section of virtual memory addresses to prevent any swap operation from being applied to the other partial memory space; and

updating file information of the other file into the memory space management list to dynamically manage the other partial memory space.

15. An apparatus for performing memory space reservation and management, wherein the apparatus is applied to a server system, and the apparatus comprises:

a processing circuit, positioned within a server of the server system, arranged to control operations of the server system, wherein the processing circuit executes the following operations;

providing a mount point at a file system of the server through a predetermined command, and creating a file at the mount point to occupy partial memory space of a physical memory;

mapping the file to a section of virtual memory addresses to prevent any swap operation from being applied to the partial memory space; and

updating file information of the file into a memory space management list to dynamically manage the partial memory space.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the mount point corresponds to a predetermined directory of the file system of the server, and the memory space management list is updated according to at least one monitoring result of the predetermined directory.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the at least one monitoring result comprises a first monitoring result;

the processing circuit monitors the predetermined directory to determine whether any file belonging to a predetermined type exists in the predetermined directory, to generate the first monitoring result, wherein the file belongs to the predetermined type; and

when the first monitoring result indicates that the file belonging to the predetermined type exists in the predetermined directory, the processing circuit triggers an operation of mapping the file to the section of virtual memory addresses.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the at least one monitoring result comprises a second monitoring result;

the processing circuit monitors the predetermined directory to determine whether the file belonging to the predetermined type exists in the predetermined directory, to generate the second monitoring result; and

when the memory space management list indicates that the file is mapped to the section of virtual memory addresses, and the second monitoring result indicates that the file belonging to the predetermined type does not exist in the predetermined directory, the processing circuit unmaps the file from the section of virtual memory addresses, and removes the file information of the file from the memory space management list, to dynamically manage the partial memory space.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein according to the memory space management list, the processing circuit monitors the predetermined directory to determine whether the file exists in the predetermined directory;

and when the file does not exist in the predetermined directory, the processing circuit unmaps the file from the section of virtual memory addresses, and removes the file information of the file from the memory space management list, to dynamically manage the partial memory space.

20. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processing circuit generates a mapping relationship between the file and the section of virtual memory addresses when mapping the file to the section of virtual memory addresses, wherein the mapping relationship allows implementation of accessing the file by accessing the section of virtual memory addresses.