Supermicro Optane Persistent Memory 200 Series User Manual page 45

Chapter 4: Configuring Intel PMem 200 Series Settings Using Open Source Utilities
Some Important Concepts for PMem 200 Series Provisioning
Region
A region is a group of one or more PMem modules. A memory region can be created in
either a non-interleaved or n-way interleaved format. In an interleaved region, all PMem
modules are seen as one single monolithic space, which is similar, in concept, to RAID 0
in storage. In a non-interleaved region, each PMem region is seen as a separate space,
which is similar, in concept, to JBOD in storage.
PMem (Persistent Memory) Region
PMem regions can only be created or modified by using ipmctl. PMem Memory supports
the following three types of regions:
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PMEM: PMem devices allow for byte-addressable access.
•
BLK: Block devices allow for sector atomicity similar to those of traditional storage
devices.
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NVDIMM: NVDIMM modules simultaneously support PMEM and BLK mode access.
Namespace
Namespace defines a contiguously addressed range of non-volatile memory, which is
similar in concept to a hard disk partition, a SCSI Logical Unit (LUN), or an NVM Express
namespace. It is a persistent memory storage unit that cannot be used for input/output.
Namespaces will appear as a device in ndctl (/dev). Creating namespaces can be achieved
by using ndctl (Non-volatile Device Control) in a Linux system.
PMem Namespace
PMem Memory can appear as one of the two types of namespaces depending on the
operating system and UEFI BIOS settings.
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Direct Access (DAX)
DAX, which functions as a byte-addressable storage, requires an API (Application
programming interface) to access. In order to utilize Persistent Memory (PMem) features,
applications must be PMem-aware and use the published APIs.
•
Block Storage
Block Storage is the PMem space that is seen as a block storage device by applications.
In order to utilize the PMem features, the operating system needs to be PMem-aware.
Note: Mixed Memory (MX) Mode is not supported by the X12 Series motherboards.
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