Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
CXL enables disaggregated memory, both for composable capacity-on-demand and shared-memory. That is memory is not private to one server. Adding system-ram capacity should largely “just work”, but shared memory is more complex. The Fabric-Attached Memory File System (famfs) enables disaggregated shared memory to be used as memory-mappable files that map directly to the shared memory. Famfs is open source software which is on-track to be merged into the upstream Linux kernel in the coming months.
This talk covers the following: * Brief: shared memory challenges before memory disaggregation * Shared memory challenges with disaggregation * CXL: what will disaggregated shared memory look like? 1. Dynamic Capacity Device (DCD) overview 2. Coherency options 3. Using raw disaggregated memory * Famfs: Putting disaggregated shared memory to use with little or no app modifications Famfs background * Famfs on github * Famfs at the Linux Plumbers Conference (2023, 2024) * Famfs at the Linux Storage, File System and Memory Management summit (LSFMM – 2024, 2025) * Famfs at the Usenix File and Storage Technologies conference (FAST – 2025)
Review legacy shared-memory challenges Understand new challenges with Disaggregated shared memory Understand how CXL shared memory will work Understand how the open-source famfs file system enables legacy apps to use shared memory.
Presented by John Groves, Co-Chair, CXL Consortium Software and Systems Working Group
Learn More:
• SDC Website: snia.org/sniadeveloper
• SNIA Website: snia.org
• SNIA Educational Library: snia.org/library
• X: twitter.com/SNIA
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/snia
CXL enables disaggregated memory, both for composable capacity-on-demand and shared-memory. That is memory is not private to one server. Adding system-ram capacity should largely “just work”, but shared memory is more complex. The Fabric-Attached Memory File System (famfs) enables disaggregated shared memory to be used as memory-mappable files that map directly to the shared memory. Famfs is open source software which is on-track to be merged into the upstream Linux kernel in the coming months.
This talk covers the following: * Brief: shared memory challenges before memory disaggregation * Shared memory challenges with disaggregation * CXL: what will disaggregated shared memory look like? 1. Dynamic Capacity Device (DCD) overview 2. Coherency options 3. Using raw disaggregated memory * Famfs: Putting disaggregated shared memory to use with little or no app modifications Famfs background * Famfs on github * Famfs at the Linux Plumbers Conference (2023, 2024) * Famfs at the Linux Storage, File System and Memory Management summit (LSFMM – 2024, 2025) * Famfs at the Usenix File and Storage Technologies conference (FAST – 2025)
Review legacy shared-memory challenges Understand new challenges with Disaggregated shared memory Understand how CXL shared memory will work Understand how the open-source famfs file system enables legacy apps to use shared memory.
Presented by John Groves, Co-Chair, CXL Consortium Software and Systems Working Group
Learn More:
• SDC Website: snia.org/sniadeveloper
• SNIA Website: snia.org
• SNIA Educational Library: snia.org/library
• X: twitter.com/SNIA
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/snia
