virtual memory
What is virtual memory?
Virtual memory is a memory management technique where secondary memory can be
used as if it were a part of the main memory. Virtual memory is a common technique
used in a computer's operating system (OS).
Virtual memory uses both hardware and software to enable a computer to compensate
for physical memory shortages, temporarily transferring data from random access
memory (RAM) to disk storage. Mapping chunks of memory to disk files enables a
computer to treat secondary memory as though it were main memory.
Today, most personal computers (PCs) come with at least 8 GB (gigabytes) of RAM.
But, sometimes, this is not enough to run several programs at one time. This is where
virtual memory comes in. Virtual memory frees up RAM by swapping data that has
not been used recently over to a storage device, such as a hard drive or solid-state
drive (SSD).
Virtual memory is important for improving system performance, multitasking and
using large programs. However, users should not overly rely on virtual memory, since
it is considerably slower than RAM. If the OS has to swap data between virtual
memory and RAM too often, the computer will begin to slow down -- this is
called thrashing.
Virtual memory was developed at a time when physical memory -- also referenced as
RAM -- was expensive. Computers have a finite amount of RAM, so memory will
eventually run out when multiple programs run at the same time. A system using
virtual memory uses a section of the hard drive to emulate RAM. With virtual
memory, a system can load larger or multiple programs running at the same time,
enabling each one to operate as if it has more space, without having to purchase more
RAM.
How virtual memory works
Virtual memory uses both hardware and software to operate. When an application is
in use, data from that program is stored in a physical address using RAM. A memory
management unit (MMU) maps the address to RAM and automatically translates
addresses. The MMU can, for example, map a logical address space to a
corresponding physical address.
If, at any point, the RAM space is needed for something more urgent, data can be
swapped out of RAM and into virtual memory. The computer's memory manager is in
charge of keeping track of the shifts between physical and virtual memory. If that data
is needed again, the computer's MMU will use a context switch to resume execution.
While copying virtual memory into physical memory, the OS divides memory with a
fixed number of addresses into either pagefiles or swap files. Each page is stored on a
disk, and when the page is needed, the OS copies it from the disk to main memory and
translates the virtual addresses into real addresses.
However, the process of swapping virtual memory to physical is rather slow. This
means using virtual memory generally causes a noticeable reduction in performance.
Because of swapping, computers with more RAM are considered to have better
performance.
Types of virtual memory
A computer's MMU manages virtual memory operations. In most computers, the
MMU hardware is integrated into the central processing unit (CPU). The CPU also
generates the virtual address space. In general, virtual memory is either paged or
segmented.
Paging divides memory into sections or paging files. When a computer uses up its
available RAM, pages not in use are transferred to the hard drive using a swap file. A
swap file is a space set aside on the hard drive to be used as the virtual memory
extension for the computer's RAM. When the swap file is needed, it is sent back to
RAM using a process called page swapping. This system ensures the computer's OS
and applications do not run out of real memory. The maximum size of the page file
can be 1 ½ to four times the physical memory of the computer.
The virtual memory paging process uses page tables, which translate the virtual
addressesthat the OS and applications use into the physical addresses that the MMU
uses. Entries in the page table indicate whether the page is in RAM. If the OS or a
program does not find what it needs in RAM, then the MMU responds to the missing
memory reference with a page fault exception to get the OS to move the page back to
memory when it is needed. Once the page is in RAM, its virtual address appears in the
page table.
Segmentation is also used to manage virtual memory. This approach divides virtual
memory into segments of different lengths. Segments not in use in memory can be
moved to virtual memory space on the hard drive. Segmented information or
processes are tracked in a segment table, which shows if a segment is present in
memory, whether it has been modified and what its physical address is. In addition,
file systems in segmentation are only made up of segments that are mapped into a
process's potential address space.
Segmentation and paging differ as a memory model in terms of how memory is
divided; however, the processes can also be combined. In this case, memory gets
divided into frames or pages. The segments take up multiple pages, and the virtual
address includes both the segment number and the page number.
Other page replacement methods include first-in-first-out (FIFO), optimal algorithm
and least recently used (LRU) page replacement. The FIFO method has memory
select the replacement for a page that has been in the virtual address for the longest
time. The optimal algorithm method selects page replacements based on which page is
unlikely to be replaced after the longest amount of time; although difficult to
implement, this leads to less page faults. The LRU page replacement method replaces
the page that has not been used for the longest time in the main memory.
How to manage virtual memory
Managing virtual memory within an OS can be straightforward, as there are default
settings that determine the amount of hard drive space to allocate for virtual memory.
Those settings will work for most applications and processes, but there may be times
when it is necessary to manually reset the amount of hard drive space allocated to
virtual memory -- for example, with applications that depend on fast response times or
when the computer has multiple hard disk drives (HDDs).
When manually resetting virtual memory, the minimum and maximum amount of
hard drive space to be used for virtual memory must be specified. Allocating too little
HDD space for virtual memory can result in a computer running out of RAM. If a
system continually needs more virtual memory space, it may be wise to consider
adding RAM. Common OSes may generally recommend users not increase virtual
memory beyond 1 ½ times the amount of RAM.
Managing virtual memory differs by OS. For this reason, IT professionals should
understand the basics when it comes to managing physical memory, virtual memory
and virtual addresses.
RAM cells in SSDs also have a limited lifespan. RAM cells have a limited number of
writes, so using them for virtual memory often reduces the lifespan of the drive.
What are the benefits of using virtual memory?
The advantages to using virtual memory include:
• It can handle twice as many addresses as main memory.
• It enables more applications to be used at once.
• It frees applications from managing shared memory and saves users from
having to add memory modules when RAM space runs out.
• It has increased speed when only a segment of a program is needed for
execution.
• It has increased security because of memory isolation.
• It enables multiple larger applications to run simultaneously.
• Allocating memory is relatively inexpensive.
• It does not need external fragmentation.
• CPU use is effective for managing logical partition workloads.
• Data can be moved automatically.
• Pages in the original process can be shared during a fork system call
operation that creates a copy of itself.
In addition to these benefits, in a virtualized computing environment, administrators
can use virtual memory management techniques to allocate additional memory to a
virtual machine (VM) that has run out of resources. Such virtualization management
tactics can improve VM performance and management flexibility.
This
image shows an example of how physical memory is separated by a virtual memory manager.
What are the limitations of using virtual memory?
Although the use of virtual memory has its benefits, it also comes with some tradeoffs
worth considering, such as:
• Applications run slower if they are running from virtual memory.
• Data must be mapped between virtual and physical memory, which requires
extra hardware support for address translations, slowing down a computer
further.
• The size of virtual storage is limited by the amount of secondary storage, as
well as the addressing scheme with the computer system.
• Thrashing can occur if there is not enough RAM, which will make the
computer perform slower.
• It may take time to switch between applications using virtual memory.
• It lessens the amount of available hard drive space.
Virtual memory (virtual RAM) vs. physical memory (RAM)
When talking about the differences between virtual and physical memory, the biggest
distinction commonly made is to speed. RAM is considerably faster than virtual
memory. RAM, however, tends to be more expensive.
When a computer requires storage, RAM is the first used. Virtual memory, which is
slower, is used only when the RAM is filled.
This chart
shows how virtual RAM (virtual memory) compares to RAM (physical memory).
Users can actively add RAM to a computer by buying and installing more RAM
chips. This is useful if they are experiencing slowdowns due to memory swaps
happening too often. The amount of RAM depends on what is installed on a computer.
Virtual memory, on the other hand, is limited by the size of the computer's hard drive.
Virtual memory settings can often be controlled through the OS.
In addition, RAM uses swapping techniques, while virtual memory uses paging.
While physical memory is limited to the size of the RAM chip, virtual memory is
limited by the size of the hard disk. RAM also has direct access to the CPU, while
virtual RAM does not.
The history of virtual memory
Before virtual memory was developed, computers had RAM and secondary memory.
Early computers used magnetic core memory for main memory and magnetic drums
for their secondary memory. Computer memory was expensive and, usually, in short
supply back in the 1940s and 1950s. As computer programs grew in size and
complexity, developers had to worry that their programs would use up all of a
computer's main memory and run out of memory.
In those early days, programmers used a process called overlaying to run programs
that were larger than available memory. Parts of a program that were not continually
in use were set up as overlays that, when needed, would overwrite the existing overlay
in memory. It required extensive programming to make overlaying work, and that was
a key impetus for the development of automated virtual memory.
German physicist Fritz-Rudolf Güntsch has been credited with developing the concept
of virtual memory in 1956 -- though this point has been contested. Güntsch did,
however, end up describing a form of cache memory.
The first apparent real instance of a virtual memory system came from the University
of Manchester in Manchester, England, in its attempt to develop a one-level storage
system for the Atlas computer. The system used paging to map virtual addresses to a
programmer onto the primary memory. Atlas was developed in 1959 and later
commissioned in 1962.
In 1961, the first commercial computer with virtual memory was released by the
Burroughs Corp. This version of virtual memory used segmentation, as opposed to
paging.
In 1969, IBM researchers demonstrated that virtual memory overlay systems worked
better than the earlier manual systems. Up until this point, there was still a debate over
this. Mainframes and minicomputers in the 1970s generally used virtual memory.
Virtual memory technology was not included in early PCs because developers thought
running out of memory would not be a problem in those machines. That assumption
proved incorrect. Intel introduced virtual memory in the protected mode of the 80286
processor in 1982, and paging support when the 80386 came out in 1985.
