CHAPTER 31

Virtual Memory

Virtual memory is one technique for managing the resource of physical memory, including the caches, main memory, and the disk subsystem. It was originally invented to provide to software the illusion of a very large amount of main memory [Kilburn et al. 1962]. Though administrators today typically purchase enough main memory that nearly all code and data needed by software is actually in main memory (i.e., virtual memory has outlived its original purpose), the mechanism is nonetheless the most popular front-end for the memory system today, in general-purpose systems and, to an increasing degree, embedded systems as well.

The basic functions of virtual memory are well known [Denning 1970]. One is to create a virtual-machine ...

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