Oracle TimesTen 18.1.4.1.0 now supports Intel Optane persistent memory in Memory Mode for the following TimesTen configurations on Linux x8664:
Intel Optane persistent memory supports two modes (Memory Mode and App Direct Mode):
When used in Memory Mode, persistent memory acts like standard system memory, with DRAM used as a low-latency cache layer. The benefits of running persistent memory in Memory Mode are larger effective system memory at a cheaper price point. Despite the name, persistent memory is actually non persistent when running in Memory Mode.
The price of both DDR4 SDRAM and Intel Optane persistent memory are constantly changing and dependent on factors like memory capacity and volume, so price comparisons are difficult. One comparison from April 2019 showed persistent memory to be about 1/5 of the price of the equivalent DDR4 SDRAM 128 GB memory. You need to make your own comparisons for the memory capacity for a specific server hardware model to have any meaningful results.
Intel Optane persistent memory when used in Memory Mode needs to be used in conjunction with DRAM as the DRAM acts as a low latency cache for the most frequently accessed data. The Intel Xeon Scalable processor memory controller transparently handles the DRAM caching operations. The implications of using this Intel specific memory controller are that Intel Optane persistent memory will only work with recent [second generation and newer] Intel Xeon Scalable processors and firmware.
Intel Optane persistent memory has very low latency, but it can be up to three times slower than using DRAM depending on whether there is a cache hit or miss in DRAM. The trick is to try to use DRAM for the most frequently accessed data and to use the slower persistent memory for the less frequency accessed data.
The performance of using the TimesTen In-Memory Database with Intel Optane persistent memory in Memory Mode depends on two things:
If the hot data can fit within the DRAM then TimesTen will work at DRAM speeds. If the hot data is larger than the DRAM size, then the effective memory latency will be proportional to the ratio of DRAM to Persistent Memory.
The good news is that most database transactional workloads tend to have some data that is more frequently used that other data, so the hot data will always tend to be smaller than the total database size.
There is no TimesTen specific configuration required to use Intel Optane persistent memory.
Intel Optane persistent memory needs to be configured before it can be used on a Linux x8664 machine:
Although persistent memory is a new technology, it is already available on Linux x8664 servers from the following vendors:
Disclaimer: These are my personal thoughts and do not represent Oracle's official viewpoint in any way, shape, or form.