Exploring Linux Memory Usage and IO Performance in Cloud Native Applications

Linux and containers are similar in that they provide operating system resources such as memory and storage. These resources—along with CPU and networking— are key factors to achieve optimal application performance. However, many cloud native applications rely on high performance disk IO to function properly.

In this session, we'll explore how memory allocation at the container or operating system level influences the performance of buffered disk IO. We'll also examine Linux memory management details and the different ways to perform disk IO. From there, we'll walk through a number of examples that reveal the typical dynamics of cached and non-cached IOs, as well as the differences between the two.

Understanding these dynamics are important to any cloud native application that is dependent on disk IO and has performance requirements.