A Tunable, Software-based DRAM Error Detection and Correction Library for HPC

Abstract. Proposed exascale systems will present a number of consid-erable resiliency challenges. In particular, DRAM soft-errors, or bit-flips, are expected to greatly increase due to the increased memory density of these systems. Current hardware-based fault-tolerance methods will be unsuitable for addressing the expected soft error frequency rate. As a result, additional software will be needed to address this challenge. In this paper we introduce LIBSDC, a tunable, transparent silent data cor-ruption detection and correction library for HPC applications. LIBSDC provides comprehensive SDC protection for program memory by im-plementing on-demand page integrity verification. Experimental bench-marks with Mantevo HPCCG show that once tuned, LIBSDC is able to achieve SDC protection with 50 % overhead of resources, less than the 100 % needed for double modular redundancy.