Prefetcher in multi-tiered memory systems

A non-transitory machine-readable medium including instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a network interface controller (NIC), configure the NIC to:

• receive, from a processor, a plurality of requests for data on a different network than the processor;
• determine, based on a plurality of addresses of the plurality of requests, one or more addresses from which to prefetch data from the different network for the processor;
• issue a prefetch request for data from the determined one or more addresses to an external network switch, the NIC communicatively coupled between the external network switch and the processor;
• and
• provide, to the processor, the data corresponding to the prefetch request.

A system operating in a computer network;

• the system comprising:
• a plurality of communicatively coupled nodes, each node of the plurality of nodes including a network interface controller (NIC) coupled between a plurality of processors and an external network switch, each NIC comprising:
• hardware system address decoder (SAD) circuitry configured to determine a node identification of a node to which a memory request from a processor is homed;
• and
• hardware prefetcher circuitry communicatively coupled to the SAD circuitry, the prefetcher circuitry to determine one or more addresses from which to prefetch data;
• the one or more addresses corresponding to respective entries in a memory of a node on a different network than the computer network.

A network interface controller (NIC) of a first node, the comprising:

• means for determining a node identification of a node to which a memory request from a processor of the first node is horned;
• and
• means for determining, based on an address in the memory request, one or more addresses from which to prefetch data, the one or more addresses corresponding to respective entries in a memory of a second node on a different network than the NIC,
• the NIC communicatively coupled between an external network switch and the processor of the first node.

A method comprising:

• receiving, from a processor of a first node and at a network interface controller (NIC) communicatively coupled between an external network switch and the processor, a plurality of requests for data residing on a different network than the processor;
• determining, based on a plurality of addresses of the plurality of requests and by the NIC, one or more next addresses from which to prefetch data from the different network for the processor;
• issuing a prefetch request, by the NIC, for data from the determined one or more next addresses;
• and
• providing, to the processor, the data corresponding to the prefetch request.