logicsrc/docs/openmemory.md

OpenMemory

OpenMemory is the shape of one resource in a server purchase: the memory. It says how much RAM an offer has, what kind, whether it is error-corrected, whether it is reserved for the buyer or balloonable, and how much more a buyer may add at checkout and for how much. It is the memory block of an OpenServer offer, written down on its own so a configurator that sells RAM by the gigabyte, a provider that sells memory-optimised instances and a directory that filters on it all mean the same thing by the same key. It is maintained by Profullstack, Inc. as part of the LogicSRC open-standards surface.

Status: 0.1. One of five resource specifications under OpenServer: OpenCPU, OpenMemory, OpenDisk, OpenGPU and OpenBandwidth. Each describes one thing that is negotiable when a server is bought.

Slug: openmemory

The problem

Memory is the resource most often bought in increments and least often described. A dedicated-server configurator offers 64, 128 or 256 GB at three prices, and the difference between them is the whole reason to pick the box, but a scraper sees the default and a directory lists one number. "8 GB" on a VPS may be 8 GiB reserved, or 8 GB of which the host reclaims half under pressure. Whether the DIMMs are error-corrected decides whether a database belongs on the machine, and almost no listing says.

The memory line of a spec sheet is short. This document makes it say what it means.

Terms

• The memory block is the memory object on an OpenServer offer, or the same object served on its own.
• Reserved memory is backed by physical memory the host will not reclaim. Balloonable memory may be reclaimed by the host under pressure. Shared memory is oversubscribed with neighbours.
• A range is what the buyer may change at checkout, with the price of changing it.

The memory block

{
  "memory": {
    "ram_mb": 65536,
    "type": "DDR5",
    "ecc": true,
    "speed_mts": 4800,
    "channels": 8,
    "allocation": "reserved",
    "swap_mb": 0,
    "hugepages": true,
    "range": {
      "key": "ram_mb",
      "min": 32768,
      "max": 1048576,
      "step": 32768,
      "price": { "amount": 12, "currency": "USD", "interval": "month", "per": 32768 }
    }
  }
}

The smallest valid block states the size:

{ "memory": { "ram_mb": 8192 } }

The rules, and every one degrades:

1. ram_mb is required. It is the memory the guest sees, in mebibytes, the same unit OpenServer uses in compute.ram_mb. 8 GiB is 8192. A provider that sells in decimal gigabytes converts once when it writes the file, so every reader adds the same numbers.
2. type is the memory technology as the vendor names it: DDR4, DDR5, LPDDR5, HBM3, or the provider's own word. speed_mts is the rated transfer rate in megatransfers per second. channels is the populated channel count on a dedicated box. All three are stated, not measured.
3. ecc is a boolean. Absent means unstated, and a directory that lets a buyer filter on ECC shows unstated rows as unstated, never as false.
4. allocation is one of reserved, balloonable, shared. Absent means unstated. A dedicated server is reserved by nature and may say so.
5. swap_mb is swap the provider configures by default, in mebibytes; 0 means none and absent means unstated. hugepages is whether the buyer may use huge pages, a boolean.
6. range is the negotiable part. key is ram_mb, min, max and step bound it in mebibytes, and price is the cost per per mebibytes at the offer's interval, on top of the base price. The example above says memory is sold in 32 GiB steps at 12 USD a month each. An offer with no range is sold as stated.
7. This block wins over compute.ram_mb. OpenServer 0.1 puts ram_mb inside compute. A provider may keep it there for readers that predate this document; when a memory block is present, its ram_mb is the one a reader uses.
8. Unknown keys are kept. A provider may say more; a reader passes it through under the provider's key.

Memory as its own offer

Memory is rarely sold alone, but it is sold as an increment, and the increment is an offer: a RAM upgrade on a configurator, a memory-optimised tier that differs from the base tier only here, a reservation of memory on a platform that bills it separately from compute. Each is an OpenServer offer with a memory block and a price:

{
  "id": "ram-32",
  "name": "32 GB RAM upgrade",
  "kind": "dedicated",
  "memory": { "ram_mb": 32768, "type": "DDR5", "ecc": true },
  "price": { "amount": 12, "currency": "USD", "interval": "month" }
}

A provider whose file is only memory offers may serve it at /.well-known/openmemory.json; the shape is OpenServer's and the name says what is in it. A reader that only wants memory filters offers on the presence of a memory block.

What a directory does with it

1. Shows mebibytes as the provider's unit. Store ram_mb; display 8 GiB or 8 GB as the provider's page does, and say which.
2. Filters on ECC as three states, yes, no and unstated.
3. Prices the range. A configurator's 64, 128 and 256 GB choices are one offer with a range, and a directory shows the base and the step price rather than three rows.
4. Reads memory before compute.ram_mb and never sums the two.

What is deliberately absent

No bandwidth or latency figures. speed_mts is the DIMM rating. Measured memory bandwidth is a benchmark, and benchmarks are another document's business.

No persistent memory tier. Optane-style persistent memory and CXL-attached memory are storage or memory depending on the provider; a provider states them under its own key until there is a second one to agree with.

No per-process limits. cgroup memory limits on a container platform are the platform's terms, linked from the offer's url.

Related standards

• OpenServer: the descriptor and the offer this block sits in.
• OpenCPU, OpenDisk, OpenGPU, OpenBandwidth: the other four resources of a purchase, each with the same range shape.

Version history

Version	Date	Change
0.1	2026-09-13	First publication: the memory block, ECC as three states, three allocations, the range, precedence over compute.ram_mb.

License

The specification text is CC BY 4.0. Serve it, copy it, extend it.