Systems and methods for operating a database in system memory within a virtual partition are described. One system includes one or more host computing systems, each host computing system including at least one execution core and a system memory. The system includes a plurality of virtual partitions executing on the one or more host computing systems and including a first partition having at least a portion of the system memory associated with at least one of the one or more host computing systems and configured to store a database therein. The system also includes an interconnect layer communicatively connecting the plurality of virtual partitions, the interconnect layer providing a programming interface by which direct memory access operations between partitions are coordinated. In response to database commands received at the first partition, the data stored in the database is provided to a requesting partition a direct memory access operation.