ACM Comm 2014 01 Unikernels: The Rise of the Virtual Library OS (Notes)

Link to publication "Touchless Interaction in Surgery" CACM January 2014

Unikernels: The Rise of the Virtual Library OS by Anil Madhavapeddy and David J. Scott, p.61-69

Unikernels: The Rise of the Virtual Library OS

"What if all the software layers in a virtual appliance were compiled within the same safe, high-level language framework?"
Most Virtual Machines (VM)s perform one task, database server or web server.
How does this apply to my research?

Ideas

1. Shift from all-purpose VMs to application VMs.
   1. Many application VMs working together can sum to a mainframe from a generation earlier.
2. MirageOS is designed to run on Hypervisor[1], not on hardware.
   1. They hypervisor handles the hardware level.
3. Unikernel architecture - Specialized OS kernels working together to form an application appliance. One unikernel is a database server, another is a web server, e.t.c.
4. Library Operating System (libOS)[2]
   1. Protection boundaries are pushed to the lowest hardware layers, resulting in: a set of libraries that implement mechanisms, such as those needed to drive hardware or talk network protocols; and a set of policies that enforce access control and isolation in the application layer.
   2. Advantage - Allows direct hardware access. No central network service. Applications have separate queues and are mixed only at the device.
   3. Disadvantage - Multiple applications running side-by-side with strong resource isolation is tricky. Device drivers must be rewritten.
5. Exokernel[3]
6. Nemesis[4]

References

1. MirageOS[5][6]
2. OCaml[7]
3. Xen hypervisor[8]

Internal Links

Parent Article: Reading Notes