Monolithic kernel

In today's world, Monolithic kernel has gained great importance in various aspects of daily life. Both on a personal and professional level, Monolithic kernel has left a significant mark, generating debates and reflections around his impact on society. From its origins to its present day, Monolithic kernel has become a topic of interest that arouses curiosity and wonder. In this article, we will explore the different dimensions of Monolithic kernel and analyze its influence in various contexts, providing a complete overview of this topic of current relevance.

Structure of monolithic kernel, microkernel and hybrid kernel-based operating systems

A monolithic kernel is an operating system architecture with the entire operating system running in kernel space. The monolithic model differs from other architectures such as the microkernel[1][2] in that it alone defines a high-level virtual interface over computer hardware. A set of primitives or system calls implement all operating system services such as process management, concurrency, and memory management.

Device drivers can be added to the kernel as loadable kernel modules.

Examples

Loadable modules

Modular operating systems such as OS-9 and most modern monolithic-kernel operating systems such as OpenVMS, Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, DragonFly BSD, Solaris, AIX, and Multics can dynamically load (and unload) executable kernel modules at runtime.

This modularity of the operating system is at the binary (image) level and not at the architecture level. Modular monolithic operating systems are not to be confused with the architectural level of modularity inherent in server-client operating systems (and its derivatives sometimes marketed as hybrid kernel) which use microkernels and servers (not to be mistaken for modules or daemons).

Practically speaking, dynamically loading modules is simply a more flexible way of handling the operating system image at runtime—as opposed to rebooting with a different operating system image. The modules allow easy extension of the operating systems' capabilities as required.[3] Dynamically loadable modules incur a small overhead when compared to building the module into the operating system image.

However, in some cases, loading modules dynamically (as-needed) helps to keep the amount of code running in kernel space to a minimum; for example, to minimize operating system footprint for embedded devices or those with limited hardware resources. Namely, an unloaded module need not be stored in scarce random access memory.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Modular system programming in Minix3" (PDF).
  2. ^ "Server-Client, or layered structure" (PDF). The Design of PARAS Microkernel. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 July 2010. Retrieved 15 July 2009.
  3. ^ "Kernel Definition".