Advanced Operating System

Unit I: Introduction to UNIX System Calls and Kernel Context

• UNIX System Calls:

  • Overview and anatomy of a system call

  • x86 mechanisms for system call implementation

• Kernel–User Context Separation:

  • MMU, memory translation, segmentation

  • Hardware traps and context separation

• Virtualization and Kernel Programming Context:

  • Principles of virtualization

  • Kernel execution and programming context

• Debugging and Tracing:

  • Live debugging and tracing

  • Hardware and software support for debugging

Unit II: Advanced Debugging, Linking, and Synchronization

• DTrace:

  • Programming, implementation, and design

  • Internal mechanisms

• Linux Debugging Tools:

  • Kprobes and SysTrace

• Linking and Loading:

  • Executable and Linkable Format (ELF)

  • Internals of linking and dynamic linking

• Spinlocks and Mutexes:

  • Effective spinlock implementations on x86

  • OpenSolaris adaptive mutexes: design and optimization

• Kernel Preemption and Memory Optimization:

  • Pre-emptive kernels

  • Effects of modern memory hierarchies and related optimizations

Unit III: Process Management and File Systems

• Kernel Data Structures:

  • Processes and threads

  • Process table traversal and management

  • /proc internals and optimizations

• Virtual File System (VFS):

  • Layering of a file system call from API to driver

  • Object-orientation patterns in kernel code

Unit IV: Memory Management and Security

• Virtual Memory:

  • OpenSolaris and Linux virtual memory structures

  • Address space structures

• Memory Allocation:

  • Kmem and Vmem allocators

  • Object-oriented approaches to memory allocation

  • Challenges of multiple CPUs and memory hierarchy

• Security Mechanisms:

  • Integrity, isolation, mediation, and auditing

  • Evolution from MULTICS to modern UNIX

  • SELinux type enforcement: design and implementation

  • Kernel hook systems and tagged architectures

Unit V: File Systems, System Administration, and Networking

• File Systems and Snapshots:

  • ZFS overview

  • OpenSolaris boot environments and snapshots

• System Administration:

  • UNIX System V administration pragmatics

  • Service startup, dependencies, and updates

• Kernel Networking Stack:

  • Path of a packet through the kernel

  • Berkeley Packet Filter architecture

  • Linux Netfilter architecture