P.R.O.S.E. Partitioned Reliable Operating System Environment

Abstract

This document re-evaluates the software stack in the light of paravirtualization technology and hypervisor support within next generation processors and operating systems. We describe an infrastructure enabling the use of logical partitions (LPARs) for the execution of stand-alone applications along side traditional operating systems. The design goal is to provide an environment allowing normal users to execute, interact and manage these custom kernels in much the same way they would with typical applications. The development environment is a set of modular component libraries providing necessary system services, and a familiar debug environment provided by exposing partition memory and control interfaces to a "controller" partition. We describe the implementation of our prototype using the IBM research hypervisor along with the Linux kernel and explore potential applications that could benefit from this new environment.