Abstract:

In this paper, we propose and evaluate a virtual instruction set interface between an operating system (OS) kernel and a general purpose processor architecture. This interface is a set of operations added to a previously proposed virtual instruction set architecture called LLVA (Low Level Virtual Architecture) and can be implemented on existing processor hardware. The long-term benefits of such an interface include richer OS-information for hardware, greater flexibility in evolving hardware, and sophisticated analysis and optimization capabilities for kernel code, including across the application-kernel boundary transformations. Our interface design (LLVA-OS) contains several novel features for machine-independence and performance, including efficient saving and restoring of (hidden) native state, mechanisms for error recovery, and several primitive abstractions that expose semantic information to the underlying translator and hardware. We describe the design, a prototype implementation of LLVA-OS on x86, and our experience porting the Linux 2.4.22 kernel to LLVA-OS. We perform a performance evaluation of this kernel, identifying and explaining the root causes of key sources of virtualization overhead.

Published:

"A Virtual Instruction Set Interface for Operating System Kernels", John Criswell, Brent Monroe, and Vikram Adve.
Workshop on the Interaction between Operating Systems and Computer Architecture (WIOSCA '06), Boston, Massachusetts, 2006.

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