Kernel, Its Types and

Architecture
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BY:
Arslan Haider
What is Kernel?

A kernel is a central component of an operating

system. It acts as an interface between the user
applications and the hardware.
Aim of Kernel:
The sole aim of the kernel is to manage the
communication between the software (user level
applications) and the hardware (CPU, disk memory
etc).

The main tasks of the kernel are: - Process

management - Device management - Memory
management - Interrupt handling - I/O
communication - File system...etc. –
Difference between
kernel and OS

Kernel as described above is the heart of OS

which manages the core features of an OS while if
some useful applications and utilities are added
over the kernel, then the complete package
becomes an OS. - So, it can easily be said that an
operating system consists of a kernel space and a
user space.
OS architecture:
Types Of Kernels
Operating systems based on four types of Kernel
Architectures. Which are as following:

• Monolithic
• Micro Kernel
• Exokernels
• Hybrid kernel
Architectures:
Monolithic Kernel

Earlier in this type of kernel architecture, all the

basic system services like process and memory
management, interrupt handling etc were
packaged into a single module in kernel space.
Drawbacks
This type of architecture led to some serious
drawbacks like

1) Size of kernel, which was huge.

2)Poor maintainability, which means bug fixing

or addition of new features resulted in
recompilation of the whole kernel which could
consume hours
Now a Days…!!
• In a modern day approach to monolithic
architecture, the kernel consists of different modules
which can be dynamically - This modular approach
allows easy extension of OS's capabilities. With this
approach, maintainability of kernel became very
easy as only the concerned module needs to be
loaded and unloaded every time there is a change or
bug fix in a particular module.
• So, there is no need to bring down and recompile
the whole kernel for a smallest bit of change. Also,
stripping of kernel for various platforms (say for
embedded devices etc) became very easy as we can
easily unload the module that we do not want.
Advantages

A monolithic OS kernel is faster due to small

source and compiled code size. Less code means
also less bugs and security issues.
Microkernels
• This architecture majorly caters to the problem of
ever growing size of kernel code which we could not
control in the monolithic approach.
• This architecture allows some basic services like
device driver management, protocol stack, file
system etc to run in user space.
• This reduces the kernel code size and also increases
the security and stability of OS as we have the bare
minimum code running in kernel. So, if suppose a
basic service like network service crashes due to
buffer overflow, then only the networking service's
memory would be corrupted, leaving the rest of the
system still functional.
In this architecture, all the basic OS services
which are made part of user space are made to
run as servers which are used by other programs
in the system through inter process
communication (IPC). eg: we have servers for
device drivers, network protocol stacks, file
systems, graphics, etc.
Microkernel Advantages
• Service separation has the advantage that if one
service (called a server) fails others can still
work so reliability is the primary feature. For
example if a device driver crashes does not
cause the entire system to crash. Only that
driver need to be restarted rather than having
the entire system die. This means more
persistence as one server can be substituted
with another. It also means maintenance is
easier.
• Different services are built into special modules
which can be loaded or unloaded when
needed. Patches can be tested separately then
swapped to take over on a production instance.
• Message passing allows independent
communication and allows extensibility
• The fact that there is no need to reboot the
kernel implies rapid test and development.
• Easy and faster integration with 3d party
modules
Microkernel Disadvantages

• Memory foot print is large

• Potential performance loss (more software
interfaces due to message passing)
• Message passing bugs are not easy to fix
• Process management is complex
Diff. b/w Monolithic and
MicroKernels:
Difference Between Microkernel and
Monolithic Kernel
Kernel is the core part of an operating system; it manages the
system resources. Kernel is like a bridge between application
and hardware of the computer. The Kernel can be classified
further into two categories, Microkernel and Monolithic Kernel.
Microkernel is the one in which user services and kernel
services are kept in separate address space. However, in
Monolithic kernel user services and kernel services both are
kept in the same address space. Let us discuss some more
differences between Microkernel and Monolithic kernel with
the help of comparison chart shown below.

Content: Micro Kernel Vs Monolithic Kernel

Comparison Chart
Definition
Comparison Chart

BASIS FOR COMPARISON MICROKERNEL MONOLITHIC KERNEL

Basic In microkernel user services In monolithic kernel, both user
and kernel, services are kept in services and kernel services are
separate address space. kept in the same address space.

Size Microkernel are smaller in size. Monolithic kernel is larger than

microkernel.
Execution Slow execution. Fast execution.
Extendible The microkernel is easily The monolithic kernel is hard
extendible. to extend.
Security If a service crashes, it does If a service crashes, the whole
effect on working of system crashes in monolithic
microkernel. kernel.
Code To write a microkernel, more To write a monolithic kernel,
code is required. less code is required.

Example QNX, Symbian, L4Linux, Linux, BSDs (FreeBSD,

Singularity, K42, Mac OS X, OpenBSD, NetBSD), Microsoft
Integrity, PikeOS, HURD, Windows (95,98,Me), Solaris,
Minix, and Coyotos. OS-9, AIX, HP-UX, DOS,
OpenVMS, XTS-400 etc.
Definition of Microkernel
Microkernel being a kernel manages all system resources. But in a
microkernel, the user services and the kernel services are
implemented in different address space. The user services are kept
in user address space, and kernel services are kept under kernel
address space. This reduces the size of the kernel and further
reduces the size of operating system

Definition of Monolithic Kernel

The monolithic kernel manages the system resources between
application and hardware of the system. But unlike microkernel, the
user services and kernel services are implemented under same
address space. This increases the size of the kernel further
increases the size of operating system.
.
Hybrid kernel
The hybrid approach is derived from the best of
both micro and monolithic kernel architectures.
Instead of loading the whole thing into memory,
core modules are loaded dynamically to memory
on demand. One disadvantage is that a module
may destabilize a running kernel.
Often, "hybrid kernel" means that the kernel is
highly modular, but all runs in the same address
space. This allows the kernel avoid the overhead
of a complicated message passing system within
the kernel, while still retaining some microkernel-
like features.
Hybrid Kernel Architecture:
Exokernels

Exokernels provide minimal abstractions,

allowing low-level hardware access. In exokernel
systems, library operating systems provide the
abstractions typically present in monolithic
kernels.
An exokernel is a type of operating system where
the kernel is limited to extending resources to sub
operating systems called LibOS's. Resulting in a
very small, fast kernel environment. The theory
behind this method is that by providing as few
abstractions as possible programs are able to do
exactly what they want in a controlled
environment. Such as MS-DOS achieved through
real mode, except with paging and other modern
programming techniques.
Thank You…!!!