Recent News
Inaugural School of Engineering Teaching Innovation Fellows selected
February 2, 2024
UNM computer scientist wins NSF CAREER Award to optimize supercomputer performance
February 1, 2024
Hand and Machine Lab’s Experimental Clay Exhibition closing celebration Nov. 17
November 15, 2023
Moses selected as special assistant to the dean for educational initiatives
October 3, 2023
News Archives
Kitchen Sink System Software, or Why Xen, like Linux, doesn't solve HEC OS problems
November 10, 2005
- Date: Thursday, November 10, 2005
- Time: 11:00-12:15pm.
- Place: Woodward 149
Prof. Patrick Bridges Department of Computer Science, University of New Mexico
Many high-end computing (HEC) systems have relied on commodity operating system solutions like Linux to provide basic system software services. Unfortunately, there are well-known problems with commodity system software in specialized environments, particularly from underlying assumptions that aren’t necessarily appropriate and the creeping featuritis induced by their general-purpose nature. Xen, a “small” virtualization layer for modern architectures has been put forth as a potential boon in specialized environments like HEC. In my talk, I will describe why Xen is beginning to suffer from the same problems that have plagued Linux in specialized environments, what I believe this means to HEC OS researchers, and discuss the limitations, uses, possible improvements to Xen for dealing with specialized environments like HEC systems.