GASSHOPPER OPERATING SYSTEMS
GRASSHOPPERS AN (INTRODUCTION)
OVERVIEW
ORTHOGONAL PERSISTENCE
CONTAINERS LOCI CONTAINER MAPPING CAPABILITIES DATA MANAGEMENT SUMMARY
WHAT IS
WHY
GRASSHOPPER IS AN OPERATING SYSTEM THAT IS BEING DEVELOPED AS A JOINT EFFORT BY UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY AND UNIVERSITY OF STIRLING. TWO PROFESSORS (JHON ROSENBERG UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY AND ALAN DEARLEY UNIVERSITY OF STIRLING ) TOGETHER WITH THREE GRADUATE ASSISTANTS(DAVID HULSE,ANDERS LINDSTORM AND STEPHEN NORRIS) ARE WORKING ON GRASSHOPPER. IT IS NOT ONY AN OS BUT ALSO AN OS THAT SUPPORTS ORTHOGONAL PERSISTENCE.
GRASSHOPPERS RELIES ON THREE POWERFUL ABSTRACTIONS,CONTAINERS,LOCI,AND CAPABILITIES.
MOST EXISTING OPERATING SYSTEM SUFFER FROM THE DISCONTINUTY BETWEEN PERMANENT AND TEMPORARY DATA,LACK OF RESILIENCE TO FALIURE. IN CONVENTIONAL OSS PERMENANT DARA MUST BE ACCESED VIA THE FILES SYSTEM AND IT IS NOT CONSISTENT WITH DATA IN THE VIRTUAL MEMORY.
RESILIENCE OF DATA AND COMPUTATIONS IS ESSENTIAL FOR MANY APPLICATIONS. THAT WHERE GRASSHOPPER COMES IN ORTHOGANAL PERISTENCE AND RESILIENCE.
WHAT IS ORTHOGONAL PERISTNECE?
IN 1981 ATIKISON PROPESED THAT ALL DATA IN A SYSTEM SHOULD PERISIT FOR AS LONG AS THEY REQUIRED.HE CALLED THE ASPECT OF LONGETIVITY PERSITENCE. HE ALSO PROPOSED THAT ALL THE DATA SHOULD BE TREATED UNIFORMLY REGARDLESS OF THE LENGTH OF TIME IT HAS PERSISTED,THAT IS THE PERSISTENCE OF DATA IS ORTHOGONAL TO ITS OTHER ATTRIBUTES SIZE,TYPE AND OWNERSHIP. ORTHOGONAL PERSISTENCE HAS TWO PRINCIPLES: DATA MAY PERISIT FOR AS LONG OR A SHORT AS IT IS REQUIRED - THE OBJECTS ARE MANIPULATED IN THE SAME MANNER REGARDLESS OF THE TIME THEY HAVE PERISITED.
ARCHITECTURE OF GRASSHOPPER
RELIES ON THREE BASIC ABSTRACTIONS-CONTAINERS THESE PROVIDE THE ONLY ABSTRACTIONS ON THE STORAGE.IT COMBINES THE ADDRESS SPACES AND FILES SYSTEM ELIMINATING THE NEED FOR THE COMPLEX FILE SYSTEMS.
-LOCI THIS IS AN ABSTRACTION OVER THE EXECUTION.IT HANDLES PROCESS AND IT SIMPLEY CONTAINS THE CONTENTS OF REGISTERS OF THE MACHINE. -CAPABILIETIES
THESE PROVIDES INTER CONTAINER COMMUNICATIONS.IT CONSISTES OF A UNIQUE NAME(KEY),RIGHTS ASSOCIATED WITH THAT CAPABILITY.DETERMINES WHAT OPERATIONS CAN BE PERFORMED ON A SYSTEM
CONTAINERS ARE THE SINGLE ABSTRACTION OVER STORAGE .THEY MAY ELIMINATE THE NEED FOR THE FILE SYSTEM AND ADDRESS SPACE. IN ORTHOGONAL PERSISTENT SYSTEMS,USING CONTAINER ELIMINATE THE NEED FOR PROGRAMMERS TO KNOW THE LOCATION OF DATA.THIS MEANS THAT WHETHER DATA IS IN RAM OR BACKING STORAGE,PROGRAMMER PERCIEVES NO DIFFRENCE.
THIS RAISES THE QUESTION OF ADDRESSING IN ORTHOGONAL SYSTEMS.THERE THREE MODELS EMPLOYED. -SINGLE FLAT ADDRESS SPACE -SINGLE PARTITIONED ADDRESS SPACE -FULLY PARTIONED ADDRESS SPACE.
CONTAINERS
MORE CONTAINERS
SINGLE FLAT ADDRESS SPACE-THIS IS SIMILAR TO CONVENTIONAL OSS.IN THIS MODEL ALL DATA RESIDES IN A SINGLE ADDRESS SPACE WITH NO STRUCTURE IMPOSED. -THIS IS A LIMITATION ON THE SIZE OF ADDRESS SPACE.BUT WITH THE ADVENT OF 64BIT ADDRESS SPACE IS RETAINED.HOWEVER,THIS ADDRESS SPACE IS POSSIBLE.
SINGLE PARTITIONED
-THIS IDEA OF A LARGE ADDRESS SPACE IS RETAINED.HOWEVER,THIS ADDRESS SPACE IS PARTITIONED INTO SEMI INDEPENDENT REGIONS.THESE REGIONS CONTAIN LOGICALLY RELATED SET OF DATA.
FULLY PARTITIONED ADDRESS SPACE
-THE STORE IS FULLY PARTITIONED WITH EACH ADDRESS BEING TREATED AS AN INSTANCE OF THE FLAT ADDRESS SPACE.
LOCI
LOCI ARE THE AGENTS OF CHANGE IN THE GRASSHOPPER.THESE ARE PROCESSES. IN THE SEMINAR FORM,THEY ARE THE CONTENT OF THE REGISTERS. EACH LOCI IS ASSOCIATED WITH A HOST CONTAINER.THE LOCUS EXECUTES IN ONLY ONE CONTAINER(HOST CONTAINER)AT TIME BUT CAN MOVE FROM CONTAINER TO CONTAINER.THIS IS DONE BY LOCUS INVOCATION. THERE ARE TWO METHODS OF INTERACTIONS BETWEEN ENTITIES IN AN OPERATING SYSTEM. -MESSAGE ORIENTED
-PROCEDURE ORIENTED.
INVOCATION
A CONTAINER MAY INCLUDE A SINGLE ENTRY POINT AS ONE OF ITS ATTRIBUTE.THIS POINT IS KNOWN AS INVOCATION POINT. WHEN A LOCUS INVOKES A CONTAINER,IT BEGINS TO EXECUTE THE CODE AT THE INVOCATION POINT. A LOCUS MAY INVOKE AND RETURN THROUGH MANY CONTAINERS. THE KERNAL MAINTAINS A CALL CHAIN OF INVOCATIONS BETWEEN CONTAINERS. WHEN THE LOCUS RETURNS TO THE ROOT CONTAINER IT IS DELETED. HOWEVER,IF A LOCUS DOES NOT NEED TO RETURN TO THE ROOT CONTAINER IT,THE INVOKE PARAMETER INFORMS THE KERNAL NOT TO KEEP A CHAIN OF INVOCATIONS
CAPABILITIES
CAPABILITIES PROVIDE INTER PROCESS(CONTAINER)COMMUNICATIONS.EACH CONTAINER AND LOCI CONTAINS A LIST OF CAPABILITIES. THE LIST CONSITS OF UNIQUE KEY(NAME),THE OPERATIONS WHICH THAT CONTAINER AND LOCI ARE ALLOWED TO PERFORM IN A SYSTEM. WHEN CODE EXECUTED BY A LOCUS CALL FOR THE MANIPULATION OF ANOTHER OBJECT,A LIST OF CAPABILITIES MUST BE PRESENTED.THIS IDENTIFIES THE CALLING OBJECTS AND THE OPERATIONS IT IS ALLOWED TO PERFORM.
MORE CAPABILITIES
THE ONLY WAY AN OPERATION CAN BE PERFORMED IS BY THAT OPERATION PROVIDING A VALID CAPABILITY.
CAPABILITIES DERIVE THEIR POWER FROM TWO POINTS
-NAMES ARE UNIQUE -CAPABILITIES CANNOT BE FORGED. THEY ARE CREATED AND MODIFIED BY THE SYSTEM IN CONTROLLED MANNER.
OF GREAT IMPORTANCE IN GRASSHOPPER IS HOW TO GIVE LOCI DIRECT ACCESS TO DATA AND PROVIDE RESILENCE AND RECOVERY. AT PRESENT THE CONTAINER ABSTRACTION IS IMPLEMENTED USING USER LEVEL ENTITIES CALLED CONTAINER MANAGERS. GRASSHOPPER KERNAL IMPLEMENTS 3 ADTS THAT ALLOW THE CONTAINER ABSTRACTION TO WORK. -DISKS-ALLOW CONTAINER MANAGERS TO ACCESS PHYSICAL DISKS. -PHYSICAL PAGE SETS-ALLOW FOR MEMORY MANIPULATION -LOCAL CONTAINER DESCRIPTORS(LCDS)-ARE USED TO STORE ADDRESS TRANSLATION INFORMATION SUCH AS THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN VIRTUAL AND PHYSICAL ADDRESS.
