Paper Topics

(updated Feb 7)

Below is a list of suggested contemporary OS topics, issues, and research paper references. Each student must complete 4 short paper assignments on OS topics selected from this list or on OS topics suggested by the student and approved by the instructor. Each student may complete a longer, more detailed research paper on a topic from this list (or suggested by the student and approved by the instructor) in place of the midterm or final exam.

Short papers summarize and review the topics as they relate to the core OS principles covered in class and in the textbook (processes, threads, scheduling, synchronization, memory management, I/O systems, distributed systems issues). About 4-5 pages, with appropriate references.

Long research papers explore a topic in more depth, include detailed discussion of core OS principles, and may include program/data analysis. Include appropriate references.

Thread Models

Solaris and Linux have recently moved from an MxN thread model to a 1-1 thread model. Why? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each model?

Virtual Machine Environments

Some operating systems can run other operating systems as guests or as "virtual machines". Examples include Solaris Zones and IBM mainframe LPARs on large systems, and VMware, WINE, and Lindows on smaller systems. How is this accomplished? How do the virtual environment map memory, interrupts, processes, etc to those on the host OS?

Checkpoint/Restart

Long-running programs may need to be interrupted and resumed at a later time. Discuss/explore the OS requirements to accomplish the complete stop and restart of a program. In distributed systems, processes may stop on one system, and restart on another. What OS actions are required to accomplish this?

32-bit & 64-bit Operating Systems

For years, low-end PCs and servers have used 32-bit processors, while 64-bit processors (Alpha, SPARC) have powered high-end, SMP servers. Recently, 64-bit workstations and small servers (using Intel Itanium, AMD Athlon64 and Opteron, and IBM PowerPC G5) have appeared. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of 32-bit vs 64-bit operating systems, especially memory and file size and addressability issues.

Buffer overflow

One of the most common security exploits is the "buffer overflow". How does this work? Recently (Solaris 8 and 9), Sun added the ability to turn off "stack execution". Do programs need this feature?

Memory issues (multiple topics):

Large Physical Memory

some systems can directly address an enormous physical memory space (Sun F15K can have nearly 500GB of physical memory. What are the benefits/problems with using such large memory space?

Memory Placement

When a process requests memory, the OS delivers one or more memory pages. These pages may be on the same system board as the CPU running the process, on some other system board, or, in the case of distributed memory systems, on another system. Some OS's have recently added APIs that allow allocation of memory "close" to the CPU. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of such placement.

Page Coloring
Page Size variation

Binary Execution

Some systems can execute binary code compiled for a different OS. For example, lxrun allows Solaris x86 users to execute Linux (for x86) binaries. How is this accomplished? Are there performance consequences or other limitations?

Resource Management

Modern OS's (like Solaris 9) now include a resource manager that allows administrators to limit the CPU, memory, and I/O resources allocated to users, processes, or applications, using a "Fair Share Scheduler". How does this scheduler work? What is the benefit of explicitly managing resources in this way?

CMP (Chip Multi Processing) and CMT (Chip Multi Threading)

IBM, Intel, AMD, and Sun have recently announced processors that have multiple CPUs on a single chip, and processors that can execute multiple threads per clock cycle (also called HyperThreading). OS's like Linux and Solaris view these processors as having more than one CPU for process/thread scheduling purposes. What are the advantages of this approach? What are the difficulties? (hint: caches)

Research/Industry Paper Critiques (short topics)

Summarize and critique the paper (in writing), and give a brief discussion/presentation in class. Must include discussion of relevant core OS topics:

The Wonderful World of Linux 2.6
UNIX Memory Usage, Instrumentation, and Analysis
MORE PAPERS WILL BE ADDED THROUGHOUT THE SEMESTER

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MORE TOPICS WILL BE ADDED THROUGHOUT THE SEMESTER

Project Topics

Each student is required to complete a mid-semester project and a final project. The project must include the measurement and analysis of operating system behavior.

The mid-semester project should focus on a single system and OS image, showing how an OS behaves under resource exhaustion (for example: running out of memory, maxing the CPU utilization, maxing the I/O bandwidth, running too many processes, running out of file handles or inodes). Explain what is happening within the OS as it tries to manage its resources, and how measurements of the OS behavior tell the user/administrator how to alter the system to improve behavior/performance. Do NOT use shared CS systems for this project! Use a non-shared PC or laptop.

The final project will focus on multiple, distributed systems. Details TBA.