Scalable memory management through hierarchical symmetric multiprocessing
Ronald C. Unrau · 1993
This dissertation examines scalability issues in the design of operating systems for largescale, shared-memory multiprocessors. In particular, the thesis focuses on structuring issues as they relate to memory management. From a set of simple, well-known queuing network formulas, we derive a set of properties that describe sufficient conditions for an operating system to scale. From these properties we first develop a set of guidelines for designing scalable systems, and then develop a new structuring philosophy for shared-memory multiprocessor operating systems, called Hierarchical Symmetric Multiprocessing (HSM). HSM manages the system resources in clusters, using tight coupling within a cluster, and loose coupling across clusters. Distributed systems principles are applied by distributing and replicating system services and data objects to increase locality, increase concurrency, and to avoid centralized bottlenecks, thus making the system scalable. However, tight coupling is used wi...