Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This book offers an exceptionally up-to-date, in-depth, and broad-based exploration of the latest advances in UNIX-based operating systems. Focusing on the design and implementation of the operating system itself -- not on the applications and tools that run on it -- this book compares and analyzes the alternatives offered by several important UNIX variants, and covers several advanced subjects, such as multi-processors and threads. Compares several important UNIX variants --highlighting the issues and alternative solutions for various operating system components . Describes advanced technologies such as multiprocessor and multithreaded systems, log- structured file systems, and modern memory architecture.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• 1 Introduction
• Introduction
• The Mandate For Change
• Looking Back, Looking Forward
• The Scope of This Book
• References
• 2 The Process and the Kernel
• Introduction
• Mode, Space, and Context
• The Process Abstraction
• Executing In Kernel Mode
• Synchronization
• Process Scheduling
• Signals
• New Processes and Programs
• Summary
• Exercises
• References
• 3 Threads and Lightweight Processes
• Introduction
• Fundamental Abstractions
• Lightweight Process Design-Issues To Consider
• User-Lever Threads Libraries
• Scheduler Activations
• Multithreading in Solaris and SVR4
• Threads In MACH
• Digital UNIX
• MACH 3.0 Continuations
• Summary
• Exercises
• References
• 4 Signals and Session Management
• Introduction
• Signal Generation and Handling
• Unreliable Signals
• Reliable Signals
• Signals in SVR4
• Signals Implementation
• Exceptions
• MACH Exception Handling
• Process Groups and Terminal Management
• The SVR4 Sessions Architecture
• Summary
• Exercises
• References
• 5 Process Scheduling.Introduction
• Clock Interrupt Handling
• Scheduler Goals
• Traditional UNIX Scheduling
• The SVR4 Scheduler
• SOLARIS 2.X Scheduling Enhancements
• Scheduling in MACH
• The Digital UNIX Real-Time Scheduler
• Other Scheduling Implementations
• Summary
• Exercises
• References
• 6 Interprocess Communications
• Introduction
• Universal IPC Facilities
• System V IPC
• MACH IPC
• Messages
• Ports
• Message Passing
• Port Operations
• Extensibility
• MACH 3.0 Enhancements
• Discussion
• Summary
• Exercises
• References
• 7 Synchronization and Multiprocessing
• Introduction
• Synchronization in Traditional UNIX Kernels
• Multiprocessor Systems
• Multiprocessor Synchronization Issues
• Semaphores
• Spin Locks
• Condition Variables
• Read-Write Locks
• Reference Counts
• Other Considerations
• Case Studies
• Summary
• Exercises
• References
• 8 File System Interface and Framework
• Introduction
• The User Interface to Files
• File Systems
• Special Files
• File System Framework
• The Vnode/VFS Architecture
• Implementation Overview
• File-System-Dependent Objects
• Mounting a File System
• Operations on Files
• Analysis
• Summary
• Exercises
• References
• 9 File System Implementations
• Introduction
• The System V File System (s5fs)
• S5fs Kernel Organization
• Analysis of S5fs
• The Berkeley Fast File System
• Hard Disk Structure
• On-Disk Organization
• FFS Functionality Enhancements
• Analysis
• Temporary File Systems
• Special-Purpose File Systems
• The Old Buffer Cache
• Summary
• Exercises
• References
• 10 Distributed File Systems
• Introduction
• General Characteristics of Distributed File Systems
• Network File System (NFS)
• The Protocol Suite
• NFS Implementation
• UNIX Semantics
• NFS Performance
• Dedicated NFS Servers
• NFS Security
• NFS Version 3
• Remote File Sharing (RFS)
• RFS Architecture
• RFS Implementation
• Client-Side Caching
• The Andrew File System
• AFS Implementation
• AFS Shortcomings
• The DCE Distributed File System (DCE DFS)
• Summary
• Exercises
• References
• 11 Advanced File Systems
• Introduction
• Limitations of Traditional File Systems
• File System Clustering (Sun-FFS)
• The Journaling Approach
• Log-Structured File Systems
• The 4.4BSD Log-Structured File System
• Metadata Logging
• The Episode File System
• Watchdogs
• The 4.4BSD Portal File System
• Stackable File System Layers
• The 4.4BSD File System Interface
• Summary
• Exercises
• References
• 12 Kernel Memory Allocation
• Introduction
• Functional Requirements
• Resource Map Allocator
• Simple Power-of-Two Free Lists
• The McKusick-Karels Allocator
• The Buddy System
• The SVR4 Lazy Buddy Algorithm
• The MACH-OSF/1 Zone Allocator
• A Hierarchical Allocator for Multiprocessors
• The Solaris 2.4 Slab Allocator
• Summary
• Exercises
• References
• 13 Virtual Memory
• Introduction
• Demand Paging
• Hardware Requirements
• 4.3BSD - A Case Study
• 4.3BSD Memory Management Operations
• Analysis
• Exercises
• References
• 14 The SVR4 VM Architecture
• Motivation
• Memory-Mapped Files
• VM Design Principles
• Fundamental Abstractions
• Segment Dr