KylinX: A Dynamic Library Operating System for Simplified and Efficient Cloud Virtualization

Authors: 

Yiming Zhang, NiceX Lab, NUDT; Jon Crowcroft, University of Cambridge; Dongsheng Li and Chengfen Zhang, NUDT; Huiba Li, Alibaba; Yaozheng Wang and Kai Yu, NUDT; Yongqiang Xiong, Microsoft; Guihai Chen, SJTU

Abstract: 

Unikernel specializes a minimalistic LibOS and a target application into a standalone single-purpose virtual machine (VM) running on a hypervisor, which is referred to as (virtual) appliance. Compared to traditional VMs, Unikernel appliances have smaller memory footprint and lower overhead while guaranteeing the same level of isolation. On the downside, Unikernel strips off the process abstraction from its monolithic appliance and thus sacrifices flexibility, efficiency, and applicability.

This paper examines whether there is a balance embracing the best of both Unikernel appliances (strong isolation) and processes (high flexibility/efficiency). We present KylinX, a dynamic library operating system for simplified and efficient cloud virtualization by providing the pVM (process-like VM) abstraction. A pVM takes the hypervisor as an OS and the Unikernel appliance as a process allowing both page-level and library-level dynamic mapping. At the page level, KylinX supports pVM fork plus a set of API for inter-pVM communication (IpC). At the library level, KylinX supports shared libraries to be linked to a Unikernel appliance at runtime. KylinX enforces mapping restrictions against potential threats. KylinX can fork a pVM in about 1.3 ms and link a library to a running pVM in a few ms, both comparable to process fork on Linux (about 1 ms). Latencies of KylinX IpCs are also comparable to that of UNIX IPCs.

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BibTeX
@inproceedings {216079,
author = {Yiming Zhang and Jon Crowcroft and Dongsheng Li and Chengfen Zhang and Huiba Li and Yaozheng Wang and Kai Yu and Yongqiang Xiong and Guihai Chen},
title = {{KylinX}: A Dynamic Library Operating System for Simplified and Efficient Cloud Virtualization},
booktitle = {2018 USENIX Annual Technical Conference (USENIX ATC 18)},
year = {2018},
isbn = {ISBN 978-1-939133-01-4},
address = {Boston, MA},
pages = {173--186},
url = {https://www.usenix.org/conference/atc18/presentation/zhang-yiming},
publisher = {USENIX Association},
month = jul
}

Presentation Audio