https://anekoique.github.io/tags/systems/ Recent content in Systems on Anekoique's Blog Hugo -- 0.148.2 en Sun, 17 May 2026 21:00:00 +0800 https://anekoique.github.io/posts/virtualization-survey/ Sun, 17 May 2026 21:00:00 +0800 https://anekoique.github.io/posts/virtualization-survey/ A guided tour of traditional machine virtualization, organized as ten chapters from foundations through performance, plus per-system case studies grounded in source-code reading. https://anekoique.github.io/virtualization/systems/xen/ Sun, 17 May 2026 20:00:00 +0800 https://anekoique.github.io/virtualization/systems/xen/ Canonical paravirtualizing Type-1 hypervisor. PV/HVM/PVH modes contrasted side by side across CPU, memory, I/O, cross-domain communication, and VM management. The disaggregated shape in production form. https://anekoique.github.io/virtualization/history/ Sun, 17 May 2026 19:00:00 +0800 https://anekoique.github.io/virtualization/history/ A historical preface to the survey, organized into five eras from IBM CP-40 (1964) through modern microVMs and language-isolated systems. Anchors each era in the papers that invented the techniques later chapters treat as ambient. https://anekoique.github.io/virtualization/foundations/ Sun, 17 May 2026 18:00:00 +0800 https://anekoique.github.io/virtualization/foundations/ What virtualization is, why it is used, and the Popek–Goldberg condition for virtualizability. Sets up the trap-and-emulate discipline that the rest of the survey treats as ambient context. https://anekoique.github.io/virtualization/taxonomy/ Sun, 17 May 2026 17:00:00 +0800 https://anekoique.github.io/virtualization/taxonomy/ The four largely-independent axes of VMM design: placement (Type 1 vs Type 2), guest interface (full vs paravirtual), hardware support (VT-x, EPT, IOMMU), and isolation boundary (hardware, software, language). https://anekoique.github.io/virtualization/vmm-architecture/ Sun, 17 May 2026 16:00:00 +0800 https://anekoique.github.io/virtualization/vmm-architecture/ The recurring component set inside a VMM (vCPU, memory, device, interrupt/timer, exit handler, control plane) and the three architectural shapes (monolithic, hosted, disaggregated) they organize into. https://anekoique.github.io/virtualization/cpu/ Sun, 17 May 2026 15:00:00 +0800 https://anekoique.github.io/virtualization/cpu/ How guest code actually runs on a physical CPU: trap-and-emulate, binary translation, paravirtualization, and hardware-assisted virtualization (VT-x, AMD-V). Plus vCPU scheduling, gang scheduling, and the exit-cost story. https://anekoique.github.io/virtualization/memory/ Sun, 17 May 2026 14:00:00 +0800 https://anekoique.github.io/virtualization/memory/ From shadow page tables to nested paging (EPT, NPT), with the overcommit toolbox: demand allocation, ballooning, content-based page sharing, hypervisor swapping, idle-memory taxation. https://anekoique.github.io/virtualization/io/ Sun, 17 May 2026 13:00:00 +0800 https://anekoique.github.io/virtualization/io/ Full device emulation vs paravirtual (virtio + vhost) vs direct assignment (SR-IOV). The order-of-magnitude performance spread, the role of IOMMU, APICv, and posted interrupts, and how all three coexist in production. https://anekoique.github.io/virtualization/communication/ Sun, 17 May 2026 12:00:00 +0800 https://anekoique.github.io/virtualization/communication/ Hypercalls, microkernel IPC, shared-memory rings, grant tables, capabilities — the substrate every non-monolithic VMM is built on. Cost anatomy of boundary crossings and why disaggregation lives or dies by it. https://anekoique.github.io/virtualization/vm-management/ Sun, 17 May 2026 11:00:00 +0800 https://anekoique.github.io/virtualization/vm-management/ The operational layer: lifecycle, snapshotting, pre-copy / post-copy live migration, high-availability replication (Remus), microVMs (Firecracker), and fleet orchestration. How operational requirements shape VMM architecture. https://anekoique.github.io/virtualization/performance/ Sun, 17 May 2026 10:00:00 +0800 https://anekoique.github.io/virtualization/performance/ What virtualization actually costs on modern hardware. CPU, memory, I/O, scheduling, and memory-pressure overhead components, and the residual costs that two decades of hardware extensions have not eliminated.