Supporting autonomic computing functionality via dynamic operating system kernel aspects

ABSTRACT

To master the complexity of software systems in the presence of unexpected events potentially affecting system operation, the Autonomic Computing Initiative [16] aims to build systems that have the ability to control and organize themselves to meet unforeseen changes in the hard- and software environment.The basic principles employed by autonomic computing are self-configuration, self-optimization, self-healing and self-protection. Typically, these principles are cross-cutting concerns, so an obvious approach to their realization in software is to use aspect-oriented programming (AOP). Since autonomic systems have to adapt their behavior to changing runtime conditions, a dynamic AOP approach is required to implement autonomic computing functionality.This paper introduces the TOSKANA toolkit for deploying dynamic aspects into an operating system kernel as a central part of a computer system having an overview of current system operation and resource usage. TOSKANA provides before, after and around advice for in-kernel functions and supports the specification of pointcuts as well as the implementation of aspects themselves as dynamically exchangeable kernel modules. The use of TOSKANA is demonstrated by several examples indicating the cross-cutting nature of providing autonomic computing functionality in an operating system kernel. Performance results are presented to characterize the aspect deployment overhead incurred by using TOSKANA.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.4 INFORMATION SYSTEMS APPLICATIONS

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.8 Metrics

Keywords:
NetBSD, autonomic computing, dynamic aspects, operating system kernel, organic computing