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Merge pull request #14 from jbreitbart/master

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README rewording. :)
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Stefan Lankes 2016-03-31 19:29:43 +02:00
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README.md
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# HermitCore - A lightweight extreme-scale satellite kernel
The project [HermitCore](http://www.hermitcore.org) has just initiated and is [unikernel](http://unikernel.org) for high-performance computing.
HermitCore extends the multi-kernel approach and combines it with unikernel features while providing better programmability and scalability for hierarchical systems.
By starting a HermitCore applications, cores will be split off from the Linux system and the applications run bare-metal on these cores.
This promise a lower OS jitter and a better scalability.
Between HermitCore applications and the Linux system exist an IP interface, which could be used for inter-kernel communication.
The project [HermitCore](http://www.hermitcore.org) is new [unikernel](http://unikernel.org) targeting high-performance computing.
HermitCore extends on the multi-kernel approach with unikernel features to provide better programmability and scalability for hierarchical systems.
By starting HermitCore applications, cores will be split off from the Linux system and the applications run bare-metal on these cores.
This approach achieves a lower OS jitter and a better scalability.
HermitCore applications and the Linux system can communicate via an IP interface (e.g. inter-kernel communication).
HermitCore is the result of a research project at RWTH Aachen University and is currently an experimental approach and not production ready. Please use it carefully.
HermitCore is the result of a research project at RWTH Aachen University and is currently an experimental approach, i.e. not production ready. Please use it carefully.
## Requirements
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## Building and testing HermitCore within a virtual machine
0. Please make sure that you cloned this repository and all its submodules.
1. The build process works currently only on x86-based Linux systems.
2. To configure the system, run the *configure* script in the directory, which contains this *README*. Fine tuning of the installation directories e.g. with the flag `--prefix` is currently not supported. HermitCore, the cross-compiler and the demo applications will be installed in subdirectories of this repository.
3. The command `make` build the Linux kernel, the HermitCore kernel, the corss-compiler and the demo applications.
4. To start a virtual machine and to boot a small Linux version use the command `make qemu`. Per default, the virtual machine has 10 cores, 2 NUMA nodes and 8 GByte RAM. To increase or to decrease the machine size, the label `qemu` in the Makefile has to be modified.
5. Afterwards, a small Linux system should run, which already includes the patches for HermitCore. For each NUMA node (= HermitCore isle) is in `/sys/hermit` a directory `isleX` created, where `X` represents the number of the NUMA node. The demo applications are located in the directory `/hermit` and possess the file extension `_proxy`. These applications are Linux proxies, in which the HermitCore binaries are embedded. By starting the Linux proxies, the embedded HermitCore binaries will be automatically started on isle 0 with cpu 1. To change the default behavior, the environment variable `HERMIT_ISLE` is used to specify the (memory) location of the isle, while the environment variable `HERMIT_CPUS` is used to specify the cores. For instance, `HERMIT_ISLE=1 HERMIT_CPUS="3-5" /hermit/usr/hello` starts a HelloWorld demo on the HermitCore isle 1, which used the cores 3 to 5. The output messages are forwarded to the Linux proxy and printed on the Linux system.
5. Inside the VM runs a small Linux system, which already includes the patches for HermitCore. For each NUMA node (= HermitCore isle) is a directory called `isleX` in `/sys/hermit` , where `X` represents the number of the NUMA node. The demo applications are located in the directory `/hermit` and possess the file extension `_proxy`. These applications are Linux proxies, in which the HermitCore binaries are embedded. By starting the Linux proxies, the embedded HermitCore binaries will be automatically started on isle 0 with cpu 1. To change the default behavior, the environment variable `HERMIT_ISLE` is used to specify the (memory) location of the isle, while the environment variable `HERMIT_CPUS` is used to specify the cores. For instance, `HERMIT_ISLE=1 HERMIT_CPUS="3-5" /hermit/usr/hello` starts a HelloWorld demo on the HermitCore isle 1, which used the cores 3 to 5. The output messages are forwarded to the Linux proxy and printed on the Linux system.
6. HermitCore's kernel messages of `isleX` are available via `cat /sys/hermit/isleX/log`, where `X` represents the isle.
7. It exists an virtual IP devices between HermitCore isles and the Linux system (see output of `ifconfig`). Per default, the Linux system has the IP address `192.168.28.1`. The HermitCore isles starts with the IP address `192.168.28.2` for isle 0 and is increased by one for every isle.
8. Hermit applications are available at `/hermit/usr/{tests,benchmarks}` which is a shared directory between the host and QEmu.