Mainstream operating systems and integrated component architecture

Mainstream Operating Systems

Analysis of the Windows 7 Operating System

The intent of this analysis is to evaluate how the Windows 7 operating system has been designed to ensure all components are integrated at the thread and memory process level, ensuring secure operation and optimized memory management. As a result, this analysis will look at the center of the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system, its kernel, and the integrative aspects of the kernel structure and performance. The MinWin kernel also serves as the basis for how Windows 7 manages the Guest Virtual Machine (GVM) and Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM), two critical areas of the overall operating system responsible for synchronizing I/O and file management and managing scheduling of tasks (Wildstrom, 2009).

Analysis of the Windows 7 Operating System

For Microsoft to abandon its traditional approaches of defining memory management through a multi-threaded and often pre-emptive memory management design, the recognition of how critical it was from a design standpoint to stay in parity with UNIX and Linux is seen in the Windows 7 design (Spring, 2008). The concept of a kernel is predicated on recompilation of key system attributes during each run-time, in effect re-configuring and customizing the system with each boot-up sequence (Phillips, 1996). Microsoft made the decision to create the MinWin kernel architecture as it is configurable prior to run-time in an attempt to compete with the functionality of Apple's OS X, the many variations of UNIX and the greatest threat to Microsoft, open-source Linux operating systems as well (Wildstrom, 2009). Another factor Microsoft took into account in moving to a more kernel-based architecture in their latest operating system was the need to emulate virtualization across multiple process streams while retaining compatibility for the previous generation Win16 and Win32 API development architectures (Bradley, 2009). Microsoft also embraced the kernel concept due to the need to stabilize the rapidly changing nature of its IRQ interrupt structure which had for well over a decade served as the means for the operating system to arbitrate for resources in order to complete I/O tasks (Forgione, Smith 1993).

From a process, thread, memory management, task scheduling and I/O process management standpoint, the Windows 7 MinWin kernel is specifically designed to ensure compatibility to the Windows XP Host Virtual Machine (HVM), which introduced the concept of pre-emptive multitasking including arbitration and control of memory threads at 16-, 32- and 64-bit lengths vs. The cooperative multi-tasking of the clearly enterprise-class operating systems Windows produced (Forgione, Smith 1993). All of these design requirements were seen by Microsoft as critical for moving beyond the limitations of their legacy operating system designs that had been predicated on outdated concepts of computer users being only interested in personal productivity or light collaboration, not enterprise-class support (Bradley, 2009).

As a result the interprocess coordination and organization of the MinWin kernel was specifically designed to support, the inclusion of the Guest Virtual Machine (GVM), Guest Kernel Mode and Kernel Mode platform were essential to preserve compatibility while also creating the foundation for supporting a Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM) (Wildstrom, 2009). These components are what form the foundation of the synchronization agent and order state engine that tracks processes, threads, memory management usage, scheduling and also manages calls for I/O as well. In addition, the Guest Virtual Machine (GVM) part of the Windows 7 manages a virtualization agent to coordinate the functions of multithreaded applications, each requiring a specific segment of time and resources from the kernel in order to be completed.

For Microsoft, the challenge was creating a kernel in Windows 7 capable of keeping up with the advanced designs from Linux and UNIX operating systems. What Microsoft did was design the kernel to support a structural element that allowed for more efficient virtualization across shared and dedicated memory, in effect creating partitions capable of managing the overall flex of memory requirements (Arar, 2008). Microsoft further capitalized on this by concentrating on how best to streamline the Microsoft .NET development platform, further accelerating performance on the Windows 7 desktop and server operating systems (Wildstrom, 2009). This strategy worked as it gave Microsoft the opportunity to create a highly differentiated system level of performance wills also ensuring backward compatibility to previous generation applications and their respective API calls (Bradley, 2009). Microsoft also took the added step of ensuring the MinWin kernel could also manage a high level of transaction activity while also staying synchronized to the many processes, threads, memory management, control of I/O devices and also the detecting and responding to threats as well. The MinWin kernel was designed to support a series of components which would specifically allow for these Transaction Coordinator, Logging Service, Kernel Transaction Manager and Lightweight Transactions Web Services set, Microsoft is deliberately designing the ancillary kernel modules to make Windows 7 more of a development platform for Web Services than any previous generation of any Windows 32-bit or 64-based operating system. This has the net effect of creating a scalable platform for Microsoft .NET, Active Service Pages, XML and 3rd party system integration at the API level, further extending the functionality of the Windows 7 operating system. It also gave the usability engineers at Microsoft greater flexibility and freedom in how they design the overall look and feel of the operating system itself, significantly increasing its performance in the process (Spring, 2008).

The MinWin kernel is also specifically designed to be backward compatible with the Kerberos security platform and API calls from previous Microsoft operating systems as well (Wildstrom, 2009). This approach to backward compatibility from a secur8ity standpoint also leads to a greater level of API support in .NET and Active Service Pages (ASP) applications based on the Windows 7 APIs and data structures (Spring, 2008). The development of this approach to counteracting malware provides Internet browsers with a much higher degree of control and analytical insight into troubleshooting security events. Symantec and other enterprise software companies rely on these APIs in Windows 7 to more clearly delineate patterns and probable series of events malware-based attacks generate (Wildstrom, 2009). In conjunction with these approaches to minimizing malware and security threats, the MinWin kernel has specifically been designed to provide pre-emptive multi-tasking of specific threads that exhibit unpredictable performance or the request for resources not consistent with the functioning of applications over time. The use of constraint-based technologies to create more effective monitoring and evaluation systems for ensuring system security continue to be developed (Wildstrom, 2009). The use of APIs and advanced security routines for managing the overall performance of .NET and ASP-based applications will continued to dominate the Windows 7 operating system roadmap as well (Lamb, 2006). Finally, Microsoft has also created a series of APIs specifically for enterprise-level integration of authentication, malware detection and quarantine, and a heavy reliance on a series of advanced API calls for monitoring patterns of system access and use at the disk I/O level specifically (Wildstrom, 2009). Microsoft in short has made security part of the innate design structure of the operating system itself.