MCS-378 Lab 2: Virtual Memory (or Journaling)

Due: November 4, 2005

You will be using the same lab facilities as in the previous project. I will assign you to a new group and will restore all the machines back to their clean state, where the experimental kernel is identical to the prep kernel. I will again put a note on each machine identifying the group it should be used by.

Explore the performance impact of virtual memory prepaging by completing Exploration Project 6.6 (page 217). Alternatively, if you find it more interesting, you can explore journaling by completing Exploration Project 5.2 (page 162).

If you elect the virtual memory experiment, be sure to think about which of the three modes will make the most interesting contrast with the unmodified kernel.

Whichever of the two projects you choose to carry out, you will need to make an important decision of what workload(s) to measure the performance of. You will also need to decide how to statistically analyze your performance results. I would be happy to consult with you on either of these topics, or any other.