Advanced Operating Systems

By the end, you can

• Explain the privilege boundary and why the kernel is the Trusted Computing Base.
• Compare monolithic and microkernel designs: what lives where, the cost of IPC, and the reliability trade-off.
• Describe the exokernel philosophy and how a library OS gives apps control over OS policy.
• Explain what a unikernel is, its benefits (tiny image, fast boot, small attack surface), and its limitations.
• Trace the eBPF pipeline: write → verify → attach, and state the two guarantees the verifier checks.
• Contrast VM and container isolation and articulate why containers have a weaker boundary.
• Place all designs on the single axis the lesson names: where should the code live, and how much do we trust it? — ranging from monolithic kernels (all services in privileged kernel space) to microkernels (a minimal trusted core with services pushed into user space).