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Unikernels!
… on behalf of a merry crew: Anil Madhavapeddy, Thomas Gazagnaire, David Scott, Thomas Leonard, Richard Mortier, Magnus Skjegstad, David Sheets, Balraj Singh, Jon Crowcroft, Mindy Preston,
and many others!
PolyConfJuly 2015
@amirmc
Amir Chaudhry
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Overview
Unikernels
Intro
Why I care
Deployments / Other work
• What they are
• Why they matter
• Example scenario (static websites)
Unikernels
@amirmc
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Overview
PM in OCaml Labs (I herd cats)
Community for MirageOS (moar cats)
I like systems stuff!
Background: Physicist, Neuroscientist, CompSci (ish), Startups, BigCo.
@amirmc
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Software today…
…is an application …
@amirmc
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Software today…
…is an application …
… on top of an Operating System.
@amirmc
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Software today…
… is built locally…
@amirmc
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Software today…
… is built locally… … but deployed remotely.
@amirmc
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Software today…… needing more tools.
@amirmc
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Software today…
…is complex!
Even though most apps are single-purpose
@amirmc
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Complexity is the enemy…
More layers -> tricky configDuplication -> inefficiencyLarge sizes -> long boot timesMore stuff -> larger attack surface
@amirmc
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Why build for clouds as we do for desktops?
Can we do better?
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Can we do better?
Disentangle applications from the OS
Break up OS functionality into modular libraries
Link only the system functionality your app needs
Target alternative platforms from a single codebase
@amirmc
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The Rise of the Unikernel
Unikernels are specialised virtual machine images built from a modular stack adding system libraries and configuration to application code
Every application is compiled into its own specialised OS that runs on the cloud or embedded devices
MirageOS
@amirmc
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MirageOS
unikernel}
@amirmc
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MirageOS
unikernel}
Familiar development cycle
Broad deployment scenarios
@amirmc
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MirageOSUnix
Develop logic MirageOS System Libs
@amirmc
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MirageOSXen
Specialise for deploy… … to multiple environments
@amirmc
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Example: Static websites(though applicable to any application)
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SMALL!@amirmc
8.2MB102 kloc 2560 kloc
~200MB
No extra stuff!
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@amirmc
Pluto
just considering areas of the circles :)
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Develop DeployTest
Heroku for Unikernels
Walkthrough
@amirmc
…in ~100 lines of code
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Heroku for Unikernels
General workflow
@amirmc
…in ~100 lines of code
Develop DeployTest
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Deployments@amirmc
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Trade-off (for now)@amirmc
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Why I care@amirmc
Empower individualsDistributed personal cloudsResilient, scalable systems
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Cloud Feudal Computing
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@amirmc
MirageOS (OS/application)
Irmin (Storage/Sync)
Signpost (Identity/Connectivity)
OCaml (Safety/Modularity)
Mail
Contacts
Calendar
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Contribute!@amirmc
https://mirage.iohttp://nymote.orghttp://ocaml.org