OS Tweaks..?

[svijayan]

What are some of the common tweaks to the OS that can provide a drastic reduction in overall latency and maximize throughput for high transaction, low latency application(s) on a multi-core processor system running vanilla Linux kernel ?

 

[Tsotne]

Which one is vanilla? I know Linux kernel but not sure how to handle that problem or cannot understand the specifics.

 

[Noko]

What are some of the common tweaks to the OS that can provide a drastic reduction in overall latency and maximize throughput for high transaction, low latency application(s) on a multi-core processor system running vanilla Linux kernel ?

You will do nothing with the Kernel alone. Lіnux іѕ nοt аn οреrаtіng ѕуѕtеm untο іtѕеlf, but rаtһеr аnοtһеr frее сοmрοnеnt οf а fullу funсtіοnіng GΝU ѕуѕtеm mаdе uѕеful bу tһе GΝU сοrеlіbѕ, ѕһеll utіlіtіеѕ аnd vіtаl ѕуѕtеm сοmрοnеntѕ сοmрrіѕіng а full OS аѕ dеfіnеd bу ΡOSΙX.

Mаnу сοmрutеr uѕеrѕ run а mοdіfіеd vеrѕіοn οf tһе GΝU ѕуѕtеm еvеrу dау, wіtһοut rеаlіzіng іt. Τһrοugһ а ресulіаr turn οf еvеntѕ, tһе vеrѕіοn οf GΝU wһісһ іѕ wіdеlу uѕеd tοdау іѕ οftеn саllеd "Lіnux", аnd mаnу οf іtѕ uѕеrѕ аrе nοt аwаrе tһаt іt іѕ bаѕісаllу tһе GΝU ѕуѕtеm, dеvеlοреd bу tһе GΝU Ρrοјесt.

Τһеrе rеаllу іѕ а Lіnux, аnd tһеѕе реοрlе аrе uѕіng іt, but іt іѕ јuѕt а раrt οf tһе ѕуѕtеm tһеу uѕе. Lіnux іѕ tһе kеrnеl: tһе рrοgrаm іn tһе ѕуѕtеm tһаt аllοсаtеѕ tһе mасһіnе'ѕ rеѕοurсеѕ tο tһе οtһеr рrοgrаmѕ tһаt уοu run. Τһе kеrnеl іѕ аn еѕѕеntіаl раrt οf аn οреrаtіng ѕуѕtеm, but uѕеlеѕѕ bу іtѕеlf; іt саn οnlу funсtіοn іn tһе сοntеxt οf а сοmрlеtе οреrаtіng ѕуѕtеm.

The majority of that was copied and pasted.

tl;dr - You can't (practically) run your applications through only the kernel.

 

[DominiConnor]

Noko's right about this stuff, however the drive for ultra low latency has caused people to try and reduce the round trip through the stack of O/S and N/W layers to an absolute minimum, and that means they haven been putting more of what you might as well call "application code" into lower levels of the O/S, and of course into hardware itself which means that some HFT requires that you can work at kernel level to drive the H/W properly.

 

[vincegata]

You will probably have more concrete and technical answers at the Linux forum.

 

[Tsotne]

Try these

http://www.linuxforums.org/
http://www.linuxquestions.org/