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Inferno

Distributed Programming With Inferno

Larry Rau Member of Technical Staff Inferno Network Software Solutions Lucent Technologies, Inc larryr@lucent.com http://www.lucent.com/inferno
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Inferno

The Inferno OS

Lightweight OS for networked devices

portable -- StrongARM, PowerPC, x86, MIPS, SPARC. Integrated DIS VM -- supports portable machine independent code modules. Provides distributed computing capability through Namespace and Styx Technologies Authentication and Encryption between nodes.
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Distributed Computing Capabilities

Inferno

The Inferno OS is built around a unique method of distributed computing

All resources represented as files A dynamically adjustable namespace The Styx file access protocol

Inferno File Systems

Inferno

Inferno views virtually everything as a file system

network interface: /dev/tcp, /dev/udp,... process information: /prog window system: /dev/draw information: /dev/user, /dev/time, /dev/sysname, /dev/random,.

Example: TCP Interface

Inferno

Access a TCP/IP network by manipulating the following files:

puck$ ls /net/tcp/0 /net/tcp/0/ctl /net/tcp/0/data /net/tcp/0/listen /net/tcp/0/local /net/tcp/0/remote /net/tcp/0/status

Example: /dev/draw
Inferno

Access to the Inferno windowing system is via another file system:

puck$ ls /dev/draw/2 /dev/draw/2/ctl /dev/draw/2/data /dev/draw/2/refresh

Other existing file systems

Inferno

telfs: interface to telephony device Mfs: message store file system asr: interface to speech recognition

Why file systems?

Inferno

Simple concept
familiar access methods: open, read, write, etc.

language neutral access Easy to distribute

The Inferno Namespace

Inferno

The Inferno Namespace is a hierarchical collection of files (I.e. resources). Every process accesses its resources via its own namespace
can inherit from parent share with other processes

Local and remote resources are bound into the namespace.

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Primary Namespace Operations

Inferno

BIND MOUNT EXPORT

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The BIND Namespace Operation

Inferno

Attaches local resources to the namespace Moves a resource within the namespace Can hide resources by binding over Binding a directory can result in a Union Directory

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Union Directories
Inferno

A directory whose contents are a combination of the source and destination Directories can be stacked where the contents of one hide the contents of others. When binding you have the option of adding before or after the current contents
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Union Directories
Inferno
/

tmp

A
F1 A1 A2

...
Y
F1 F2 F3

Z
F2 A1 B1

...

...

...

...
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Union Directories
Inferno

/
A
F1 A1 A2

Z
F2 A1 B1

bind -b /tmp/Y /A bind -a /tmp/Z /A ...

... ...

A
F1 A1 F2 A2 F3

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The MOUNT Namespace Operation

Inferno

Attaches a remote file system to the namespace Equivalent to a remote attach to obtain the remote file systems root followed by a BIND operation Mount initiates a Styx connection over an established network connection Net connection can be authenticated
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Mounting A Remote Node

Inferno

Establish a network connection: TCP, Serial, ATM, etc.

[optional] Mutually authenticate the connection and establish session keys for encryption of all communication
Establish a Styx session: this obtains the root of the remote file system

Node1

Node2

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The EXPORT Namespace Operation

Inferno

Present the current namespace to remote clients Listens on a network connection for a Styx session request Accepts the mount by providing access to the root of the namespace Continually responds to client file requests via the Styx protocol
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Exporting a Namespace
Inferno

Obtain a network connection: TCP Listen, etc

[optional] Perform mutual authentication and encryption key setup

Wait for Styx session request
Node1 Node2

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Mini-Summary
Inferno

Represent all local resources as file systems Namespace provides a single, dynamically configured, hierarchical view of all resources (I.e. file systems) Remote resources attached to the namespace

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Writing Applications
Inferno

Applications access resources by accessing files within the namespace Use familiar file access functions Access is independent of how the files got in the namespace -- local,remote, who cares!

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Writing File Systems

Inferno

Inferno drivers: C modules linked with the kernel Limbo programs using the file2chan() system call
makes use of srv device (I.e. file system)

Limbo written Synthetic File Systems InfernoSpaces

Java class library C library
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Application Advantages
Inferno

Applications can assume location of resources: open(/x/y,) Resources can be configured prior to running the applications -- (I.e. an administrative chore) No explicit networking code required Allows for network independent distributed computing
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The Styx Protocol

Inferno

A simple file access protocol Message passing: transmit-reply (a Styx Transaction) Synchronous 13 message pairs + 1 error reply Assumes a reliable transport Allows overlapped transactions Mostly fixed length messages
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Styx Message Structure

Inferno
Indicates message type: initial transmission (T-message) or reply message (R-message) Unique identifier used to track commands

Unsigned integer that represents current file

Message specific data

type

tag

fid

Contents

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Styx Transactions
Inferno

NOP FLUSH CLONE WALK OPEN CREATE READ

WRITE CLUNK REMOVE STAT WSTAT ATTACH

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Summary
Inferno

Everything is a file + A method to organize files + A remote file access protocol = A Distributed Programming Model

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How is it being used

Inferno

Telephony
Call setup Device control

Text to Speech Network Gateways

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Questions
Inferno

???

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