Experiences from implementing multiprocessor support for an industrial operating system kernel

The ongoing transition from uniprocessor to multiprocessor computers requires operating system support. There is a large body of specialized operating systems which require porting in order to work on multiprocessors. In this paper we describe the design and implementation of a multiprocessor port of a cluster operating system kernel. The multiprocessor support is implemented with a giant locking scheme, which allowed us to get an initial working version with only minor changes to the original code. We also discuss performance and implementation experiences.