Distributed Scheduling in Sombrero, A Single Address Space Distributed Operating System

iii Sombrero is a 64-bit single address space distributed operating system. It manages the set of resources in the distributed system: central processing units (CPUs), hard drives, printers, et cetera, as a single virtual system. This thesis adds a distributed scheduling mechanism to Sombrero. This distributed scheduling algorithm provides for sharing, as well as better usage of resources across the system. It allows threads in the distributed system to be scheduled among the different processors in such a manner that CPU usage is balanced. Key contributions of this research are: Using the properties of a single address space and the functionality of Sombrero to allow the threads of a multithreaded activity to be distributed individually. This is not possible in a process-oriented operating system without setting up a separate process for each activity. Determination of a reasonable distributed scheduling algorithm for the Sombrero single address space environment. Construction of a simulation of the necessary Sombrero elements e.g., nodes, routers, load tables