RHD236 Red Hat Linux Kernal Internals

Course Outline

• Kernel Architecture
• Kernel Initialization
• Kernel Configuration and Compilation
• Kernel Style and General Considerations
• Modules
• System Calls
• Transferring Data Between User and Kernel Space
• Race Conditions and Synchronization Methods
• Processes and Kernel Threads
• SMP and Threads
• Process Scheduling
• Kernel Profiling and Debugging Techniques
• The /proc Filesystem
• Timing Measurements
• Dynamic Kernel Timers
• Memory Addressing
• Memory Allocation and Management
• Process Address Space
• Disk Caches
• Swapping
• Signals
• Notifiers
• CPU Frequency Scaling
• Virtualization and the Kernel
• Networking internals
• Multiplexed and Asynchronous Socket I/O
• Netfilter
• The Virtual File System
• Filesystems in User Space

The following topics are not covered in class, but are included in the course materials for background reference and/or student interest in related topics:

• Process Limits and Capabilities
• Introduction to Device Drivers
• Embedded Linux Overview
• In Kernel Web Server Acceleration
• Journaling Filesystems

Important Note:

For system administrators interested in learning how to monitor and optimize system performance and who are interested in obtaining Red Hat Certified Architect status we offer RH442 Red Hat Enterprise Systems Monitoring and Performance Tuning. This course involves high level discussions of the Linux kernel and kernel mechanisms with a focus on understanding how those mechanisms can affect system performance and understanding what can be done to alter system behavior from the command line level. Extensive programming knowledge is not required, but course attendees should have RHCE-level systems administration experience.