Unikernels and hyper-elastic clouds

Talk at CodeMesh in November 2015. See the associated blog post at:
http://amirchaudhry.com/codemesh2015

1. Unikernels
 and hyper-elastic clouds … on behalf of a merry crew: Anil Madhavapeddy, Thomas Gazagnaire, David Scott, Thomas Leonard, Richard Mortier, Magnus Skjegstad, David Sheets, Balraj Singh, Jon Crowcroft, Mindy Preston, and many others! CodeMesh November 2015 @amirmc Amir Chaudhry
2. About me Work on MirageOS (herd cats) I like systems stuff! Previously Physicist, Neuroscientist,
 CompSci (ish), Startups, BigCo. @amirmc
3. Software today… …is an application … @amirmc
4. Software today… …is an application … … on top of an Operating System. @amirmc
5. Software today… … is built locally… @amirmc
6. Software today… … is built locally… … but deployed remotely. @amirmc
7. Software today… … needs more tools. @amirmc
8. Software today… …is complex! Even though most apps are single-purpose @amirmc
9. Complexity is the enemy… More layers -> tricky config Duplication -> inefficiency Large sizes -> long boot times More stuff -> larger attack surface @amirmc
10. We build for clouds as we do for desktops Why?
11. Can we do better? @amirmc Hardware Kernel Userland App A App B App C Full OS
12. Can we do better? @amirmc Hardware Hardware Kernel Userland App A App B App C Kernel Container A Container B Container C Full OS Minimal OS
13. Can we do better? @amirmc Hardware Hardware Hardware Kernel Userland App A App B App C Kernel Container A Container B Container C Full OS Minimal OS ? Specialisation
14. Can we do better? Disentangle applications from the OS Break up OS functionality into modular libraries Link only the system functionality your app needs Target alternative platforms from a single codebase @amirmc
15. Can we do better? @amirmc Hardware Hardware Hardware Kernel Userland App A App B App C Kernel Container A Container B Container C Full OS Minimal OS ? Specialisation
16. Can we do better? @amirmc Hardware Hardware Hardware Kernel Userland App A App B App C Kernel Container A Container B Container C A B C Full OS Minimal OS Unikernels Specialisation
17. The Rise of the Unikernel Unikernels are specialised machine images built from a modular stack adding system libraries and configuration to application code Every application is compiled into its own specialised OS that runs on the cloud or embedded devices @amirmc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unikernel
18. • ClickOS • Clive • Drawbridge • HaLVM • IncludeOS • LING • MirageOS • OSv • Rumprun The Rise of the Unikernel @amirmc
19. MirageOS @amirmc
20. MirageOS unikernel } @amirmc
21. MirageOS unikernel } @amirmc Familiar development cycle Broad deployment scenarios
22. MirageOS Unix Develop logic MirageOS System Libs @amirmc
23. MirageOS Specialise for deploy… … to multiple environments @amirmc Xen
24. So what?
25. Example: Static websites (though applicable to any application)
26. Examples • Secure services • Jekyll to Unikernel • Automated deployment • Summon on demand • Upcoming releases!
28. • Rewrote TLS • Functional core • Less code Bitcoin Piñata Secure services
31. 8.2MB 102 kloc 2560 kloc ~200MB No extra stuff! Small &
 Secure! Much better security
32. Easy deployment • Jekyll to Unikernel • Automated deployment
33. Develop Deploy Test Example …in ~100 lines of code @amirmc
34. Summon on demand • Boots on demand • Masks latency • Increased Efficiency Jitsu
35. Recap • Secure services • Easy deployment • Summon on demand • Upcoming releases!
36. General workflow …in ~100 lines of code Develop Deploy Test
37. Deployments @amirmc
38. Trade-off (for now)… @amirmc
39. … however :)
40. Why I care @amirmc Empower individuals Distributed personal clouds Resilient, scalable systems
44. Why I care MirageOS (OS/application) Irmin (Storage/Sync) Signpost (Identity/Connectivity) OCaml (Safety/Modularity) Mail Contacts Calendar @amirmc
45. Contribute! @amirmc https://mirage.io http://nymote.org http://ocaml.org