Documentation

• Getting Started with the x-kernel: Describes how to intall and start using the x-kernel without first learning everything there is to know about it. Once you have a version of the x-kernel that builds and runs, it is much easier to start playing with the various features and options discussed in the Programmer's Manual (see above). Click here for a postscript version of this tutorial.

• x-kernel Programmer's Manual: A comprehensive, although somewhat cryptic, reference manual. It is intended for users that are already familiar with the x-kernel. Click here for a postscript version of this manual.

• x-kernel Tutorial: Teaches you how to write x-kernel protocols. It includes examples from several existing protocols. This tutorial borrows liberally from Computer Networks: A Systems Approach (see below). Click here for a postscript version of this tutorial.

• Computer Networks: A Systems Approach: An introductory networking text book published by Morgan Kaufmann Publishers. Uses the x-kernel to illustrate how to design and implement network protocols.

• x-sim User's Manual: Describes how the x-kernel can be run as a network simulator rather than on top of a real network. This simulator, called x-sim, provides a complete and realistic framework for developing, analyzing, and testing network protocols. Click here for a postscript version of this document.

• The x-kernel was originally described in a pair of research papers. These are a good place to start to understand the motivation and design rationale behind the x-kernel.

  • [Hutc91] N. C. Hutchinson and L. L. Peterson. The x-Kernel: An architecture for implementing network protocols. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 17(1):64-76, Jan. 1991.

  • [O'Ma92] S. W. O'Malley and L. L. Peterson. A dynamic network architecture. ACM Transactions on Computer Systems, 10(2):110-143, May 1992.

• Various components of the x-kernel are described in detail in a collection of design documents. Note that it is not necessary to understand how these components are implemented in order to write protocols; these reports are intended for advanced users that want to know more about how the x-kernel is implemented.

  • Message Library Design Notes

  • Map Library Design Notes