Lens: Experiencing Multi-level Page Tables at Close Quarters
Pages 105 - 111
Abstract
Practical understanding of the working of different sub-systems of the operating system (OS) is crucial to develop a comprehensive understanding of computing systems. Virtual memory mechanisms such as virtual to physical memory translation using multi-level page tables are commonly found in most computing devices, ranging from hand-held devices to desktops and servers. From the pedagogy perspective, one of the primary challenges in explaining virtual to physical address translation through practical demonstrations is the dependency of virtual memory sub-system on the underlying hardware architecture. Furthermore, complicated, diverse, and ever-evolving nature of the multi-level page table support for address translation presents non-trivial challenges for educators to enable a smooth journey for the students from conceptual understanding to hands-on programming experience.
While there are some system utilities to capture information related to virtual memory and address translation in open-source OSes such as Linux, these utilities are not designed for education and learning. In this paper, we propose an educational tool, Lens, to assist students in understanding the virtual memory concepts along with the process of virtual to physical address translation using multi-level page tables. Lens provides a simple, flexible, and intuitive interface which can be used to develop a holistic understanding of virtual to physical memory address translation using multi-level page tables by correlating execution of simple C programs with OS-level status of the multi-level page tables.
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Index Terms
- Lens: Experiencing Multi-level Page Tables at Close Quarters
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December 2023
180 pages
ISBN:9798400700484
DOI:10.1145/3576882
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Published: 05 December 2023
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