Monolithic System Architecture

The entire operating system works in the kernel space in the monolithic system. This increases the size of the kernel as well as the operating system. This is different than the microkernel system where the minimum software that is required to correctly implement an operating system is kept in the kernel.

A diagram that demonstrates the architecture of a monolithic system is as follows −

The kernel provides various services such as memory management, file management, process scheduling etc. using function calls. This makes the execution of the operating system quite fast as the services are implemented under the same address space.

Differences Between Microkernel and Monolithic Kernel

Some of the differences between microkernel and monolithic kernel are given as follows −

• The microkernel is much smaller in size as compared to the monolithic kernel.
• The microkernel is easily extensible whereas this is quite complicated for the monolithic kernel.
• The execution of the microkernel is slower as compared to the monolithic kernel.
• Much more code is required to write a microkernel than the monolithic kernel.
• Examples of Microkernel are QNX, Symbian, L4 Linux etc. Monolithic Kernel examples areLinux, BSD etc.

Advantages of Monolithic Kernel

Some of the advantages of monolithic kernel are −

• The execution of the monolithic kernel is quite fast as the services such as memory management, file management, process scheduling etc.are implemented under the same address space.
• A process runs completely in a single address space in the monolithic kernel.
• The monolithic kernel is a static single binary file.

Disadvantages of Monolithic Kernel

Some of the disadvantages of monolithic kernel are −

• If any service fails in the monolithic kernel, it leads to the failure of the entire system.
• To add any new service, the entire operating system needs to be modified by the user.