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New 2.6.23 / Server 2008

Better in other Kernels or OS

Notes

Kernel Comparison: Linux (2.6.22) versus Windows (Vista)

Memory

Memory Hardware Limits

*Memory Limits (Hardware Support)*	Linux	Windows
Maximum RAM - 32bit, no PAE	<4GB⁴⁰	1GB (Starter) <4GB⁴⁰ (others)^'^'
Maximum RAM - 32bit, PAE	64GB^'	1GB (Starter) <4GB⁴⁰ (others)^'^'
Maximum RAM - 64bit	1024GB-8589934592GB	- (Starter) 8GB (Home Basic) 16GB (Home Premium) 128GB (others)^'

Virtual Memory Limits

*Virtual Memory (limits)*	Linux	Windows
split user-mode/kernel-mode 32bit - default	static 3GB/1GB	dynamic 4GB/0GB-0GB/4GB
split user-mode/kernel-mode 32bit - static 1GB/3GB⁴⁰	Y	N
split user-mode/kernel-mode 32bit - static 2GB/2GB⁴⁰	Y	N
split user-mode/kernel-mode 32bit - static 3GB/1GB⁴⁰	Y	N
split user-mode/kernel-mode 32bit - dynamic 4GB/0GB-0GB/4GB	Y	Y
i.e. maximum memory per process 32bit, no PAE	3GB (default) <4GB⁴⁰ (dynamic 4GB/0GB-0GB/4GB)	<4GB⁴⁰ 2.5GB-3.5GB (typically)
maximum memory per process 32bit, PAE	64GB^'	<4GB⁴⁰ 2.5GB-3.5GB (typically)^'
split user-mode/kernel-mode 64bit	8388608 TB/8388608 TB^'	8 TB/8 TB^'
i.e. maximum memory per process 64bit	8388608 TB^'	8 TB^'

Memory Hardware Features

*Memory (Hardware Features)*	Linux	Windows
Performance Acceleration Technology (PAT)	N	Y
MTRR	Y	Y
MTRR not needed (superseded by PAT)	N	Y
ECC	Y	Y

Virtual Memory Sets

*Virtual Memory (working sets)*	Linux	Windows
working sets	global	per process
working set management uses "clock" algorithm	Y	Y
i.e. working set management - no set cap	Y	N
i.e. working set management - LRU memory page	used on the entire system	removed for that process
i.e. working set management - tuner adjusts sets according to memory needs	-	Y
swapper	N^'	N

Virtual Memory Page Size

*Virtual Memory (page size)*	Linux	Windows
IA-32 page size - default (4KB arch)	4KB	4KB

Virtual Memory Priorities

*Virtual Memory (priorities)*	Linux	Windows
memory priorities	N Y (patch)	Y
priority levels	0	8 "0-7"
priority level - default	-	"5"
priority level based on process/thread	N	Y

Virtual Memory Features

*Virtual Memory (features)*	Linux	Windows
lock pages in memory	Y	Y
copy-on-write executables (COW)	Y^'	Y^'
demand paging	Y^'	Y^'

Virtual Memory Multiprocessor

*Virtual Memory (multiprocessor)*	Linux	Windows
per-CPU kernel memory buffers	Y	Y
NUMA Memory Manager Support	Y^'	Y

Swap

*Virtual Memory Management (swap)*	Linux	Windows
swap prefetch	N Y (with patch)	N Y (if preload app)
swap speculative	N Y (with patch)	N
swap performance - amount used	less¹⁵	more¹⁵

Stack

*Stack (kernel)*	Linux	Windows
kernel stack size	8KB^'	12KB^'

Networked Memory

*Remote Direct Memory Access*	Linux	Windows
Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA)	Y	Y
InfiniBand	Y	N
iWARP	Y	Y

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