A comprehensive guided tour of the internal design and implementation Windows operating systems, from Windows 2000 through Windows Server 2003.

Level

Intermediate

Audience

Applications developers; systems software developers; device driver developers; system administrators; system integrators; hardware OEMs; I.T. support personnel

Description

In this seminar you will learn the “internals” of the most important areas of the Windows operating system. All modern operating systems perform variations of the same core functions; in this seminar we examine how those functions are implemented on Windows; how its implementation is similar in some ways, but different in others, to other systems; and, most important, the implications of these details on the system’s behavior, on the behavior of applications and device drivers.

We examine several key parts of the system, including the security infrastructure, thread scheduling, paging, virtual memory mapping, and the management of physical memory, in thorough detail.

This information is vital for application developers, who need to know the impact on the system of various design approaches and of specific APIs; for system administrators, who need to be able to properly configure Windows systems and to see and understand the effects of their decisions; for anyone attempting support, performance optimization, or troubleshooting on Windows operating systems; and for device driver writers. In particular, we cover all of the key operating system mechanisms and principles that are relevant to device driver design.

You will also learn how the operation and performance of each system mechanism we describe is reflected in the various system monitoring tools. And while this is not specifically a debugging or troubleshooting seminar, the information here is essential for any type of problem analysis.

Topics

• Tools and terminology

• System architecture overview

• Program execution environment

• Kernel mode components

• Environment subsystems and user-to-kernel call implementation

• Supporting the Windows GUI

• Object manager

• Security components and functions

• Operating system execution contexts and environment

• Scheduling and waiting; multiprocessor/hyperthreading issues

• Virtual memory implementation

• Physical memory management

• I/O subsystem and device driver architectures

• File system cache

Prerequisites

Experience using or administering Windows operating systems, and familiarity with basic operating system concepts

Windows versions

Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, Windows 2000

Duration and formats

3 days with labs
2 days lecture only

Labs

In the hands-on labs version of the seminar, we follow nearly every point discussion of a system mechanism, principle, or concept with a lab exercise. We have you exercise or manipulate the part of the system described, and then examine displays that confirm the expected results. We also have you look for interactions with, and effects on, the rest of the system. Several problem scenarios, such as overcommitment of CPU or of memory, various types of resource “leaks,” and similar situations are included in these exercises. This of course results in greatly increased comprehension and retention of the material.

In the “lecture only” version we demonstrate all of these things “live” on the instructor’s machine. Sufficient information is included in the handout to permit the attendees to reproduce the same demonstrations later, on their own systems.

Short formats

We realize that this seminar may be a little too comprehensive for some situations. Accordingly, we offer a number of one-day, lecture-only versions tailored to specific needs. Please see:

INT150, Windows Internals Essentials for System Administrators
INT151, Windows Internals Essentials for Application Programmers
DRV150, Windows Internals Essentials for Device Driver Developers