Introduction to kernel upgrade in sap:Operating system : An operating system, or OS, is a software program that enables the computer hardware

to communicate and operate with the computer software. Without a computer operating system, a computer would be useless. What is an operating system? An operating system (sometimes abbreviated as "OS") is the program that, after being initially loaded into the computer by a boot program, manages all the other programs in a computer. An operating system (OS) is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system. Without an operating system, a user cannot run an application program on their computer, unless the application program is self booting.
The most important program that runs on a computer. Every general-purpose computer must have an operating system to run other programs. Operating systems perform basic tasks, such as recognizing input from the keyboard, sending output to the display screen, keeping track of files and directories on the disk, and controlling peripheral devices such as disk drives and printers.

The kernel is the central part of an operating system, that directly controls the computer hardware. Usually, the kernel is the first of the userinstalled software on a computer, booting directly after theBIOS. Operating system kernels are specific to the hardware on which they are running, thus most operating systems are distributed with different kernel options that are configured when the system is installed. Changing major hardware components such as the motherboard, processor, or memory, often requires a kernel update. Additionally, often new kernels are offered that improve system security or performance. The two major types of kernels competing in today's computer markets are the Windowskernel and the unix-like kernels. The Windows kernel is available only with the Microsoft Windows series of operating systems. It is proprietary software, developed and distributed by Microsoft Corporation. Introduced in Windows/386, it's many incarnations have since gone by several different names, and some had no names at all. The latest version of the Windows kernel was introduced in Windows NT, and has had many of it's functions removed and placed in user-mode software forWindows Vista. This leads to increased system stability and security. In Vista, application-level software exploits have much less access to the core

functions of the operating system, and application crashes will not bring down the OS. Unix-like kernels are a family of operating system kernels that are based upon, or operate similar to, the original Bell Labs UNIX operating system. Common examples of unix-like kernels are theLinux kernel, BSD, Mac OS, and Solaris. While many of these kernels were developed with original Bell Labs code as part of the software, not all of them have direct lineage to Bell. Linux, for instance, was developed as a free alternative to Minix, itself an independently developed variation of UNIX. Although originally running an original kernel design, Mac OS was outfitted with a unix-like kernel in 1988 with the introduction of A/UX. All subsequent Apple operating systems have unix-like kernels, including the current Mac OS-X'sBSD-derived kernel. Kernel:The central module of an operating system. It is the part of the operating system that loads first, and it remains in main memory. Because it stays in memory, it is important for the kernel to be as small as possible while still providing all the essential services required by other parts of the operating system and applications. Typically, the kernel is responsible for memory management, process and task management, and disk management. What is the difference between a Kernel and an operating system? Answer An operating system, also known as an OS, is the software that makes a computer usable. The kernel is merely the "core" or lowest level of an operating system. The kernel provides numerous callable routines that allow other software to access files, display text and graphics, get input from a keyboard or mouse, and other such capabilities. The operating systems that we come across today, generally have many features which are not the necessary features to make a system work. But these features are required to make the interaction with the system easier. Such features include graphical interface, file management, process management, shell, etc. These features rely on the core part of the OS (called as kernel) to run and provide interface to the user or other application programs. It is to be realized that these features are inevitable, and only a kernel alone is of no use to the user. An operating system also includes utilities that use the kernel. For example, MS-DOS provides a program known as COMMAND.COM, which is the program that allows a human to use the operating system. Windows Explorer, the MacOS Finder, and the various UNIX shells offer similar functionality. Other OS utilities may include a file manager, a software installer, and other items that are necessary to make the computer useful (never mind some don't find computers useful in the first place :) ).

The term is used to differentiate the core portion of the O/S (scheduler, device management, memory management, etc.) from the other services such as file managment, user interfaces, networking, etc. If you look at architecture diagrams/layer diagrams of O/S you'll see that the core/kernel services are in layers at the bottom and as you move up the layers the other services are there. This is because the other services rely on the kernel to do their work. The core (or kernel) was only the memory managment, task/process management and device driver level. You could then add on the basic I/O system that would support disk and similar I/O. Finally there

was the layer that was the presentation services, everything related to managing keyboards (no mice in those days), screen displays, etc.

how to do a kernel upgrade in sap server