Unikernels are unfit for production

bcantrill.dtrace.org

Recently, I made the mistake of rhetorically asking if I needed to spell out why unikernels are unfit for production. The response was overwhelming: whether people feel that unikernels are wrong-headed and are looking for supporting detail or are unikernel proponents and want to know what the counter-arguments could possibly be, there is clearly a desire to hear the arguments against running unikernels in production. So, what’s the problem with unikernels? Let’s get a definition first: a unikernel is an application that runs entirely in the microprocessor’s privileged mode. (The exact nomenclature varies; on x86 this would be running at Ring 0.) That is, in a unikernel there is no application at all in a traditional sense; instead, application functionality has been pulled into the operating system kernel. (The idea that there is “no OS” serves to mislead; it is not that there isn’t an operating system but rather that the application has taken on the hardware-interfacing responsibilities of the operating system – it is “all OS”, if a crude and anemic one.) Before we discuss the challenges with this, it’s worth first exploring the motivations for unikernels – if only because they are so thin…