Solaris™ Operating Environment Boot Camp By David Rhodes, Dominic Butler
Table of Contents
Chapter 21. Kernels and All About Them
The kernel forms the core of a UNIX system and acts as the interface between the hardware and the programs that run on it. It manages specific system-related functions, like opening files and deleting files; any program that wants to make use of one of these functions does so by means of a system call.
The kernel also manages the allocation of space to many system features, such as the process table; the size of these can be altered by the system administrator by setting kernel parameters. The setting of kernel parameters is often referred to as "tuning the kernel."
