LiveStack: OS Support for Cluster-Scale Full-Stack Live Simulation

2026-06-17

AI Summary

Existing cluster-level full-stack simulation struggles to simultaneously achieve high fidelity and high performance. This work proposes the concept of a “simulation-native operating system,” which integrates simulation control and orchestration into the OS kernel, thereby constructing a full-stack simulation framework built upon the Linux virtualization stack. The framework employs four key mechanisms—simulation-oriented scheduling, real-time memory hierarchy management, simulation-aware inter-process communication (IPC), and distributed simulation orchestration—to seamlessly co-execute real and simulated components without requiring modifications to production systems. Experimental results demonstrate that this approach significantly enhances the performance and configuration exploration efficiency of large-scale cluster simulations while preserving full-stack fidelity.

Abstract

Cluster-scale full-stack simulation is essential for evaluating distributed software stacks and emerging hardware components before deployment. Such simulation must achieve both full-stack fidelity for the unmodified production stack and the simulation performance required for iterative configuration exploration. However, no existing method achieves both. We present LiveStack, an OS-level approach to cluster-scale full-stack simulation built on top of the Linux virtualization stack. LiveStack comprises four subsystems: simulation-oriented scheduling, live memory hierarchy management, simulation-aware IPC, and distributed simulation orchestration. Together, they coordinate live and modeled components under shared simulated time while controlling interference among co-located live hosts. These mechanisms point toward simulation-native OS support, where simulation control and orchestration become core OS responsibilities.

Problem

• cluster-scale simulation
• full-stack fidelity
• simulation performance
• live simulation
• distributed systems

Innovation

• full-stack simulation
• OS-level virtualization
• simulation-native OS
• live simulation
• cluster-scale