System Events

The ChorusOS System Event API allows the ChorusOS operating system to notify applications that specified events have occurred. This feature provides a generic programming interface for event generation and delivery.

An application does not need to poll the system queues periodically but simply blocks a thread, waiting for events posted by the operating system. The ChorusOS System Event API is compatible with the corresponding Solaris Operating System API, although the event delivery mechanism is different.

The ChorusOS implementation of this API also provides extended capabilities, such as the ability to post events to separate event queues. An event monitoring application can wait for events posted to a specific event queue, or can wait for all the queues of the system event space.

Dedicated event queues implement a functional isolation between the various system event publishers and provide the foundations for a system level event channels service.

The event buffers are statically preallocated in memory pools. One dedicated pool is associated with each configured event queue. The number of available queues, the number of events that can be posted to a given queue, and the maximum size of these events must be specified at system configuration time.

The events handled by the system event framework are not required to have a fixed format. They merely have a fixed, common header, optionally followed by a set of custom, self-defined attributes.

Examples of system events include errors encountered by devices, network error reporting, device plug and removal, and notification of thresholds crossed by OS instrumentation gauges. These events are at a level at which applications and management entities can take the appropriate action.