Some operating systems provide checkpointing support inside the operating system kernel. No preparations in the application programs and no relinking of the application is necessary in this case. Kernel-level checkpointing usually applies to single processes as well as to complete process hierarchies. A hierarchy of interdependent processes can be checkpointed and restarted at any time. Usually both a user command and a C library interface are available to initiate a checkpoint.
The grid engine system supports operating system checkpointing if available. See the release notes for the N1 Grid Engine 6.1 software for information about the currently supported kernel-level checkpointing facilities.