init unikernels.presentation

Unikernels
The Future of
Cloud Computing

Minimal. Secure. Blazingly Fast.

~4MB

Image Size

50ms

Boot Time

10x

Smaller Attack Surface

cat /docs/definition.md

What is a Unikernel?

A unikernel is a single-purpose, library operating system that compiles your application and only the OS components it needs into a single bootable image.

No general-purpose OS — Only your app code runs
No shell, no users, no processes — Single address space
Runs directly on hypervisor — Or bare metal
Immutable by design — Deploy, don't patch

grep -r "bloat" /var/log/

The Problem with Traditional VMs

Your application is a tiny fraction of what actually runs.

Traditional VM Stack

Your App (5MB)

Runtime + Deps (200MB)

Unused OS Services

Package Manager

Shell + Utilities

Full Linux Kernel (50MB+)

Hypervisor

→

Unikernel

Your App (5MB)

Only Needed Libs

Minimal Kernel (1MB)

Hypervisor

nmap --vulnerability-scan

Security: Less is More

Every line of code is a potential vulnerability. Unikernels dramatically reduce attack surface.

🐧 Linux VM

✗ Shell access (if compromised)
✗ Package manager exploits
✗ User privilege escalation
✗ Unused services running
✗ Kernel syscall surface

                    ⚡ Unikernel
                    ✓ No shell to exploit
✓ No package manager
✓ No users or permissions
✓ Only needed code runs
✓ Minimal syscall surface

                

time ./boot --unikernel

Performance: Instant Scale

Boot in milliseconds, not minutes. Perfect for serverless and edge computing.

20-50ms

Boot Time

4-10MB

Image Size

~10MB

Memory Footprint

"We can spin up 1000 unikernel instances in the time it takes to boot one traditional VM."

— Production deployment benchmark

make unikernel

How Unikernels Work

Compile-time specialization: link only what you need.

                # 1. Write your application

                import http_server

                # 2. Configure the unikernel build

                config = {

                  "network": "virtio",

                  "memory": "64MB",

                  "target": "xen"  # or kvm, vmware, etc.

                }

                # 3. Build produces a single bootable image

                $ unikernel build --output app.img

                # → 6.2 MB image ready to deploy

ls /unikernel-projects/

The Ecosystem

Multiple mature projects for different languages and use cases.

🔷

MirageOS

OCaml-based, type-safe unikernels. Powers real production systems.

🦀

Unikraft

Modular, POSIX-compatible. Run existing apps with minimal changes.

☕

OSv

Run Java, Node.js, Python. Cloud-optimized with low overhead.

🐹

Nanos

Run Linux binaries as unikernels. Easy migration path.

grep "production" /case-studies/*

Real-World Use Cases

⚡

Serverless Functions

Cold starts in milliseconds. Perfect for FaaS platforms.

🌐

Edge Computing

Tiny footprint for CDN edge nodes and IoT gateways.

🔒

Security-Critical Apps

DNS servers, crypto wallets, authentication services.

🌊

Network Functions

High-performance load balancers, firewalls, proxies.

cat /docs/tradeoffs.md

Current Challenges

Unikernels aren't a silver bullet. Know the tradeoffs.

Debugging is harder — No shell to SSH into, need specialized tooling
Build complexity — Requires understanding of low-level OS concepts
Limited language support — Best support for OCaml, Rust, Go, C
Ecosystem maturity — Fewer libraries, less community support
Not for all workloads — Stateful apps need careful architecture

The industry is solving these. Tools are improving rapidly.

exit 0

The Future is Specialized

As cloud-native evolves, the bloated general-purpose OS will give way to purpose-built, minimal, secure images.

Smaller

Footprint

Faster

Boot & Scale

Safer

By Design

Start exploring:

Unikraft.org →

UnikernelsThe Future ofCloud Computing