A monolithic kernel is a kernel where all services (file system, VFS, device drivers, etc) as well as core functionality (scheduling, memory allocation, etc.) are a tight knit group sharing the same space. This directly opposes a microkernel.
A microkernel prefers an approach where core functionality is isolated from system services and device drivers (which are basically just system services). For instance, VFS (virtual file system) and block device file systems (i.e. minixfs) are separate processes that run outside of the kernel‘s space, using IPC to communicate with the kernel, other services and user processes. In short, if it‘s a module in Linux, it‘s aservice in a microkernel, indicating an isolated process.
Do not confuse the term modular kernel to be anything but monolithic. Some monolithic kernels can be compiled to be modular (e.g Linux), what matters is that the module is inserted to and runs from the same space that handles core functionality.
The advantage to a microkernel is that any failed service can be easily restarted, for instance, there is no kernel halt if the root file system throws an abort.
The disadvantage to a microkernel is that asynchronous IPC messaging can become very difficult to debug, especially if fibrils are implemented. Additionally, just tracking down a FS/write issue means examining the user space process, the block device service, VFS service, file system service and (possibly) the PCI service. If you get a blank on that, its time to look at the IPC service. This is often easier in a monolithic kernel. GNU Hurd suffers from these debugging problems (reference). I‘m not even going to go into checkpointing when dealing with complex message queues. Microkernels are not for the faint of heart.
The shortest path to a working, stable kernel is the monolithic approach. Either approach can offer a POSIX interface, where the design of the kernel becomes of little interest to someone simply wanting to write code to run on any given design.
Linux: monolithic kernel
XP: microkernel;
By the time Windows XP was designed, Windows architecture had become more monolithic than microkernel.
OS | monolithic kernel & microkernel,布布扣,bubuko.com
OS | monolithic kernel & microkernel
原文：http://www.cnblogs.com/linyx/p/3791980.html