Types of kernel

There are four types of kernel:

Monolithic Kernel:

It is one of those kernels where the user services/applications such as device drivers, file server, graphical tools, programs of any language,and kernel space services like process management, device management, interrupt handling share the same memory.
They are faster as there is no separate user space and kernel space.
All the components are tightly coupled hence failure in any one component affects the entire system.
They are bigger than a micro kernel and are not easily customizable.
Example: Unix, Linux

Micro Kernel:

In this user services and kernel services are implemented in different space and hence are slower, unlike monolithic kernel.
There is separate user and kernel space.
The components are loosely coupled and fault in one component does not affect the other.
Example: Symbian

Diag-1: Micro and Monolithic Kernel

Hybrid Kernel:

It is the combination of both monolithic kernel and mircrokernel. It has speed and design of monolithic kernel and modularity and stability of microkernel.
Example: Windows NT, Netware

Nano Kernel:

A kernel in which the total volume of kernel code, that is, the code being executed in the hardware’s privileged mode, is quite small.
Larger kernels are designed to offer more features and manage more hardware abstraction.

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