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CPU shielding

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
1 min read
Source updated September 19, 2025

CPU shielding is a practice where on a multiprocessor system or on a CPU with multiple cores, real-time tasks can run on one CPU or core while non-real-time tasks run on another.

The operating system must be able to set a CPU affinity for both processes and interrupts.

01Kernel space

In Linux in order to shield CPUs from individual interrupts being serviced on them you have to make sure that the following kernel configuration parameter is set:

  • CONFIG_IRQBALANCE
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This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “CPU shielding”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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Related topics

Multi-core processor

A multi-core processor is a microprocessor on a single integrated circuit (IC) with two or more separate central processing units (CPUs), called cores to emphasize their multiplicity (for example, dual-core or quad-core). Each core reads and executes program instructions, specifically ordinary CPU instructions (such as add, move data, and branch).

Multiprocessing

Multiprocessing is the use of two or more central processing units (CPUs) within one computer system. The term also refers to the ability of a system to support more than one processor or the ability to allocate tasks between them.

Processor affinity

In computer science, processor affinity, also called CPU pinning or cache affinity, enables the binding and unbinding of a process or a thread to a central processing unit or a range of CPUs, so that the process or thread will execute only on the designated CPU or CPUs rather than any CPU. This can be viewed as a modification of the native central queue scheduling algorithm in a symmetric multiprocessing operating system. Each item in the queue has a tag indicating its kin processor.