perprocess

Perprocess is a term used in computing to describe design, management, and operation practices that treat each running process as a distinct unit with its own resources, state, and policies. The concept emphasizes isolation and individualized handling of processes within a system, rather than shared or global treatment.

In operating systems, perprocess concepts underpin process isolation, distinct address spaces, and independent execution contexts. This allows a crash or fault in one process to have limited impact on others and enables security boundaries through separate permissions and resource limits. Common mechanisms to enforce perprocess boundaries include memory protection, per-process file descriptors, and process-specific scheduling decisions.

Common implementations and related technologies include containerization and virtualization tools, as well as system resource controls. Linux uses namespaces and cgroups to enforce perprocess isolation and quotas, while Windows employs job objects and process tokens to regulate groups of processes. In distributed systems, perprocess boundaries are often realized through separate services or microservices, each running in its own process with autonomous configuration, logging, and lifecycle management.

Applications of perprocess design include improved fault containment, stronger security models, and finer-grained scalability. However, perprocess approaches can incur overhead from context switching, interprocess communication, and more complex resource management. Balancing isolation with performance is a central consideration in systems that adopt perprocess principles.

See also: per-thread, per-container, process isolation, resource isolation, containerization.