Type of Operating System Services

1) Program Execution 
The purpose of computer system is to allow the users to execute programs in an efficient
manner. The operating system provides an environment where the user can conveniently run
these programs. The user does not have to worry about the memory allocation or de-
allocation or any other thing because these things are taken care of by the operating system.
To run a program, the program is required to be loaded into the RAM first and then to assign
CPU time for its execution. Operating system performs this function for the convenience of
the user. It also performs other important tasks like allocation and de-allocation of memory,
CPU scheduling etc.

2) I/O Operations  
Each program requires an input and after processing the input submitted by user it produces
output. This involves the use of I/O devices. The operating system hides the user from all
these details of underlying hardware for the I/O. So the operating system makes the users
convenient to run programs by providing I/O functions. The I/O service cannot be provided
by user-level programs and it must be provided by the operating system.

3) File System Manipulation

While working on the computer, generally a user is required to manipulate various types of
files like as opening a file, saving a file and deleting a file from the storage disk. This is an
important task that is also performed by the operating system.
Thus operating system makes it easier for the user programs to accomplish their task by
providing the file system manipulation service. This service is performed by the 'Secondary
Storage Management' a part of the operating system.

4) Communication
Operating system performs the communication among various types of processes in the form
of shared memory. In multitasking environment, the processes need to communicate with
each other and to exchange their information. These processes are created under a
hierarchical structure where the main process is known as parent process and the sub
processes are known as child processes.

5) Error Detection
Operating system also deals with hardware problems. To avoid hardware problems the
operating system constantly monitors the system for detecting the errors and fixing these
errors (if found). The main function of operating system is to detect the errors like bad
sectors on hard disk, memory overflow and errors related to I/O devices. After detecting the
errors, operating system takes an appropriate action for consistent computing.

This service of error detection and error correction cannot be handled by user programs
because it involves monitoring the entire computing process. These tasks are too critical to be
handed over to the user programs. A user program, if given these privileges; can interfere
with the corresponding operation of the operating systems.

6) Resource allocation
 In the multitasking environment, when multiple jobs are running at a time, it is the
responsibility of an operating system to allocate the required resources (like as CPU, main
memory, tape drive or secondary storage etc.) to each process for its better utilization. For
this purpose various types of algorithms are implemented such as process scheduling, CPU
scheduling, disk scheduling etc.

7) Accounting
Operating system keeps an account of all the resources accessed by each process or user. In
multitasking, accounting enhances the system performance with the allocation of resources to
each process ensuring the satisfaction to each process.

8) Protection System
If a computer system has multiple users and allows the concurrent execution of multiple
processes, then the various processes must be protected from one another's activities.

Operating System Services as Resource Manager

Operating system works as a resource manager to manage the resources efficiently in a computer
such as processor, memory, input/ output devices etc. To decide about which resources are used
by which running programs and how to administer them, is known as the resource management.
Operating system assigns the computer resources to processes for an efficient use; therefore, it
plays an important role as a resource manager while ensuring the user satisfaction.
To manage the computer resources most effectively the OS decides which program should run at
what time, how much memory should be allocated for an execution of a program, where to save
the file so that disk space can be optimally utilized etc. Below given are some of the important
services performed by operating system as a resource manager:
 
1. Process Management
In multiprocessing environment, operating system allows more than one application (or
process) to run simultaneously. Process management is a part of an operating system which
manages the processes in such a way that system performance can be enhanced. The
operating system deals with other types of activities also that includes user programs and
system programs like as printer spooling virtual memory, swapping etc.
A process is an activity that needs certain resources to complete its task. Various computer
resources are CPU time, main memory, and I/O devices. These resources are allocated to the
processes and based on decision that which process should be assigned for the allocation of
resource and this decision is taken by process management implementing the process
scheduling algorithm.
It is important to note that a process is not a program. A process is only ONE instant of a
program in execution. There are many processes running the same program.
The five major activities of an operating system in regard to process management are:
 Creation and deletion of user and system processes.
 Suspension and re-activation of processes.
 A mechanism for process synchronization.
 A mechanism for process communication.
 A mechanism for deadlock handling.
2. Main-Memory Management
Memory management is the most important part of an operating system that deals directly
with both the primary (known as main memory) memory and secondary memory. The main
memory is a large array of bytes and each byte has its own address. Main memory provides
the storage for a program that can be accessed directly by the CPU for its exertion. So for a
program to be executed, the primary task of memory management is to load the program into
main memory.

Memory management performs mainly two functions, these are:

 Each process must have enough memory in which it has to execute.
 The different locations of memory in the system must be used properly so that each
and every process can run most effectively.
Operating system loads the instructions into main memory then picks up these instructions
and makes a queue to get CPU time for its execution. The memory manager tracks the
available memory locations which one is available, which is to be allocated or de-allocated. It
also takes decision regarding which pages are required to swap between the main memory
and secondary memory. This activity is referred as virtual memory management that
increases the amount of memory available for each process.

The major activities of an operating system in regard to memory-management are:

 Keep track of which part of memory are currently being used and by whom.
 Decide which processes should be loaded into memory when the memory space is
free.
 Allocate and de-allocate memory spaces as and when required.

3. File Management
A file is a collection of related information defined by its creator. Computer can store files on
the disk (secondary storage), which provide long term storage. Some examples of storage
media are magnetic tape, magnetic disk and optical disk. Each of these media has its own
properties like speed, capacity, and data transfer rate and access methods.

A file system is normally organized into directories to make ease of their use. These
directories may contain files and other directories. Every file system is made up of similar
directories and subdirectories. Microsoft separates its directories with a back slash and its file
names aren't case sensitive whereas Unix-derived operating systems (including Linux) use
the forward slash and their file names generally are case sensitive.

The main activities of an operating system in regard to file management are creation and
deletion of files/ folders, support of manipulating files/ folders, mapping of files onto
secondary storage and taking back up of files.

4. I/O device Management

Input/ Output device, management is a part of an operating system that provides an
environment for the better interaction between system and the I/O devices (such as printers,
scanners tape drives etc.). To interact with I/O devices in an effective manner, the operating
system uses some special programs known as device driver. The device drivers take the data
 that operating system has defined as a file and then translate them into streams of bits or a
series of laser pulses (in regard with laser printer).

A device driver is a specific type of computer software that is developed to allow interaction
with hardware devices. Typically this constitutes an interface for , communicating with the
I/O device, through the specific computer bus or communication subsystem that the hardware
is connected with. The device driver is a specialized hardware dependent computer program
that enables another program, typically an operating system to interact transparently with a
hardware device, and usually provides the required interrupt handling necessary for the time
dependent hardware interfacing.

5. Secondary-Storage Management
A computer system has several levels of storage such as primary storage, secondary storage
and cache storage. But primary storage and cache storage can not be used as a permanent
storage because these are volatile memories and its data are lost when power is turned off
Moreover, the main memory is too small to accommodate all data and programs. So the
computer system must provide secondary storage to backup the main memory. Secondary
storage consists of tapes drives, disk drives, and other media.
The secondary storage management provides an easy access to the file and folders placed on
secondary storage using several disk scheduling algorithms.
The four major activities of an operating system in regard to secondary storage management
are:
 Managing the free space available on the secondary-storage device .
 Allocation of storage space when new files have to be written .
 Scheduling the requests for memory access.
 Creation and deletion of files.

6. Network Management
An operating system works as a network resource manager when multiple computers are in a
network or in a distributed architecture. A distributed system is a collection of processors that
do not share memory, peripheral devices, or a clock. The processors communicate with one
another through communication lines called network The communication-network design
must consider routing and network strategies, and the problems with network and security.
Most of today's networks are based on client-server configuration. A client is a program
running on the local machine requesting to a server for the service, whereas a server is a
program running on the remote machine providing service to the clients by responding their
request.

7. Protection (User Authentication)

Protection (or security) is the most demanding feature of an operating system. Protection is
an ability to authenticate the users for an illegal access of data as well as system.
Operating system provides various services for data and system security by the means of
passwords, file permissions and data encryption. Generally computers are connected through
a network or Internet link, allowing the users for sharing their files accessing web sites and
transferring their files over the network. For these situations a high level security is expected.
 At the operating system level there are various software firewalls. A firewall is configured to
allow or deny traffic to a service running on top of the operating system. Therefore by
installing the firewall one can work with running the services, such as telnet or ftp, and not to
worry about Internet threats because the firewall would deny all traffic trying to connect to
the service on that port.
If a computer system has multiple users and allows the concurrent execution of multiple
processes, then the various processes must be protected from one another's activities.
Protection refers to mechanism for controlling the access of programs, processes, or users to
the resources defined by a computer system.

8. Command Interpreter System

A command interpreter is an interface of the operating system with the user. The user gives
commands which are executed by operating system (usually by turning them into system
calls). The main function of a command interpreter is to get and execute the user specified
command.
Command-Interpreter is usually not a part of the kernel, since multiple command interpreters
may be supported by an operating system, and they do not really need to run in kernel mode.
There are two main advantages of separating the command interpreter from the kernel.
If you want to change the way the command interpreter looks, i.e., you want to change the
interface of command interpreter, then you can do that if the command interpreter is separate
from the kernel. But if it is not then you cannot change the code of the kernel and will not be
able to modify the interface.
If the command interpreter is a part of the kernel; it is possible for an unauthenticated process
to gain access to certain part of the kernel. So it is advantageous to have the command
interpreter separate from kernel.