2) No model answer is provided.

3) The X window system does not define any particular style of interface but
provides a mechanism for supporting many styles. X is also network-based in
contrast with other GUls, or the X architecture is based on the premise that an
application can run on one computer while the graphical presentation of the
application's output and the responses from the user can occur on another
computer..

Check Your Progress 4

I) No model answer is given.

2) No model answer is given.

FURTHER READINGS
1) Communication of ACM, April 1993.

2) Object Orientation: Concepts, Languages, Databases. User Interfaces,

Khosafian, Setrag & Razmik Abnours, New York; Wiley & Sons, 1990.
 - "

UNIT 2 INTRODUCTION TO OPERATING

SYSTEM
Structure Page Nos.
2.0 Introduction 34
2.1 Objectives 33
2.2 What is an Operating System? 35
2.3 Evolution of ~ p & l ' t \ f lSystem
g
3.3, l Serial Processing
2.3.2 Batch Processing
2.3.3 Multi@Wgtnrntfling

2.4 Operating System Structure

2.4.1 Layered Structure Approach
2.4.2 Virtual Maehinl
2;4J elien't-server ~ o d e l
2.4.4 Kernel Approach
2.5 Classification ofAdvanced Operating System
2.5.1 Architecture Driven Operating System
2.5.2 Applikati~tlDrived Operating Systenl
2.6 ~harai:teristjcsof Modern Operating System
2.6.1 Microkernel Architecture
2.6.2 Multithreadifl%
2.6.3 symmetric Mi~tiprocessin~

2.9 Further ~ e ~ d f d g s 54
-

2.0 INTRODUCTION
An operatifig system is a system software which may be viewed as an organized
selletztion of software consisting of procedures for operating a computer and providing
an eflvironment for execution of programs. It acts as an interface between users and
the hardware of a computer system.

There are many important reasons for studying operating systems. Some of thcin are:

1) User interacts with the computer through the operating system in order to
accomplish his task since it is his primary interface with a computer.

2) It helps users to understand the inner functions of a computer very closely.

3) Many concepts and techniques found in the operating system have general
applicability in other applications.

The introductory concepts and principles of an operating system will be the main
issues for discussion in this unit. The unit starts with the basic definition and then goes
on to explain the stages of evolution of operating systems. It further gives details of
several approaches to operating system design.

111 the last two subsections of tile unit we classify an advanced opelati1:g system and
explain some characteristics of modern operating systerns.
Operating System etc., which replace assembly language for system programming. The use of system
Fundamentals & calls in C or Pascal programs very much resemble pre-defined fiinctions or subroutine

As an example of how system calls are used, let us consider a simple program to copy
data from one file to another. 111an interactive system, the following system calls will
be generated by the operating system:
Prompt message for inputting two file names and reading it from the terminal.
Open source and destination file.
Prompt error message in case the source file cannot be open because it is
protected against access or because the destination file cannot be created since
there is already a file with this name.
Read the source file
Write into the destination file
Display status information regarding various Read/Write error conditions. For
example, the program may find that the end of the file has been reached or that
there was a hardware failure. The write operation may encounter various errors,
depending upon the output device (no more disk space, physical end of tape,
printer out of paper and so on).
Close both files after the entire file is copied.
As we can observe, a user program makes heavy use of the operating system. All
interaction between the program and its environment must occur as the result of
requests from the program to the operating system.
Operating System Commands: Apart from system calls, users may interact with
the operating system directly by means of operating system commands.
For example, if you want to list files or sub-directories in MS-DOS, you invoke dir
command. In either case, the operating system acts as an interface between users
and the hardware of the computer system. The fundamental goal of computer
systems is to solve user problems. Towards this goal computer hardware is
designed. Since the bare hardware alone is not very easy to use, programs
(software) are developed. These programs require certain common operations,
such as controlling peripheral devices. The command function of controlling and
allocating resources are then brought together into one piece of software; the
operating system.
To see what operating systems are and what operating systems do, let us consider
how they have evolved over the years. By tracing their evolution, we can identi@ the
common elements of operating systems and examine how and why they have
developed as they have.

2.3 EVOLUTWN OF OPERATING SYSTEMS

An operating system may process its task serially (sequentially) or concurrently
(several tasks simultaneously). It means that the resources of the computer system
may be dedicated to a single program until its completion or they may be allocated
among several programs in different stages of execution. The feature of the operating
system to execute multiple programs interleaved fashion or different time cycles is
called multiprogramming systems. In this section, we will try to trace the evolution
of the operating system. In particular, we will describe serial processing, batch
processing and multiprogramming.
 2.3.1 Serial Processing Introduction to
Operating System
Programming i n 1's and 0's (machine language) was quite common for early computer
systems. lnstructions and data used to be fed into the computer by means of console
switches or perhaps through a hexadecimal keyboard. Programs used to be started by
loading the program comp~lterregister with the address of the first instruction of a
program and its result (program) used to be examined by the contents of various
registers and memory locations of the machine. Therefore. programming in this style
caused a low utilisatio~~of both users and machine.
The advent of lnputloutput devices, such as punched cards, paper tape and language
translators (Compiler IAsse~nblers)brought a significant step in computer system
utilisation. Programs started being coded into programming language first changed into
object code (binary code) by translator and then automatically loaded into memory by
a program called ioader. After transferring control to the loaded program, the
execution of a program begins and its result gets displayed or printed. Once in
memory, the program may be re-run with a different set of input data.
The process of develop~nentand preparation of a program in such an environment is
slow and cu~nbersomedue to serial processing and numerous manual processing. In a
typical sequence first the editor is called to create a source code of user program
written in programming language, then the translator is called to convert a source code
into binary code and then finally the loader is called to load the executable program
into the main memory for execution. If syntax errors are detected, the whole process
must be redone from the beginning.
The next development was the replacement of card-decks with standard inputloutput
and some useful I':jrary programs, which were further linked with user programs
through system software called linker. While there was a definite improvement over
machine language approach, the serial mode of operation is obviously not very
efficient. This results in low utilization of resources.
2.3.2 Batch Processing
Utilisation of compi~terresources and improvement in programmer's productivity was
still a major problem. During the time that tapes were being mounted or the
programmer was operating the console, the CPU was sitting idle.
The next logical step in the evolution of the operating system was to automate the
sequencing of operations involved in program execution and in the mechanical aspects
of program development. Jobs with similar requirements were batched together and
run through the computer as a group. For example, suppose the operator received one
FORTRAN program, one COBOL program and another FORTRAN program. If he
runs them in that order, he would have to set up for FORTRAN program environment
(loading the FORTRAN compiler tapes), then set up COBOL program and finally
FORTRAN program again. If he runs the two FORTRAN programs as a batch,
however, he could set up only once for FORTRAN thus saving operator's time.
Batching similar jobs brought utilisation of system resources quite a bit. But there were
still problems. For example, when ajob is stopped, theoperator would have to notice
that fact by observing the console, determine why the program stopped and then load
the card reader or paper tape reader with the next job and restart the computer.
During this transition from one job to the next, the CPU sat idle.
To overcome this idle time, a small program called a resident monitor was created
which is always resident in the memory. It automatically sequenced one job to another
job. The resident monitor acts according to the directives given by a programmer
through control cards, which contain information Iike marking ofjob's beginnings and
-ehdings, commands for loading and executing programs, etc. These co~nmandsbelong
to job control language. These job control language commands are included with
user program and data. Here is an example ofjob control language commands.
Operating System $COB - Execute the COBOL compiler
Fundamentals &
Networking $JOB - First card of a job
$END - Last card of a job
$LOAD - Load program into memory
$RUN - Execute the user program
Figure 2 shows a sample card deck set up for a simple batch system.

$ END
DATA FROM PROGRAM

$ RUN
$ LOAD
I - I

USER'S PROGRAM TO BE -
COMPOSED
-
1 $COB
$JOB -

Figure 2: Card Deck for Cobol Program for a Simple Batch Syscern

With sequencing of program execution mostly automated by batch operating system,

the speed discrepancy between the fast CPU and the comparatively slow inputloutput
devices such as card readers, printers emerged as a major performance bottleneck.
Even a slow CPU works in the microsecond range, with millions of instructions per
second. A fast card reader, on the other hand, might read 1200 cards per minute.
Thus, the difference in speed between the CPU and its inputloutput devices may be
three orders of magnitude or more.
The relative slowness of inputloutput devices can mean that the CPU is often waiting
for inputloutput. As an example, an assembler or compiler may be able to process
300 or more cards per second. A fast card reader, on the other hand, may be able to
read only 1200 cards per minute. This means that assembling or compiling a 1200
card program would require only 4 seconds of CPU time but 60 seconds to read.
Thus, the CPU would be idle for 56 out of 60 seconds or 93.3 per cent of the time.
The resulting CPU utilization is only 6.7 per cent. The process is similar for output
operations. The problem is that while an inputloutput is occurring, the CPU is idle,
waiting for the inputloutput to complete; while the CPU is executing, inputloutput
devices are idle.
Over the years, of course, improvements in technology resulted in faster inputloutput
devices. But CPU speed increased even faster. According to Moore's Law, CPU
speed is getting doubled every 18 months. Therefore, the need was to increase the
throughput and resources utilization by overlapping inputloutput and processing
operations. Channels, peripheral controllers and later dedicated inputloutput
processors brought a major improvement in this direction. DMA (Direct Memory
Access) chip which directly transfers the entire block of data from its own buffer to
main memory without intervention by the CPU was a major development. While the
CPU is executing, DMA can transfer data between high-speed inputloutput devices
and the main memory. The CPU requires to be interpreted per block only by DMA.
Apart from DMA, there are two other approaches to improving system performance
by overlapping input, output and processing. These are called buffering and
spooling.
 Quffering is a method of overlapping input, outppt and processing of a singlejob. The
idea is quite simple. After data bas been read and the CPU is about to start operating
on it, the input device is instructed to begin the jiext input immediately. The CPU and
iqput device are then both busy. With luck, by the time the CPU is ready for the next
data item, the input device will have finished readlng it. The CPU can then begin
processing the newly read data, while the input device starts to read the following data.
Similarly, this can be done for output. In this case, the CPU creates data that is put into
a buffer until an output device can accept it.

If the CPU is, on the average, much faster than an input device, buffering will be of
little use. If the CPU is always faster, then it always finds an empty buffer and has to
wait for the input device. For outpyt, the CPU can proceed at full speed until,
eventually, all system buffers are full. Then the CPU must wait for the output device.
This situation occurs with inputjoutput bound jobs where the amount af iaput/output
device, the speed of execution is controlled by the input/output devlce, not by the speed
of the CPU.

A more sophisticated form pf inputloutput buffering is called SPOOLING

(Simultaneous Plieripheyal Operation 011Cine) which essentially uses the hard disk
(secondary memory) as a very large buffer ( ~ i ~ u3)
output files.
r efor reading and for storing I

1 Figure 3: Spooling I
Buffering overlaps input, output and processing of a singlejob whereas Spooling
allows CPU to overlap the input of one job with computation and output of
other jobs. Therefore this approach is better than buffering. Even in a simple system,
the spooler may be reading the input of one job while printing the output of a different
I job.
2.3.3 Multiprogramming
Buffering and Spooling improve system performance by overlapping the input, output
and computation of a singlejob, but both ofthem have their limitations. A single user
cannot always keep CPU or I10 devices busy at all times. Multiprogramming offersa
more efficient approach to increase system performance. In order to increase the
resource utilisation, systems supporting multiprogramming approach allow more than
one job (program) to reside in the memory to utilise CPU time at any moment. More
number of programs competing for system resources better will mean better resource
uti lisation.
The idea is implemented as follows. The main memory of a system contains more than
one program (Figure 4).
 Operating System Primary Memory
Fundamentals &

MONITOR

PROGRAM 1

PROGRAM 2

. . .
. . .
PROGRAM N

Figure 4: Memory Layout in Multiprogramming Environment

The operating system picks one of the programs and starts executing. During
execution of program 1 it needs some I10 operation to complete in a sequential
execution environment (Figure 5a).The CPU would then sit idle whereas in a
multiprogramming system, (Figure 5b) the operating system will simply switch over to
the next program (program 2).
Program 1 Program 2

(a): Seauential Execution -

1 (b): Execution in Multiprogramming Environment

Figure 5: Multiprogramming

I
When that program needs to wait for some I10 operation, it switches over to program
3 and so on. Ifthere is no other new program left in the main memory, the CPU will
pass its control back to the previous programs.
Multiprogramming has traditionally been employed to increase the resources utilisation
of a computer system and to support multiple simultaneously interactive users
(terminals).
Compared to the operating system, which supports only sequential execution, the
multiprogramming system requires some form of CPU and memory management
strategies. which will be discussed in the next section.
 Introduction to
2.4 OPEFUTING SYSTEM STRUCTURE Operating System

Since operating system is a very large and complex software, supports a large number
of functions. It should be developed as a collection of several smaller modules with
carefully defined inputs, outputs and functions rather than a single piece of software. In
this section, we will examine different operating system structure.

2.4.1 Layered Structure Approach

The operating system architecture based on layered approach consists of a number of
layers (levels), each built on top of lower layers. The bottom layer is the hardware; the
highest layer is the user interface. The first system constructed in this way was the
THE system built by E.W. Dijkestra (1968) and his students. The THE system was a
simple batch operating system which had 32k of 27 bit words.
The system supported 6 layers (Figure 6).

Figure 6: The layered structure of THE operating system

As shown in Figure 6, layer 0 dealt with hardware; the higher layer 1 handled
allocation ofjobs to processor. The next layer implemented memory management.
Level 3 contained the device driver for the operator's console. By placing it, as well as
I10 buffering, at level 4, above memory management, the device buffers could be
placed in virtual memory. The 110 buffering was also above the operator's console, so
that VO error conditions could be output to the operator's console.
The main advantages of the layered approach is modularity which helps in debugging
and verification of the system easily. The layers are designed in such a way that it uses
operation and services only of a layer below it. A higher layer need not know how
these operations are implemented, only what these operations do. Hence each layer
hides implementation details from higher-level layers. Any layer can be debugged
without any concern about the rest of the layer.
The major difficulty with the layered approach is definition of a new level i.e. how to
differentiate one level from another. Since a layer can use the services of a layer below
it, it should be designed carefully. For example, the device driver for secondary memory
must be at a lower level than the memory management routines since memory
management requires the ability to use the backing store.

2.4.2 Virtual Machine

-
It is a concept which creates the illusion of a real machine. It is created bfa virtual
machine operating system that inakes a single real machine appear to be several real
machines. This type of situation is analogous to the communication line ofTelephone
Company, which enables separate and isolated conversations over the same wire(s).
41
 Operating System The following Figure illustrates this concept.
Fundamentals &
Networking
A Real Machine

Virtual
machine
operating
system OS

.-
1

I
I
CPU

O S I
'
I
1
. l l C I I .

'
I
I
CPU

OS2
'
I
I
,lllll.

I
u
I
I
CPU

OS3
I

I
I

I
Reader

Virtual
Disk
0Virtual
Disk Virtual
Input device

I Figure 7: Creation of several virtual machines by a single physical 111achine

I From the user's viewpoint, a virtual machine can be made to appear ve1.J.similar to an
existing real machine or they can be entirely different. An important aspect of this.
technique is that each user can run the operating system of his own choice. This fact
is depicted by OS, (Operating System I), OS,, OS, etc. as in Figure 7.

1 To understand this concept, let us try to understand the difference between

conventional multiprogramming system (Figure 8) and virtual tnacl~ine
multiprogramming (Figure 9). In conventional multiprogramming, processes are

I
allocated a portio~iof the real machine resources. The same machine resources are
distributed among several processes.

-
Conventional multi-
programming operating system

I 47 Figure 8: Conventional multiprogramming

 Virtual Machine
Operating System

'I
Virtual Virtual
Virtual
Machine Machine
Machine
1 2 N

Figure 9: Virtual Machine Multiprogramming

In the virtual multiprogramming system, a single real machine gives the illusion of
several virtual machines, each having its own virtual processor, storage and I10
devices possibly with much larger capacities.
The virtual machine has many uses and advantages:

1) Concurrent running of dissimilar operating systems by different users.

2) Elimination of certain conversion problems.

3) Software development: Programs can be developed and debugged for machine

configurations that is different from those of host (for example virtual operating system
VM1370 can produce virtual 370 that are different from the real 370 such as larger
main memory).

4) Security and Privacy: The high degree of separation between independent

virtual machines aids in ensuring privacy and security. The most widely used operating
system in this category is VMl370. It manages IBMl370 computer and creates the
illusion that each of several users has a complete system 370 (including wide range of
110 devices) which can run different operating systems at once, each of them on its
own virtual machine.
It is also possible through software to share files existing on physical disk and much
information through virtual communication software.
The virtual machines are created by sharing the resources of the physical computer.
CPU scheduling can be used to share the CPU and make it appear that users have
their own processor. Users are thus given their own virtual machine. They can run on
their virtual machines any software desired. The virtual machine software is
concerned with multiprogram~ningmultiple virtual machines onto a physical machine
but need not consider any other software support from user.
The heart of the system, know11as the virtual machine monitor, runs on the bare
hardware and does the multiprogramming, providing not one, but several virtual
machines to the next layer up, as shown in Figure 7. However, unlike all other
operating systems, these virtual machines are not extended machines, with files and
other nice features. Instead, they are exact copies of the bare hardware, including
kernelluser mode, 110, interrupts, and everything else the real machine has.

I
Because each virtual machine is identical to the true hardware, each one can run any
operating system that will run directly on the hardware. In fact, different virtual
machines can, and usually do, run different operating systems. SOIIIC run one of the
descendants of OS1360 for batch processing, while other ones run a simple, single-
user, interactive system called CMS (Conversational Monitor System) for time-sharing
Operating System When a CMS program executes a system call, the call is trapped to the operating
Fmodamentals & system in its own virtual machine, not to VMl370; just as it would if it were running on
a real machine instead of a virtual one. CMS then issues the normal hardware 110
instructions for reading its virtual disk or whatever is needed to carry out the call.
These 110 instructions are trapped by VM1370, which then performs them as part of
its simulation of the real hardware. By making a complete separation of the functions
of multiprogramming and providing an extended machine, each of the pieces can be
mush simpler and more flexible.
The virtual machine concept has several advantages. Notice that there is complete
protection. Each machine is completely isolated from all other virtual machines, so
there is no problem with protection. On the other hand, there is no sharing. To provide
sharing, two approaches have been implemented. First, it is possible to share a
minidisk. This scheme is modeled after a physical shared disk, but implemented by
software. With this technique, files can be shared. Second, it is possible to define a
network of virtual machines, each of which can send information over the virtual
communications network. Again, the network is modeled after physical communication
networks, but implemented in software.
Such a virtual machine system is a perfect vehicle for operating systems research and
development. Normally changing an operating system is a difficult process. Since
operating systems are large and complex programs, it is difficult to be sure that a
change in one point does not cause obscure bugs in some other part. This situation can
be particularly dangerous because of the power of the operating system. Since the
operating system executes in monitor mode, a wrong change in a pointer could cause
an error that would destroy the entire file system. Thus, it is necessary to test all
changes to the operating system carefully.
But the operating system runs on and controls the entire machine. Therefore, the
current system must be stopped and taken out of use, while changes are made and
tested. This is commonly called system development time. Since it makes the system
unavailable to users, system development time is often scheduled late at night or on
weekends.
A virtual machine system can eliminate much of this problem. System programmers
are given their own virtual machine and system development is done on the virtual
machine, instead of on a physical machine. The normal system operation seldom need
be disrupted for system development.

2.4.3 Client-Sewer Model

VM1370 gains much in simplicity by moving a large part ofthe traditional operating
system code (implementingthe extended machine) into a higher layer itself. VM1370
is still a complex program because stimulating a number of virtual 370s is not that
simple (especially ifyou want to do it efficiently).
A trend in modern operating systems is to take this idea of moving up into a higher
layers even further, and remove as much as possible from the operating system,
leaving a minimal kernel. The usual approach is to implement most of the operating
system functions in user processes. To request a service, such as reading a block of a
file, a user process (now known as the client process) sends the request to a server
process, which then does the work and sends back the answer.
In this model, shown in Figure 10, all that the kernel does is to handle the
communication between clients and servers. By splitting the operating system up into
parts, each part is made to handle one facet of the system, such as file service,
process service, and terminal service or memory service. This way, each part
becomes small and manageable. Furthermore, because all the servers run as user-
 {nodeprocesses, and not in kernel mode, they do not have direct access to the Introduction to
hardware. As a consequence, if a bug in the file server is triggered, the file service Operating System
niay crash, but this will not usually bring the whole machine down.

1I Client I Client I Process I Terminal I ....... I File I Manay I

Kernel
mode
Kernel

Figure 10: The Client-Server Model

Another advantage oftlie client-server model is its adaptability to use in distributed

systems (Figure 11). If a client communicates with a server by sending it messages,
the client need not know whether the message is handled locally in its own machine, or
whether it was sent across a network to a server on a remote machine. As far as the
client is concerned, the szme thing happens in both cases: a request was sent and a
reply came back.

Machine 1 Machine 2 Machine 3 Machine 4

Client File Process Terminal

----+ server server server
Kernel Kernel Kernel Kernel

Message from Client to Server

Figure 11: The Client-Server Model in a distributed System

'The picture painted above of a kernel that handles only the transport of messages from
clients to servers and back is not completely realistic. Some operating system functio~is
(such as loading commands into the physical 110 device registers) are difficult, if not
impossible, to do from user-space programs. There are two ways of dealing with this
problem. One way is to have some critical server processes (e.g., I10 device drivers)
actually run in kernel mode, with complete access to all the hardware, but still
communicate with other processes using the normal message mechanism.
The other way is to build a minimal amount of mechanism into the kernel, but leave
the policy decisions up to servers in user space. For example, the kernel might
recognize that a message sent to a certain special address means to take the contents
I of that message and load it into the I10 device registers from some disk, to start a disk
read. In this example, the kernel would not even inspect the bytes in the message to
see if they were valid or meaningful; it would just blindly copy them into the disk's
device registers. (Obviously some scheme for limiting such messages to authorized
. processes only must be used). The split between mechanism and policy is an important
concept; it occurs again and again in operating systems in various contexts.
2.4.4 Kernel Approach
Kernel is that part of operating system which directly makes interface with hardware
1
,

system. Its main functions are:

I
Operating System To provide a mechanism for creation and deletion of processes.
Fundamentals &
To provide processor scheduling, memory management and 110 management
To provide a mechanism for synchronisation of processes so that processes
synchronise their actions.
To provide a mechanism for interprocess communication.
The UNIX operating system is based on kernel approach (Figure 12). It consists of - ,

two separable parts: (i) Kernel (ii) System Programs.

As shown in the Figure 12, the kernel is between system programs and hardware.
The kernel supports the file system, processor scheduling, memory management and
other operating system functions through system calls. The UNIX operating system
supports a large number of system calls for process management and other operating
system functions. Through these system calls, the program utilises the services of the
operating system (kernel).

Figure 12: UNIX operating system structure

Check Your Progress 1

1) What is a system call?

...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
2) Define the essential difference between:
a) Spooling
b) Buffering
 Introduction to
Operating System

1 The drive for advanced operating systems has come from two directions. First, it has
I come from advances in the architecture of multicomputer systems and is now driven
by a wide variety of high-speed architectures. Hardware design of extremely fast
parallel and distributed systems is fairly well understood. These architectures offer
great potential for speed up but they also present a substantial challenge to operating
I
system designers. The following Figure I3 gives a broad classification of the
advanced operating system.
t
1C Advanced operating ..

Architecture driven ~ ~ ~ l i c a tdriven

ion

Figure 13: Classification of Advanced OS

A second class advanced operating system is driven by applications. There are several
important applications that require special operating system support, as a requirement
as well as for efficiency. General-purpose operating systems are too broad in nature

time systems, have received considerable attention in the past and the operating system
issues for these systems have been extensively examined.
t
2.5.1 Architecture Driven Operating System
A brief discussion of three operating systems in the category of the Architecture

A network operating system is a collection of software and associated protocols that

allows a set of autonomous computers, which are interconnected by a computer network,
to be used together in a convenient and cost-effective manner. In a network operating
system, the users are aware of the existence of multiple computers and can log in to
remote machines and copy files from one machine to an other machine.
Some of typical characteristics of network operating systems which make it different
from a distributed operating system (discussed in the next section) are the followings:
Each computer has its own private operating system instead of running part of a
global system wide operating system.
I Each user normally works on hislher own system: using a different system
requires some kind of remote login, instead of having the operating system
, dynamically allocate processes to CPUs.
Users are typically aware of where each of their files are kept and must move
file from one system to another with explicit file transfer commands instead of
having file placement managed by the operating system.
Operating System The system has little or no fault tolerance; if 5% of the personal computers crash, only
Fundamentals & 5% of the users are out of business.
Networking
The network operating system offers many capabilities including:
Allowing users to access the various resources of the network hosts.
Controlling access so that only users in the proper authorization are allowed to
access particular resources.
Making the use of remote resources appear to be identical to the use of local
resources.
Providing up-to-the minute network documentation on-line.
As we said earlier, the key issue that distinguishes a network operating system from a
distributed one is how aware the users are of the fact that multiple machines are being
used. The visibility occurs in three primary areas; file system, protection and program
execution.

Distributed Operating System

Distributed operating systems are operating systems for a network of autonomous
computers connected by a communication network. A distributed operating system
controls and manages the hardware and software resources of a distributed system
such that its users view the entire system as a powerful monolithic computer system.
When a program is executed in a distributed system, the user is not aware of where
the program is executed or of the location of the resources accessed.

The basic issues in the design of a distributed operating system are the same as in a
traditional operating system, viz., process synchronisation, deadlocks, scheduling, file
systems, interprocess communication, memory and buffer management, failure
recovery, etc. However, several idiosyncrasies of a distributed system, namely, the
lack of both shared memory and a physical global clock, and unpredictable
communication delays make the design of distributed operating systems much more
difficult.

Network operating systems focus on the use of remote services and resources
existing on a network of computer systems. Distributed operating systems focus on
effective utilization of resources in distributed computing environments.

Distributed systems provide many advantages concerning cost-effectivenessof both

computations and resources. The primary advantages are:

Resource sharing

Reliability

Communication

Incremental growth

Resource sharing has been the main motivation for distributed systems. The
earliest form of a distributed system was a computer network which enabled the
use of specialized hardware and software resources by geographically distqnt
users. Resource sharing continues to be an important aspect of distributed systems
today. However, the nature of distribution and sharing of resources has changed
due to advances in networking technology. Sharing of resources is now equally
meaningful in a local area network (LAN), for example sharing laser printers in
the lab.
One aspect of reliability is availability of a resource despite failures in a system. A Introduction to
distributed environment can offer enhanced availability of resources through Operating System
redundancy of resources and communication paths. For example, availability of a disk
resource can be increased by having two or more disks located at different sites in the
system. If one disk is unavailable due to a disk or site failure, a program can use some
other disk. The availability of a data resource, e.g., a file, can be similarly enhanced by
keeping copies of the file at various sites in the system.

Communication between users at different locations is greatly facilitated using a

distributed system. There are two important aspects to communication. First, users
have unique id's in a distributed system. Their use in communication automatically
invokes the security mechanisms of the OS, thereby ensuring privacy and authenticity
of communication. Second, use of a distributed system also implies continued
availability of communication when users migrate to different sites of a system.

Distributed systems are capable of incremental growth, i.e., the capabilities of a system
(e.g. its processing power) can be enhanced at a price proportional to the nature and
size of the enhancement. A major advantage of this feature is that enhancements need
not be planned in advance. This is in contrast to the classical mainframe architectures
where enhancements often took the form of upgradation, that is, replacement of
subsystems by more powerful ones -hence enhancement costs tended ta be
disproportionate to the nature and size of an enhancement.

Distributed systems today cover a wide spectrum of computer hardware, software and
topological configurations; resource sharing services range from off-line access to real-
time access and topologies vary from locally distributed to geographically distributed.

Multiprocessor Operating Systems

A typical multiprocessor system consists of a set of processors that share a set of

physical memory blocks over an interconnection network. Thus, a multiprocessor
system is a tightly coupled system where processors share an address space. A
multiprocessor operating system controls and manages the hardware and software
resources such that users view the entire systems as a powerful uniprocessor system;
a user is not aware of the presence of multiple processors and the interconnection
network.

The basic issues in the design of a multiprocessor operating system are the same as in
a traditional operating system. However, the issues of process synchronisation,task
scheduling, memory management, and protection and security become more complex
because the main memory is shared by many physical processors.

2.5.2 Application Driven Operating System

A brief discussion of three operating systems in the category of the Architecture
Driven OS follows:

Multimedia Operating System

The operating system is the shield of the computer hardware against all software
components. It provides a comfortable environment for the execution of programs, and
it ensures effective utilisation of the computer hardware. The operating system offers
various services related to the essential resources of a computer: CPU, main memory,
storage and all input and output devices.

For the processi~igof audio and video, multimedia application demands that humans
perceive these media in a natural, error-free way. These continuous media data
Operating System originate at sources like microphones, cameras and files. From these sources, the data
Fundamentals & are transferred to destinations like loudspeakers, video windows and files located at
the same computer or at a remote station. On the way from source to sink, the digital
data are processed by at least some type of move, copy or transmit operation. In this
data manipulation process there are always many resources which are under the
control of the operating system. The integration of discrete and continuous multimedia
data demands additional services from many operating system components.

The major aspect in this context is real-time processing of continuous media data.
Process management must take into account the timing requirements imposed by the
handling of multimedia data. Appropriate scheduling methods should be applied. In
contrast to the traditional real-time operating systems, multimedia operating systems
also have to consider tasks without hard timing restrictions under the aspect of
fairness.

To obey timing requirements, single components are conceived as resources that are
reserved prior to execution. This concept of resource reservation has to cover all
resources on a data path, i.e. all resources that deal with continuous media. It also
may affect parts of the application that process continuous media data. In distributed
systems, for example, resource management also comprises nehrork capacity.

The communication and synchronization between single processes must meet the
restrictions of real-time requirements and timing relations among different media. The
main memory is available as a shared resource to single processes.

In multimedia systems, memory management has to provide access to data with a

guaranteed timing delay and efficient data manipulation functions. For instance,
physical data copy operations must be avoided due to their negative impact on
performance; buffer management operations (such as are known from communication
systems) should be used.

Database Operating System

Database systems place special requirements on operating systems. These

requirements have their roots in the specific environment that database systems
support. A database system must support: the concept of a transaction; operations to
store, retrieve, and manipulate a large volume of data efficiently; primitives for
concurrency control, and system failure recovery. To store temporary data and data
retrieved from secondary storage, it must have a buffer management scheme.

Real-time Operating System

The main characteristics of the real-time systems is the correctness of the

computation. This correctness does not apply to error-free computation, but also on
the time in which the result is processed and produced. Therefore, the real-time
systems must execute its critical workload in time to prevent failures. Examples of
applications requiring support of real-time systems are process control, air traffic
control, guidance of missile systems, etc.

Real-time systems also place special requirements on operating system, which have
their roots in the specific application that the real-time system is supporting. Adistinct
feature of real-time systems is that jobs have completion deadlines. A job should be
completed before its deadline to be of use (in soft real-time system) or to avert a
disaster (in hard real-time systems). The major issue in the design of real-time
operating systems is the scheduling ofjobs in such a way that a maximum number of
jobs satis@ their deadlines. Other issues include designing languages and primitives to
effectively prepare and execute a job schedule.
@= Check Your Progress 2 lntroduction to
Operating System
1) What are the basic design issues in the distributed operating systems.

2) What is the basic difference between Network operating systems and

Distributed operating systems.

2.6 CHARACTERISTICS OF MODERN

OPERATING SYSTEM
Over the years, there has been a gradual evolution of operating system structure and
capabilities. However, in recent years a number of new design elements have been
introduced into both new operating systems and new releases of existing operating
systems that create a major change in the nature of operating systems. These modern
operating systems respond to new developments in hardware and new applications.
Among the key hardware drivers are mdtiprocessor machines, greatly increased
machine speed, high speed network attachments, and increasing the'size and variety
of memory storage devices. In the application arena, multimedia applications, Internet
and Web access, and clientjserver computing have influenced operating system
design.
The rate of change in the demands on operating systems requires not just
modifications and enhancements to existing architectures but new ways of organising
the operating system. A wide range of different approaches and design elements has
been tried in both expiremental and commercial operating systems, but much of the
work fits into the following categories:
Microkernel architecture
Multithreading
Symmetricmultiprocessing
Most operating systems, until recently, featured a large monolithic kernel. Most of
what is thought of as operating system functionality is provided in these large kernels,
including scheduling, file system, networking, device drivers, memory management and
more. Typically, a monolithic kernel is implemented as a single process with all
elements sharing the same address space. A microkernel architecture assigns only
a few essential functions to the kernel, including address spaces, interprocessor
communication (IPC), and basic scheduling. Other OS services are provided by
processes, sometimes called servers, that run in user mode and are treated like any
other application by the microkemel. This approach decouples kernel and server
development. Servers may be customised to specific application or environment
requirements.The microkernel approach simplifies implementation, provides flexibility,
and is well suited to a distributed environment. In essence, a microkernel interacts
with local and remote server processes in the same way, facilitating construction of
distributed systems.
51
Operating System 2.6.1 Microkernel Architecture
Fundamentals &
A microkernel architecture assigns only a few essential functions to the kernel,
including address spaces, interprocess communication (IEBC), and basic scheduling.
Other OS services are provided by processes, soinetimes called servers, that run in
user mode and are treated like any other application by the microkernel. This
approach decouples kernel and server development. Servers may be customised to
specific application or environment requirements. The microkernels approach
simplifies implementation, provides flexit-ility, and is well suited to a distributed
environment. In essence, a microkernel interacts with local and remote server
processes in the same way, facilitating constructio~lof distributed systems.

2.6.2 Multithreading
Multithreading is a technique in which a process executing an application is divided
into threads that can run concurrently. We can make the following distinction:
r, Threads: A dispatchable unit of work. It includes a processor context (which
includes the program counter and stack pointer) and its owl1 data area for a stack
(to enable subroutine branching). A thread executes sequentially and is
interruptable so that the processor can turn to another thread.
Process: A collection of one or more threads and associated system resources
(such as memory containing code and data, open files, and devices). This
corresponds closely to the concept of a program in execution. By breaking a
single application into multiple threads, the programmer has great control over the
modularity of the application and the timing of application related events.
Multithreading is useful for applications that perform a number of essentially
independent tasks that do not need to be serialised. An example is a database server
that listens for and processes numerous client requests. With multiple threads running
within the same process, switching back and forth among threads involves less
processor overhead than a major process switch between different processes.
Threads are also useful for structuring processes that are part of the OS kernel as
described in subsequent chapters.

2.6.3 Symmetric Multiprocessing

Until recently, virtually all single-user personal computers and workstations contained
a single general-purpose microprocessor. As demands for performance increase and
as the cost of microprocessors continues to drop, vendors have introduced computers
with multiple microprocessors. To achieve greater efficiency and reliability, one
technique is to employ symmetric multiprocessing (SMP), a term that refers to a
computer hardware architecture and also to the operating system behaviour that
reflects that architecture. A symmetric multiprocessor can be defined as a standalone
computer system with the following characteristics:
1) There are multiple processors.

2) These processors share the same main memory and I10 facilities, interconnected
by a communications bus or other internal connection scheme.
3) All processors can perform the same functions (hence the term Symmetric).
The operating system of an SMP schedules processes or threads across all of the
processors. SMP has a number of potential advantages over uniprocessor
architecture, including the following:
8 Pesformancc: If the work to be done by a computer can be organised so that
some portions of the work can be done in parallel, then a sysfe.-.,with multiple
 processors will yield greater performance than one with a single processor of the Introduction to
Operating System
same type. With multiprogramming, only one process can execute at a time;
meanwhile all other processes are waiting for the processor. With
multiprocessing, more than one process can be running simultaneously, each on a
different processor.
Availability: In a symmetric multiprocessor, because all processors can perform
the same functions, the failure of a single processor does not halt the machine.
Instead, the system can continue to function at reduced performance.
Incremental growth: A user can enhance the performance of a system by
adding an additional processor.
Scaling: Vendors can offer a range of products with different price and
performance characteristics based on the number of processors configured in the
system.
It is important to note that these are potential rather than guaranteed benefits. The
operating system must provide tools and functions to exploit the parallelism in an SMP
system.
Multithreading and SMP are often discussed together, but the two are independent
facilities. Even on a uniprocessor machine, multithreading is useful for structuring
applications and kernel processes. An SMP machine is useful for non-threaded
processes, because several processes can run in parallel. However, the two facilities
complement each other and can be used effectively together.
An attractive feature of an SMP is that the existence of multiple processors is
transparent to the user. The operating system takes care of scheduling of threads
or processes on individual processors and of synchronisation among processors. A
different problem is to provide the appearance of a single system for a cluster of
I
I separate computers - a multicomputer system. In this case, we are dealing with a
collection of entities (computers), each with its own main memory, secondary
I
memory, and other I10 modules. A distributed operating system provides the illusion
I of a single main memory space and a single secondary memory space, plus other
unified access facilities, such as a distributed file system. Although clusters are
becoming increasingly popular, and there are many cluster products on the market,
I the state of the art for distributed operating systems lags that of uniprocessor and
I
SMP operating systems.
I The most recent innovation in operating system design is the use of object oriented
technologies. Object oriented design lends discipline to the process of adding modular
I extensions to a small kernel. At the operating system level, an object-based structure
enables programmers to customise an operating system without disrupting system
integrity. Object orientation also eases the development of distributed tools and a full-
blown distributed operating system.

2.7 SUMMARY
The operating system is an essential component of system software, which
consists of procedures for managing computer resources. Initially computers were
operated from the front console. System software such as Assemblers, Loaders
and Compilers greatly helped in software development but also required substantial
setup time. To reduce the setup time an operator was hired and similar jobs were
batched together.
Batch systems allowed automatic job sequenting by a resident monitor and improved
the overall utilisation of systems greatly. The computer no longer had to wait for
human operations - but CPU utilisation was still low because of slow speed of I10
Operating System devic s compared to the CPU. A new concept buffering was developed to improve
Fundamentals &
Networking
d'
syst m performance by overlapping the input, output and computation of a singlejob.
Spooling was another new concept in improving the CPU utilisation by overlapping
input of one job with the computation and output ofother jobs.
Operating systems are now almost always written in a higher-level language
(C, PASCAL, etc.). UNIX was the first operating system developed in C language.
This feature improves their implementation, maintenance and portability.
The operating system provides a number of services. At the lowest level, there are
system calls, which allow a running program to make a request from the operating
system directly. At a higher level, there is a command interpreter, which supports a
mechanism for a user to issue a request without writing a program.
In this unit, we began with tracing the evolution of the operating system through serial
processing, batch processing and multiprogramming. We also presented different
operating system models: Layered structured, Kernel based, virtual machine system
and client server model.
At the end we presented classification and characteristics of emerging operating
systems.

Check Your Progress 1

1) System calls provide the interface between a running program and the operating
system. User programs receives OS services through the set of system calls.,
2) Both buffering and spooling are used to improve system performance. Buffering
overlaps input, output and processing of a singlejob whereas spooling allows
CPU to overlap the input of the job with computation and output of another jabs.
Spooling is better than buffering.
Check Your Progress 2
1) The basic design issues of a distributed operating system are the ~alneas in a
conventional operating system, viz., process synchronisation, deadlocks,
scheduling, file systems, interprocess communication, memory and buffer 1

management, failure recovery, etc., but what makes its design complexity are the
lack of shared memory and common physical global clock and unpredictable
communication delays.
2) The basic difference between the two is that the network operating system I
focuses on the use of remote services and resources existing on a network
operating system whereas the distributed operating system focuses on the
effective utilisation of resources on distributed environment.

2.9 FURTHER READINGS d

1) Operating System Concepts by Abraham Silberschatz and James L. Peterson,

1
Addision Wesely.
2) Operating Systems Design and Implenlentation by Andrew S . Tanenbaum,
Prentice Hall of India.
4