INTRODUCTION

An Operating System (OS) is an interface between a computer user, Application software and
computer hardware. An operating system is a software which performs all the basic tasks like file
management, memory management, process management, handling input and output, and
controlling peripheral devices such as disk drives and printers.

Some popular Operating Systems include Linux, Windows, MACOS, VMS, Android, IOS, etc.

Definition

An operating system is a program that acts as an interface between the user and the computer
hardware and controls the execution of all kinds of programs.

Computer System Components

Hardware – provides basic computing resources (CPU, memory, I/O devices).

Operating system – controls and coordinates the use of the hardware among the various application
programs for the various users.

Applications programs – define the ways in which the system resources are used to solve the
computing problems of the users (compilers, database systems, video games, business programs).

Users (people, machines, other computers).

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Operating system goals
 Execute user programs and make solving user problems easier.
 Make the computer system convenient to use.

Following are some of important functions of an operating System.

 Memory Management
 Processor Management
 Device Management
 File Management
 Security
 Control over system performance
 Job accounting
 Error detecting aids
 Coordination between other software and users

Memory Management

Memory management refers to management of Primary Memory or Main Memory. Main memory
is a large array of words or bytes where each word or byte has its own address.

Main memory provides a fast storage that can be accessed directly by the CPU. For a program to
be executed, it must in the main memory. An Operating System does the following activities for
memory management −

 Keeps tracks of primary memory, i.e., what part of it are in use by whom, what part are not
in use.
 In multiprogramming, the OS decides which process will get memory when and how much.
 Allocates the memory when a process requests it to do so.
 De-allocates the memory when a process no longer needs it or has been terminated.

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Processor Management

In multiprogramming environment, the OS decides which process gets the processor when and for
how much time. This function is called process scheduling. An Operating System does the
following activities for processor management −

 Keeps tracks of processor and status of process. The program responsible for this task is
known as traffic controller.
 Allocates the processor (CPU) to a process.
 De-allocates processor when a process is no longer required.

Device Management
An Operating System manages device communication via their respective drivers. It does the
following activities for device management −

 Keeps tracks of all devices. Program responsible for this task is known as the I/O
controller.
 Decides which process gets the device when and for how much time.
 Allocates the device in the efficient way.
 De-allocates devices.

File Management

A file system is normally organized into directories for easy navigation and usage. These
directories may contain files and other directions.

An Operating System does the following activities for file management −

 Keeps track of information, location, uses, status etc. The collective facilities are often
known as file system.
 Decides who gets the resources.
 Allocates the resources.
 De-allocates the resources.

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Secondary-Storage Management

Since main memory (primary storage) is volatile and too small to accommodate all data and
programs permanently, the computer system must provide secondary storage to back up main
memory.

Most modern computer systems use disks as the principle on-line storage medium, for both
programs and data.

The operating system is responsible for the following activities in connection with disk
management:

o Free space management

o Storage allocation
o Disk scheduling

Protection System

Protection refers to a mechanism for controlling access by programs, processes, or users to both
system and user resources.

For example memory addressing hardware ensures that a process can execute only in its address
space, timer ensures that no process can gain control of the CPU without relinquishing control,
device control registers are not accessible to users thus the integrity of various peripheral devices
is protected.

The protection mechanism must:

 Distinguish between authorized and unauthorized usage.

 Specify the controls to be imposed.
 Provide a means of enforcement.

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Important Activities Performed by the Operating System

Following are some of the important activities that an Operating System performs

 Security − By means of password and similar other techniques, it prevents unauthorized

access to programs and data.
 Control over system performance − Recording delays between request for a service and
response from the system.
 Job accounting − Keeping track of time and resources used by various jobs and users.
 Error detecting aids − Production of dumps, traces, error messages, and other debugging
and error detecting aids.
 Coordination between other software and users − Coordination and assignment of
compilers, interpreters, assemblers and other software to the various users of the computer
systems.

Operating System - Services

An Operating System provides services to both the users and to the programs.

 It provides programs an environment to execute.

 It provides users the services to execute the programs in a convenient manner.

Following are a few common services provided by an operating system −

 Program execution
 I/O operations
 File System manipulation
 Communication
 Error Detection
 Resource Allocation
 Protection

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Program execution

Operating systems handle many kinds of activities from user programs to system programs like
printer spooler, name servers, file server, etc. Each of these activities is encapsulated as a process.

A process includes the complete execution context (code to execute, data to manipulate, registers,
OS resources in use). Following are the major activities of an operating system with respect to
program management −

 Loads a program into memory.

 Executes the program.
 Handles program's execution.
 Provides a mechanism for process synchronization.
 Provides a mechanism for process communication.
 Provides a mechanism for deadlock handling.

I/O Operation
An I/O subsystem comprises of I/O devices and their corresponding driver software. Drivers hide
the peculiarities of specific hardware devices from the users.

An Operating System manages the communication between user and device drivers.

 I/O operation means read or write operation with any file or any specific I/O device.
 Operating system provides the access to the required I/O device when required.

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File system manipulation

A file represents a collection of related information. Computers can store files on the disk
(secondary storage), for long-term storage purpose. Examples of storage media include magnetic
tape, magnetic disk and optical disk drives like CD, DVD. Each of these media has its own
properties like speed, capacity, and data transfer rate and data access methods.

A file system is normally organized into directories for easy navigation and usage. These
directories may contain files and other directions. Following are the major activities of an operating
system with respect to file management −

 Program needs to read a file or write a file.

 The operating system gives the permission to the program for operation on file.
 Permission varies from read-only, read-write, denied and so on.
 Operating System provides an interface to the user to create/delete files.
 Operating System provides an interface to the user to create/delete directories.
 Operating System provides an interface to create the backup of file system.

Communication

In case of distributed systems which are a collection of processors that do not share memory,
peripheral devices, or a clock, the operating system manages communications between all the
processes. Multiple processes communicate with one another through communication lines in the
network.

The OS handles routing and connection strategies, and the problems of contention and security.
Following are the major activities of an operating system with respect to communication −

 Two processes often require data to be transferred between them

 Both the processes can be on one computer or on different computers, but are connected
through a computer network.
 Communication may be implemented by two methods, either by Shared Memory or by
Message Passing.

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Error handling

Errors can occur anytime and anywhere. An error may occur in CPU, in I/O devices or in the
memory hardware. Following are the major activities of an operating system with respect to error
handling −

 The OS constantly checks for possible errors.

 The OS takes an appropriate action to ensure correct and consistent computing.

Resource Management

In case of multi-user or multi-tasking environment, resources such as main memory, CPU cycles
and files storage are to be allocated to each user or job. Following are the major activities of an
operating system with respect to resource management −

 The OS manages all kinds of resources using schedulers.

 CPU scheduling algorithms are used for better utilization of CPU.

Protection

Considering a computer system having multiple users and concurrent execution of multiple
processes, the various processes must be protected from each other's activities.

Protection refers to a mechanism or a way to control the access of programs, processes, or users to
the resources defined by a computer system. Following are the major activities of an operating
system with respect to protection −

 The OS ensures that all access to system resources is controlled.

 The OS ensures that external I/O devices are protected from invalid access attempts.
 The OS provides authentication features for each user by means of passwords.

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Types of Operating System
Operating systems are there from the very first computer generation and they keep evolving with
time. In this chapter, we will discuss some of the important types of operating systems which are
most commonly used.

Batch operating system

The users of a batch operating system do not interact with the computer directly. Each user
prepares his job on an off-line device like punch cards and submits it to the computer operator. To
speed up processing, jobs with similar needs are batched together and run as a group. The
programmers leave their programs with the operator and the operator then sorts the programs with
similar requirements into batches.

The problems with Batch Systems are as follows:

 Lack of interaction between the user and the job.

 CPU is often idle, because the speed of the mechanical I/O devices is slower than the CPU.
 Difficult to provide the desired priority.

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Time-sharing operating systems

Time-sharing is a technique which enables many people, located at various terminals, to use a
particular computer system at the same time. Time-sharing or multitasking is a logical extension
of multiprogramming. Processor's time which is shared among multiple users simultaneously is
termed as time-sharing.

The main difference between Multiprogrammed Batch Systems and Time-Sharing Systems is that
in case of Multiprogrammed Batch Systems, the objective is to maximize processor use, whereas
in Time-Sharing Systems, the objective is to minimize response time.

Multiple jobs are executed by the CPU by switching between them, but the switches occur so
frequently. Thus, the user can receive an immediate response.

The operating system uses CPU scheduling and multiprogramming to provide each user with a
small portion of a time. Computer systems that were designed primarily as batch systems have
been modified to time-sharing systems.

Advantages of Timesharing operating systems are as follows −

 Provides the advantage of quick response.

 Avoids duplication of software.
 Reduces CPU idle time.

Disadvantages of Time-sharing operating systems are as follows −

 Problem of reliability.
 Question of security and integrity of user programs and data.
 Problem of data communication.

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Distributed operating System

Distributed systems use multiple central processors to serve multiple real-time applications and
multiple users. Data processing jobs are distributed among the processors accordingly.

The processors communicate with one another through various communication lines (such as high-
speed buses or telephone lines). These are referred as loosely coupled systems or distributed
systems. Processors in a distributed system may vary in size and function. These processors are
referred as sites, nodes, computers, and so on.

The advantages of distributed systems are as follows −

 With resource sharing facility, a user at one site may be able to use the resources available
at another.
 Speedup the exchange of data with one another via electronic mail.
 If one site fails in a distributed system, the remaining sites can potentially continue
operating.
 Better service to the customers.
 Reduction of the load on the host computer.
 Reduction of delays in data processing.

Network operating System

A Network Operating System runs on a server and provides the server the capability to manage
data, users, groups, security, applications, and other networking functions. The primary purpose
of the network operating system is to allow shared file and printer access among multiple
computers in a network, typically a local area network (LAN), a private network or to other
networks.

Examples of network operating systems include Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft
Windows Server 2008, UNIX, Linux, Mac OS X, Novell NetWare, and BSD.

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The advantages of network operating systems are as follows −

 Centralized servers are highly stable.

 Security is server managed.
 Upgrades to new technologies and hardware can be easily integrated into the system.
 Remote access to servers is possible from different locations and types of systems.

The disadvantages of network operating systems are as follows −

 High cost of buying and running a server.

 Dependency on a central location for most operations.
 Regular maintenance and updates are required.

Real Time operating System

A real-time system is defined as a data processing system in which the time interval required to
process and respond to inputs is so small that it controls the environment. The time taken by the
system to respond to an input and display of required updated information is termed as the
response time. So in this method, the response time is very less as compared to online processing.

. A real-time operating system must have well-defined, fixed time constraints, otherwise the
system will fail. For example, Scientific Experiments, Medical imaging systems, industrial control
systems, weapon systems, robots, air traffic control systems, etc.

There are two types of real-time operating systems.

Hard real-time systems

Hard real-time systems guarantee that critical tasks complete on time. In hard real-time systems,
secondary storage is limited or missing and the data is stored in ROM. In these systems, virtual
memory is almost never found.

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Soft real-time systems

Soft real-time systems are less restrictive. A critical real-time task gets priority over other tasks
and retains the priority until it completes. Soft real-time systems have limited utility than hard real-
time systems. For example, multimedia, virtual reality, Advanced Scientific Projects like undersea
exploration and planetary rovers, etc.

Desktop Systems
These are computer system dedicated to a single user for example Personal Computers.

The advantages of Desktop operating systems are as follows −

 They have close communication referred to as I/O which is aided by I/O devices such as keyboards,
mice, display screens, small printers.
 User convenience and responsiveness.
 Can adopt technology developed for larger operating system’ often individuals have sole use of
computer and do not need advanced CPU utilization of protection features.
 May run several different types of operating systems (Windows, MacOS, UNIX, Linux)

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 Operating System - Properties
Multitasking

Multitasking is when multiple jobs are executed by the CPU simultaneously by switching between
them. Switches occur so frequently that the users may interact with each program while it is
running. An OS does the following activities related to multitasking −

 The user gives instructions to the operating system or to a program directly, and receives
an immediate response.
 The OS handles multitasking in the way that it can handle multiple operations/executes
multiple programs at a time.
 Multitasking Operating Systems are also known as Time-sharing systems.
 These Operating Systems were developed to provide interactive use of a computer system
at a reasonable cost.
 A time-shared operating system uses the concept of CPU scheduling and
multiprogramming to provide each user with a small portion of a time-shared CPU.
 Each user has at least one separate program in memory.
 A program that is loaded into memory and is executing is commonly referred to as a
process.
 When a process executes, it typically executes for only a very short time before it either
finishes or needs to perform I/O.
 Since interactive I/O typically runs at slower speeds, it may take a long time to complete.
During this time, a CPU can be utilized by another process.
 The operating system allows the users to share the computer simultaneously.

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Multiprogramming

Sharing the processor, when two or more programs reside in memory at the same time, is referred
as multiprogramming. Multiprogramming assumes a single shared processor. Multiprogramming
increases CPU utilization by organizing jobs so that the CPU always has one to execute.

The following figure shows the memory layout for a multiprogramming system.

An OS does the following activities related to multiprogramming.

 The operating system keeps several jobs in memory at a time.

 This set of jobs is a subset of the jobs kept in the job pool.
 The operating system picks and begins to execute one of the jobs in the memory.
 Multiprogramming operating systems monitor the state of all active programs and system
resources using memory management programs to ensure that the CPU is never idle, unless
there are no jobs to process.

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Advantages

 High and efficient CPU utilization.

 User feels that many programs are allotted CPU almost simultaneously.

Disadvantages

 CPU scheduling is required.

 To accommodate many jobs in memory, memory management is required.

Interactivity

Interactivity refers to the ability of users to interact with a computer system. An Operating system
does the following activities related to interactivity −

 Provides the user an interface to interact with the system.

 Manages input devices to take inputs from the user. For example, keyboard.
 Manages output devices to show outputs to the user. For example, Monitor.

The response time of the OS needs to be short, since the user submits and waits for the result.

Real Time System

Real-time systems are usually dedicated, embedded systems. An operating system does the
following activities related to real-time system activity.

 In such systems, Operating Systems typically read from and react to sensor data.
 The Operating system must guarantee response to events within fixed periods of time to
ensure correct performance.

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Distributed Environment

A distributed environment refers to multiple independent CPUs or processors in a computer

system. An operating system does the following activities related to distributed environment −

 The OS distributes computation logics among several physical processors.

 The processors do not share memory or a clock. Instead, each processor has its own local
memory.
 The OS manages the communications between the processors. They communicate with
each other through various communication lines.

Spooling

Spooling is an acronym for simultaneous peripheral operations on line. Spooling refers to putting
data of various I/O jobs in a buffer. This buffer is a special area in memory or hard disk which is
accessible to I/O devices.

An operating system does the following activities related to distributed environment −

 Handles I/O device data spooling as devices have different data access rates.
 Maintains the spooling buffer which provides a waiting station where data can rest while
the slower device catches up.
 Maintains parallel computation because of spooling process as a computer can perform I/O
in parallel fashion. It becomes possible to have the computer read data from a tape, write
data to disk and to write out to a tape printer while it is doing its computing task.

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Advantages

 The spooling operation uses a disk as a very large buffer.

 Spooling is capable of overlapping I/O operation for one job with processor operations for
another job.

Question 1
a) Write short notes about the following
i. Parallel operating systems
ii. Clustered Operating Systems
iii. Handheld Operating System
iv. Buffering
v. Caching
b) Outline the advantages and disadvantage of the operating systems discussed in (a) above

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 Operating System Processes
Process

A process is basically a program in execution. The execution of a process must progress in a

sequential fashion.

A process is defined as an entity which represents the basic unit of work to be implemented in the
system.

To put it in simple terms, we write our computer programs in a text file and when we execute this
program, it becomes a process which performs all the tasks mentioned in the program.

When a program is loaded into the memory and it becomes a process, it can be divided into four
sections: Stack, Heap, Text and Data.

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S.N. Component & Description
Stack
1
The process Stack contains the temporary data such as method/function parameters, return
address and local variables.
Heap
2
This is dynamically allocated memory to a process during its run time.
Text
3
This includes the current activity represented by the value of Program Counter and the
contents of the processor's registers.
Data
4
This section contains the global and static variables.

Program

A program is a piece of code which may be a single line or millions of lines. A computer program
is usually written by a computer programmer in a programming language. For example, here is a
simple program written in C programming language −

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
printf("Hello, World! \n");
return 0;
}

A computer program is also a collection of instructions that performs a specific task when executed
by a computer. When we compare a program with a process, we can conclude that a process is a
dynamic instance of a computer program.

A part of a computer program that performs a well-defined task is known as an algorithm while a
collection of computer programs, libraries and related data are referred to as a software.

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Process Overview

 A process is a program in execution, it requires resources like; CPU time, memory, files and
I/O devices.
 These resources are allocated to the process either when it is created or while it is executing.
 OS processes execute system code, and user processes execute user code.

Process Life Cycle/ Process States

When a process executes, it passes through different states. These stages may differ in different
operating systems, and the names of these states are also not standardized.

In general, a process can have one of the following five states at a time.

S.N. State & Description

Start
1
This is the initial state when a process is first started/created.
Ready

The process is waiting to be assigned to a processor. Ready processes are waiting to have
2
the processor allocated to them by the operating system so that they can run. Process may
come into this state after Start state or while running it by but interrupted by the scheduler
to assign CPU to some other process.
Running
3
Once the process has been assigned to a processor by the OS scheduler, the process state
is set to running and the processor executes its instructions.
Waiting
4
Process moves into the waiting state if it needs to wait for a resource, such as waiting for
user input, or waiting for a file to become available.
Terminated or Exit
5
Once the process finishes its execution, or it is terminated by the operating system, it is
moved to the terminated state where it waits to be removed from main memory.

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Process Control Block (PCB)
A Process Control Block is a data structure maintained by the Operating System for every process.
The PCB is identified by an integer process ID (PID). A PCB keeps all the information needed to
keep track of a process as listed below in the table –

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S.N. Information & Description
Process State
1
The current state of the process i.e., whether it is ready, running, waiting, or whatever.
Process privileges
2
This is required to allow/disallow access to system resources.
Process ID
3
Unique identification for each of the process in the operating system.
Pointer
4
A pointer to parent process.
Program Counter
5
Program Counter is a pointer to the address of the next instruction to be executed for this
process.
CPU registers
6
Various CPU registers where process need to be stored for execution for running state.
CPU Scheduling Information
7
Process priority and other scheduling information which is required to schedule the
process.
Memory management information
8
This includes the information of page table, memory limits, and Segment table depending
on memory used by the operating system.
Accounting information
9
This includes the amount of CPU used for process execution, time limits, execution ID
etc.
IO status information
10
This includes a list of I/O devices allocated to the process.

NOTE:

The architecture of a PCB is completely dependent on Operating System and may contain different
information in different operating systems. The PCB is maintained for a process throughout its
lifetime, and is deleted once the process terminates.

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Process Scheduling
Definition

The process scheduling is the activity of the process manager that handles the removal of the
running process from the CPU and the selection of another process on the basis of a particular
strategy.

Process scheduling is an essential part of a Multiprogramming operating systems. Such operating

systems allow more than one process to be loaded into the executable memory at a time and the
loaded process shares the CPU using time multiplexing.

Process Scheduling Queues

The OS maintains all PCBs in Process Scheduling Queues. The OS maintains a separate queue for
each of the process states and PCBs of all processes in the same execution state are placed in the
same queue. When the state of a process is changed, its PCB is unlinked from its current queue
and moved to its new state queue.

The Operating System maintains the following important process scheduling queues −

 Job Queue: This queue keeps all the processes in the system.
 Ready Queue: This queue keeps a set of all processes residing in main memory, ready and
waiting to execute. A new process is always put in this queue.
 Device Queues: The processes which are blocked due to unavailability of an I/O device
constitute this queue.

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The OS can use different policies to manage each queue (FIFO, Round Robin, Priority, etc.). The
OS scheduler determines how to move processes between the ready and run queues which can
only have one entry per processor core on the system.

Schedulers
Schedulers are special system software which handles process scheduling in various ways. Their
main task is to select the jobs to be submitted into the system and to decide which process to run.
Schedulers are of three types −

 Long-Term Scheduler
 Short-Term Scheduler
 Medium-Term Scheduler

Long Term Scheduler

It is also called a job scheduler. A long-term scheduler determines which programs are admitted
to the system for processing. It selects processes from the queue and loads them into memory for
execution. Process loads into the memory for CPU scheduling.

The primary objective of the job scheduler is to provide a balanced mix of jobs, such as I/O bound
and processor bound. It also controls the degree of multiprogramming. If the degree of
multiprogramming is stable, then the average rate of process creation must be equal to the average
departure rate of processes leaving the system.

On some systems, the long-term scheduler may not be available or minimal. Time-sharing
operating systems have no long term scheduler. When a process changes the state from new to
ready, then there is use of long-term scheduler.

Short Term Scheduler

It is also called as CPU scheduler. Its main objective is to increase system performance in
accordance with the chosen set of criteria. It is the change of ready state to running state of the

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process. CPU scheduler selects a process among the processes that are ready to execute and
allocates CPU to one of them.

Short-term schedulers, also known as dispatchers, make the decision of which process to execute
next. Short-term schedulers are faster than long-term schedulers.

Medium Term Scheduler

Medium-term scheduling is a part of swapping. It removes the processes from the memory. It
reduces the degree of multiprogramming. The medium-term scheduler is in-charge of handling the
swapped out-processes.

A running process may become suspended if it makes an I/O request. A suspended processes
cannot make any progress towards completion. In this condition, to remove the process from
memory and make space for other processes, the suspended process is moved to the secondary
storage. This process is called swapping, and the process is said to be swapped out or rolled out.
Swapping may be necessary to improve the process mix.

Comparison among Scheduler

S.N. Long-Term Scheduler Short-Term Scheduler Medium-Term Scheduler

It is a process swapping
1 It is a job scheduler It is a CPU scheduler
scheduler.
Speed is lesser than short term Speed is fastest among Speed is in between both short
2
scheduler other two and long term scheduler.
It provides lesser control
It controls the degree of It reduces the degree of
3 over degree of
multiprogramming multiprogramming.
multiprogramming
It is almost absent or minimal It is also minimal in time It is a part of Time sharing
4
in time sharing system sharing system systems.
It selects processes from pool It can re-introduce the process
It selects those processes
5 and loads them into memory into memory and execution can
which are ready to execute
for execution be continued.

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Context Switch

A context switch is the mechanism to store and restore the state or context of a CPU in Process
Control block so that a process execution can be resumed from the same point at a later time. Using
this technique, a context switcher enables multiple processes to share a single CPU. Context
switching is an essential part of a multitasking operating system features.

When the scheduler switches the CPU from executing one process to execute another, the state
from the current running process is stored into the process control block. After this, the state for
the process to run next is loaded from its own PCB and used to set the PC, registers, etc. At that
point, the second process can start executing.

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Context switches are computationally intensive since register and memory state must be saved and
restored. To avoid the amount of context switching time, some hardware systems employ two or
more sets of processor registers. When the process is switched, the following information is stored
for later use.

 Program Counter
 Scheduling information
 Base and limit register value
 Currently used register
 Changed State
 I/O State information
 Accounting information

Process Creation
Parent process create children processes, which, in turn create other processes, forming a tree of
processes.

Resource sharing

 Parent and children share all resources.

 Children share subset of parent’s resources.
 Parent and child share no resources.

Execution

 Parent and children execute concurrently.

 Parent waits until children terminate.

Address space

 Child duplicate of parent.

 Child has a program loaded into it.

28 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

Process Termination
Process executes last statement and asks the operating system to decide it (exit).

 Output data from child to parent (via wait).

 Process’ resources are deallocated by operating system.

Parent may terminate execution of children processes (abort).

 Child has exceeded allocated resources.

 Task assigned to child is no longer required.
 Parent is exiting.
 Operating system does not allow child to continue if its parent terminates.
 Cascading termination.

Cooperating Processes
Independent process cannot affect or be affected by the execution of another process.

Cooperating process can affect or be affected by the execution of another process

Advantages of process cooperation

 Information sharing
 Computation speed-up
 Modularity
 Convenience

29 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

 Operating System-CPU Scheduler
It’s also called the short term scheduler.

The CPU Scheduler Selects from among the processes in memory that are ready to execute, and
allocates the CPU to one of them.

CPU scheduling decisions may take place when a process:

1. Switches from running to waiting state.

2. Switches from running to ready state.
3. Switches from waiting to ready.
4. Terminates.

Scheduling under 1 and 4 is nonpreemptive.

All other scheduling is preemptive.

2
4

3 1

30 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

Non-Preemptive Scheduling

Once the CPU has been allocated, the process keeps the CPU until it releases the CPU either by
terminating or by switching to waiting state.

It is the only method that can be used in certain hardware platforms because it doesn’t require
special hardware (such as timer) needed for preemptive scheduling

Dispatcher
Dispatcher module gives control of the CPU to the process selected by the short-term scheduler;
this involves:

 Switching context
 Switching to user mode
 Jumping to the proper location in the user program to restart that program

The dispatcher should be as fast as possible, since it is invoked during every process switch

Dispatch latency – time it takes for the dispatcher to stop one process and start another running.

Scheduling Criteria
Different algorithm have different properties and may favor one class of processes over another.
Many criteria have been suggested for comparing CPU-scheduling algorithm.

These include:-

CPU utilization – keep the CPU as busy as possible. It should range from 40% (lightly loaded
system) to 90% (heavily used system)

Throughput – the number of processes that complete their execution per time unit. For long
processes, it can be 1 process per hour &short ones could be 10 processes per second

Turnaround time – amount of time to execute a particular process (time interval from when a
process is submitted to when the process completes execution). It sums up the time spent waiting
to get to memory, waiting in the ready queue, executing on the CPU and doing I/O.

31 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

Waiting time – amount of time a process has been waiting in the ready queue

Response time – amount of time it takes from when a request was submitted until the first response
is produced, not output (for time-sharing environment)

Optimization Criteria
 Max CPU utilization
 Max throughput
 Min turnaround time
 Min waiting time
 Min response time

Operating System Scheduling algorithms

A Process Scheduler schedules different processes to be assigned to the CPU based on particular
scheduling algorithms. There are five popular process scheduling algorithms which include:

 First-Come, First-Served (FCFS) Scheduling

 Shortest-Job-Next (SJN) Scheduling
 Shortest Remaining Time
 Round Robin(RR) Scheduling
 Multiple-Level Queues Scheduling

These algorithms are either non-preemptive or preemptive. Non-preemptive algorithms are

designed so that once a process enters the running state, it cannot be preempted until it completes
its allotted time, whereas the preemptive scheduling is based on priority where a scheduler may
preempt a low priority running process anytime when a high priority process enters into a ready
state.

32 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

First Come First Serve (FCFS)

 Jobs are executed on first come, first serve basis.

 It is a non-preemptive, pre-emptive scheduling algorithm.
 Easy to understand and implement.
 Its implementation is based on FIFO queue.
 Poor in performance as average wait time is high.

Process Burst Time

P1 24

P2 3

P3 3

Suppose that the processes arrive in the order: P1 , P2 , P3

The Gantt Chart for the schedule is:

P1 P2 P3

0 24 27 30

 Waiting time for P1 = 0; P2 = 24; P3 = 27

 Average waiting time: (0 + 24 + 27)/3 = 17

33 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

Suppose that the processes arrive in the order: P2 , P3 , P1 .

The Gantt chart for the schedule is:

P2 P3 P1

0 3 6 30
Waiting time for P1 = 6; P2 = 0; P3 = 3

Average waiting time: (6 + 0 + 3)/3 = 3

Much better than previous case.

Convoy effect short process behind long process

Shortest-Job-First (SJF) Scheduling

Associate with each process the length of its next CPU burst. Use these lengths to schedule the
process with the shortest time.

Shortest-Job-First (SJF) Scheduling Overview

 Best approach to minimize waiting time.

 Easy to implement in Batch systems where required CPU time is known in advance.
 Impossible to implement in interactive systems where required CPU time is not known.
 The processer should know in advance how much time process will take.

34 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

Schemes of Shortest-Job-First (SJF) Scheduling

• Non-Preemptive – once CPU given to the process it cannot be preempted until completes
its CPU burst.

• Preemptive – if a new process arrives with CPU burst length less than remaining time of
current executing process, preempt. This scheme is known as the Shortest-Remaining-Time-
First (SRTF).

SJF is optimal – gives minimum average waiting time for a given set of processes.

Example of Non-Preemptive SJF

Process Arrival Time Burst Time

P1 0.0 7

P2 2.0 4

P3 4.0 1

P4 5.0 4

The Gantt chart for the SJF (non-preemptive)

P1 P3 P2 P4

0 7 8 12 16
Average waiting time = (0 + 6 + 3 + 7)/4 = 4

35 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

Example of Preemptive SJF
Process Arrival Time Burst Time

P1 0.0 7

P2 2.0 4

P3 4.0 1

P4 5.0 4

The Gantt chart for the SJF (non-preemptive)

P1 P2 P3 P2 P4 P1

0 2 4 5 7 11 16

Average waiting time = (9 + 1 + 0 +2)/4 – 3

Round Robin Scheduling

Each process gets a small unit of CPU time (time quantum), usually 10-100 milliseconds. After
this time has elapsed, the process is preempted and added to the end of the ready queue.

Round Robin Scheduling Overview

 Round Robin is the preemptive process scheduling algorithm.

 Each process is provided a fix time to execute, it is called a quantum.
 Once a process is executed for a given time period, it is preempted and other process
executes for a given time period.
 Context switching is used to save states of preempted processes.

36 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

Example of RR with Time Quantum = 20

Process Burst Time

P1 53

P2 17

P3 68

P4 24

The Gantt chart is:

Typically, higher average turnaround than SJF, but better response.

Priority Based Scheduling

A priority number (integer) is associated with each process

The CPU is allocated to the process with the highest priority (smallest integer  highest priority).

Priority Based Scheduling Overview

 Priority scheduling is a non-preemptive algorithm and one of the most common scheduling
algorithms in batch systems.
 Each process is assigned a priority. Process with highest priority is to be executed first and
so on.
 Processes with same priority are executed on first come first served basis.
 Priority can be decided based on memory requirements, time requirements or any other
resource requirement.

37 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

Example of Priority Based Scheduling
Process Arrival Time Burst Time Priority

P0 0.0 5 1

P1 1.0 3 2

P2 3.0 8 1

P3 3.0 6 3

The Gantt chart for the Priority Based Scheduling

Wait time of each process is as follows −

Process Wait Time : Service Time - Arrival Time

P0 9-0=9
P1 6-1=5
P2 14 - 2 = 12
P3 0-0=0

Average Wait Time: (9+5+12+0) / 4 = 6.5

Multiple-Level Queues Scheduling

Multiple-level queues are not an independent scheduling algorithm. They make use of other
existing algorithms to group and schedule jobs with common characteristics.

 Multiple queues are maintained for processes with common characteristics.

 Each queue can have its own scheduling algorithms.
 Priorities are assigned to each queue.

38 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

Multiple-Level Queues Scheduling Overview

Ready queue is partitioned into separate queues: Foreground (interactive) and Background (batch)

Each queue has its own scheduling algorithm i.e. Foreground – RR and Background – FCFS

Scheduling must be done between the queues.

 Fixed priority scheduling; (i.e., serve all from foreground then from background).
Possibility of starvation.
 Time slice – each queue gets a certain amount of CPU time which it can schedule amongst
its processes; i.e., 80% to foreground in RR and 20% to background in FCFS

39 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

 DEADLOCK
In a multi-processing system, deadlock is an unwanted situation that arises in a shared resource
environment, where a process indefinitely waits for a resource that is held by another process.

A deadlock is a condition wherein two or more tasks are waiting for each other in order to be
finished but none of the task is willing to give up the resources that other task needs. In this
situation no task ever gets finished and is in waiting state forever

Deadlock Handling

1. Ignore the deadlock (Ostrich algorithm)

The operating system you are using on your PC, uses this approach of deadlock handling and that
is reason sometimes it hangs up and you have to reboot it to get it working.

2. Deadlock detection

Resource scheduler is one that keeps the track of resources allocated to and requested by processes.
Thus, if there is a deadlock it is known to the resource scheduler. This is how a deadlock is detected

40 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

Once a deadlock is detected, it can be corrected by following methods:

 Terminating processes involved in deadlock: Terminating all the processes involved in

deadlock or terminating process one by one until deadlock is resolved can be the solutions
but both of these approaches are not good. Terminating all processes cost high and partial
work done by processes gets lost. Terminating one by one takes lot of time because each time
a process is terminated, it needs to check whether the deadlock is resolved or not. Thus, the
best approach is considering process age and priority while terminating them during a
deadlock condition.
 Resource Preemption: Another approach can be the preemption of resources and
allocation of them to the other processes until the deadlock is resolved.
3. Deadlock prevention

We have learnt that if all the four Coffman conditions hold true then a deadlock occurs so
preventing one or more of them could prevent the deadlock.

 Removing mutual exclusion: All resources must be sharable that means at a time more than
one processes can get a hold of the resources. That approach is practically impossible.
 Removing hold and wait condition: This can be removed if the process acquires all the
resources that are needed before starting out. Another way to remove this to enforce a rule
of requesting resource when there are none in held by the process.
 Preemption of resources: Preemption of resources from a process can result in rollback
and thus this needs to be avoided in order to maintain the consistency and stability of the
system.
 Avoid circular wait condition: This can be avoided if the resources are maintained in a
hierarchy and process can hold the resources in increasing order of precedence. This avoid
circular wait. Another way of doing this to force one resource per process rule – A process can
request for a resource once it releases the resource currently being held by it. This avoids the
circular wait

41 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

4. Deadlock Avoidance

To prevent any deadlock situation in the system, the DBMS aggressively inspects all the
operations, where transactions are about to execute. The DBMS inspects the operation and
analyses if they can create a deadlock situation. If it finds that a deadlock situation might
occur, then that transaction is never allowed to be executed

Deadlock can be avoided if resources are allocated in such a way that it avoids the
deadlock occurrence. There are two algorithms for deadlock avoidance.

 Wait/Die
 Wound/Wait

Here is the table representation of resource allocation for each algorithm. Both of
these algorithms take process age into consideration while determining the best
possible way of resource allocation for deadlock avoidance.

Wait/Die Wound/Wait

Older process needs a resource held by younger Older process waits Younger process dies
Process
Younger process needs a resource held by older Younger Younger
Process process dies process waits

42 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

 Operating System Threads
A thread is a flow of execution through the process code, with its own program counter that keeps
track of which instruction to execute next, system registers which hold its current working
variables, and a stack which contains the execution history.

A thread shares with its peer threads few information like code segment, data segment and open
files. When one thread alters a code segment memory item, all other threads see that.

A thread is also called a lightweight process. Threads provide a way to improve application
performance through parallelism. Threads represent a software approach to improving
performance of operating system by reducing the overhead thread is equivalent to a classical
process.

Each thread belongs to exactly one process and no thread can exist outside a process. Each thread
represents a separate flow of control. Threads have been successfully used in implementing
network servers and web server. They also provide a suitable foundation for parallel execution of
applications on shared memory multiprocessors. The following figure shows the working of a
single-threaded and a multithreaded process.

Difference between Process and Thread

S.N. Process Thread

Process is heavy weight or resource Thread is light weight, taking lesser resources than
1
intensive. a process.

Process switching needs interaction with Thread switching does not need to interact with
2
operating system. operating system.

In multiple processing environments, each

All threads can share same set of open files, child
3 process executes the same code but has its
processes.
own memory and file resources.

If one process is blocked, then no other

While one thread is blocked and waiting, a second
4 process can execute until the first process is
thread in the same task can run.
unblocked.

43 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

 Multiple processes without using threads use
5 Multiple threaded processes use fewer resources.
more resources.

In multiple processes each process operates One thread can read, write or change another
6
independently of the others. thread's data.

Advantages of Thread

 Threads minimize the context switching time.

 Use of threads provides concurrency within a process.
 Efficient communication.
 It is more economical to create and context switch threads.
 Threads allow utilization of multiprocessor architectures to a greater scale and efficiency.

Types of Thread

Threads are implemented in following two ways −

 User Level Threads − User managed threads.

 Kernel Level Threads − Operating System managed threads acting on kernel, an operating
system core.

User Level Threads

In this case, the thread management kernel is not aware of the existence of threads. The thread
library contains code for creating and destroying threads, for passing message and data between
threads, for scheduling thread execution and for saving and restoring thread contexts. The
application starts with a single thread.

44 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

Advantages

 Thread switching does not require Kernel mode privileges.

 User level thread can run on any operating system.
 Scheduling can be application specific in the user level thread.
 User level threads are fast to create and manage.

Disadvantages

 In a typical operating system, most system calls are blocking.

Kernel Level Threads

In this case, thread management is done by the Kernel. There is no thread management code in the
application area. Kernel threads are supported directly by the operating system. Any application
can be programmed to be multithreaded. All of the threads within an application are supported
within a single process.

The Kernel maintains context information for the process as a whole and for individual threads
within the process. Scheduling by the Kernel is done on a thread basis. The Kernel performs thread
creation, scheduling and management in Kernel space. Kernel threads are generally slower to
create and manage than the user threads.

Advantages

 Kernel can simultaneously schedule multiple threads from the same process on multiple processes.
 If one thread in a process is blocked, the Kernel can schedule another thread of the same process.
 Kernel routines themselves can be multithreaded.

Disadvantages

 Kernel threads are generally slower to create and manage than the user threads.
 Transfer of control from one thread to another within the same process requires a mode switch to
the Kernel.

45 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

 Operating System I/O Hardware
One of the important jobs of an Operating System is to manage various I/O devices including
mouse, keyboards, touch pad, disk drives, display adapters, USB devices, Bit-mapped screen,
LED, Analog-to-digital converter, On/off switch, network connections, audio I/O, printers etc.

An I/O system is required to take an application I/O request and send it to the physical device, then
take whatever response comes back from the device and send it to the application. I/O devices can
be divided into two categories −

 Block devices − A block device is one with which the driver communicates by sending
entire blocks of data. For example, Hard disks, USB cameras, Disk-On-Key etc.
 Character devices − A character device is one with which the driver communicates by
sending and receiving single characters (bytes, octets). For example, serial ports, parallel
ports, sounds cards etc.

Device Controllers

Device drivers are software modules that can be plugged into an OS to handle a particular device.
Operating System takes help from device drivers to handle all I/O devices.

The Device Controller works like an interface between a device and a device driver. I/O units
(Keyboard, mouse, printer, etc.) typically consist of a mechanical component and an electronic
component where electronic component is called the device controller.

There is always a device controller and a device driver for each device to communicate with the
Operating Systems. A device controller may be able to handle multiple devices. As an interface its
main task is to convert serial bit stream to block of bytes, perform error correction as necessary.

Any device connected to the computer is connected by a plug and socket, and the socket is
connected to a device controller. Following is a model for connecting the CPU, memory,
controllers, and I/O devices where CPU and device controllers all use a common bus for
communication.

46 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

Synchronous vs. asynchronous I/O

 Synchronous I/O − In this scheme CPU execution waits while I/O proceeds
 Asynchronous I/O − I/O proceeds concurrently with CPU execution

Communication to I/O Devices

The CPU must have a way to pass information to and from an I/O device. There are three
approaches available to communicate with the CPU and Device.

 Special Instruction I/O

 Memory-mapped I/O
 Direct memory access (DMA)

Special Instruction I/O

This uses CPU instructions that are specifically made for controlling I/O devices. These
instructions typically allow data to be sent to an I/O device or read from an I/O device.

Memory-mapped I/O

When using memory-mapped I/O, the same address space is shared by memory and I/O devices.
The device is connected directly to certain main memory locations so that I/O device can transfer
block of data to/from memory without going through CPU.

47 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

While using memory mapped IO, OS allocates buffer in memory and informs I/O device to use
that buffer to send data to the CPU. I/O device operates asynchronously with CPU, interrupts CPU
when finished.

The advantage to this method is that every instruction which can access memory can be used to
manipulate an I/O device. Memory mapped IO is used for most high-speed I/O devices like disks,
communication interfaces.

Direct Memory Access (DMA)

Slow devices like keyboards will generate an interrupt to the main CPU after each byte is
transferred. If a fast device such as a disk generated an interrupt for each byte, the operating system
would spend most of its time handling these interrupts. So a typical computer uses direct memory
access (DMA) hardware to reduce this overhead.

Direct Memory Access (DMA) means CPU grants I/O module authority to read from or write to
memory without involvement. DMA module itself controls exchange of data between main
memory and the I/O device. CPU is only involved at the beginning and end of the transfer and
interrupted only after entire block has been transferred.

48 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

Direct Memory Access needs a special hardware called DMA controller (DMAC) that manages
the data transfers and arbitrates access to the system bus. The controllers are programmed with
source and destination pointers (where to read/write the data), counters to track the number of
transferred bytes, and settings, which includes I/O and memory types, interrupts and states for the
CPU cycles.

The operating system uses the DMA hardware as follows −

Step Description
1 Device driver is instructed to transfer disk data to a buffer address X.
2 Device driver then instruct disk controller to transfer data to buffer.
3 Disk controller starts DMA transfer.
4 Disk controller sends each byte to DMA controller.
DMA controller transfers bytes to buffer, increases the memory address, decreases the
5
counter C until C becomes zero.
6 When C becomes zero, DMA interrupts CPU to signal transfer completion.

49 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

Polling vs. Interrupts I/O

A computer must have a way of detecting the arrival of any type of input. There are two ways that
this can happen, known as polling and interrupts. Both of these techniques allow the processor
to deal with events that can happen at any time and that are not related to the process it is currently
running.

Polling I/O

Polling is the simplest way for an I/O device to communicate with the processor. The process of
periodically checking status of the device to see if it is time for the next I/O operation, is called
polling. The I/O device simply puts the information in a Status register, and the processor must
come and get the information.

Most of the time, devices will not require attention and when one does it will have to wait until it
is next interrogated by the polling program. This is an inefficient method and much of the
processors time is wasted on unnecessary polls.

Compare this method to a teacher continually asking every student in a class, one after another, if
they need help. Obviously the more efficient method would be for a student to inform the teacher
whenever they require assistance.

Interrupts I/O

An alternative scheme for dealing with I/O is the interrupt-driven method. An interrupt is a signal
to the microprocessor from a device that requires attention.

A device controller puts an interrupt signal on the bus when it needs CPU’s attention when CPU
receives an interrupt, It saves its current state and invokes the appropriate interrupt handler using
the interrupt vector (addresses of OS routines to handle various events). When the interrupting
device has been dealt with, the CPU continues with its original task as if it had never been
interrupted.

50 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

 Operating System - I/O Software
I/O software is often organized in the following layers −

 User Level Libraries: This provides simple interface to the user program to perform input
and output. For example, stdio is a library provided by C and C++ programming languages.
 Kernel Level Modules: This provides device driver to interact with the device controller
and device independent I/O modules used by the device drivers.
 Hardware: This layer includes actual hardware and hardware controller which interact
with the device drivers and makes hardware alive.

A key concept in the design of I/O software is that it should be device independent where it should
be possible to write programs that can access any I/O device without having to specify the device
in advance. For example, a program that reads a file as input should be able to read a file on a
floppy disk, on a hard disk, or on a CD-ROM, without having to modify the program for each
different device.

51 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

Device Drivers

Device drivers are software modules that can be plugged into an OS to handle a particular device.
Operating System takes help from device drivers to handle all I/O devices. Device drivers
encapsulate device-dependent code and implement a standard interface in such a way that code
contains device-specific register reads/writes. Device driver, is generally written by the device's
manufacturer and delivered along with the device on a CD-ROM.

A device driver performs the following jobs −

 To accept request from the device independent software above to it.

 Interact with the device controller to take and give I/O and perform required error handling
 Making sure that the request is executed successfully

How a device driver handles a request is as follows: Suppose a request comes to read a block N.
If the driver is idle at the time a request arrives, it starts carrying out the request immediately.
Otherwise, if the driver is already busy with some other request, it places the new request in the
queue of pending requests.

Interrupt handlers

An interrupt handler, also known as an interrupt service routine or ISR, is a piece of software or
more specifically a callback function in an operating system or more specifically in a device driver,
whose execution is triggered by the reception of an interrupt.

When the interrupt happens, the interrupt procedure does whatever it has to in order to handle the
interrupt, updates data structures and wakes up process that was waiting for an interrupt to happen.

The interrupt mechanism accepts an address ─ a number that selects a specific interrupt handling
routine/function from a small set. In most architectures, this address is an offset stored in a table
called the interrupt vector table. This vector contains the memory addresses of specialized interrupt
handlers.

52 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

Device-Independent I/O Software

The basic function of the device-independent software is to perform the I/O functions that are
common to all devices and to provide a uniform interface to the user-level software. Though it is
difficult to write completely device independent software but we can write some modules which
are common among all the devices.

Following is a list of functions of device-independent I/O Software −

 Uniform interfacing for device drivers

 Device naming - Mnemonic names mapped to Major and Minor device numbers
 Device protection
 Providing a device-independent block size
 Buffering because data coming off a device cannot be stored in final destination.
 Storage allocation on block devices
 Allocation and releasing dedicated devices
 Error Reporting

User-Space I/O Software

These are the libraries which provide richer and simplified interface to access the functionality of
the kernel or ultimately interactive with the device drivers. Most of the user-level I/O software
consists of library procedures with some exception like spooling system which is a way of dealing
with dedicated I/O devices in a multiprogramming system.

I/O Libraries (e.g., stdio) are in user-space to provide an interface to the OS resident device-
independent I/O SW. For example putchar(), getchar(), printf() and scanf() are example of user
level I/O library stdio available in C programming.

53 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

Kernel I/O Subsystem

Kernel I/O Subsystem is responsible to provide many services related to I/O. Following are some
of the services provided.

 Scheduling − Kernel schedules a set of I/O requests to determine a good order in which to
execute them. When an application issues a blocking I/O system call, the request is placed
on the queue for that device. The Kernel I/O scheduler rearranges the order of the queue to
improve the overall system efficiency and the average response time experienced by the
applications.
 Buffering − Kernel I/O Subsystem maintains a memory area known as buffer that stores
data while they are transferred between two devices or between a device with an application
operation. Buffering is done to cope with a speed mismatch between the producer and
consumer of a data stream or to adapt between devices that have different data transfer
sizes.
 Caching − Kernel maintains cache memory which is region of fast memory that holds
copies of data. Access to the cached copy is more efficient than access to the original.
 Spooling and Device Reservation − A spool is a buffer that holds output for a device,
such as a printer, that cannot accept interleaved data streams. The spooling system copies
the queued spool files to the printer one at a time. In some operating systems, spooling is
managed by a system daemon process. In other operating systems, it is handled by an in
kernel thread.
 Error Handling −An operating system that uses protected memory can guard against
many kinds of hardware and application errors.

54 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

 Operating System File System
File

A file is a named collection of related information that is recorded on secondary storage such as
magnetic disks, magnetic tapes and optical disks. In general, a file is a sequence of bits, bytes,
lines or records whose meaning is defined by the files creator and user.

File Structure

A File Structure should be according to a required format that the operating system can understand.

 A file has a certain defined structure according to its type.

 A text file is a sequence of characters organized into lines.
 A source file is a sequence of procedures and functions.
 An object file is a sequence of bytes organized into blocks that are understandable by the
machine.
 When operating system defines different file structures, it also contains the code to support
these file structure. UNIX, MS-DOS support minimum number of file structure.

File Type

File type refers to the ability of the operating system to distinguish different types of file such as
text files source files and binary files etc. Many operating systems support many types of files.
Operating system like MS-DOS and UNIX have the following types of files −

Ordinary files

 These are the files that contain user information.

 These may have text, databases or executable program.
 The user can apply various operations on such files like add, modify, delete or even remove
the entire file.

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Directory files
 These files contain list of file names and other information related to these files.

Special files

 These files are also known as device files.

 These files represent physical device like disks, terminals, printers, networks, tape drive
etc.

These files are of two types −

 Character special files − data is handled character by character as in case of terminals or

printers.
 Block special files − data is handled in blocks as in the case of disks and tapes.

File Access Mechanisms

File access mechanism refers to the manner in which the records of a file may be accessed. There
are several ways to access files −

 Sequential access
 Direct/Random access
 Indexed sequential access

Sequential access

A sequential access is that in which the records are accessed in some sequence, i.e., the information
in the file is processed in order, one record after the other. This access method is the most primitive
one. Example: Compilers usually access files in this fashion.

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Direct/Random access

 Random access file organization provides, accessing the records directly.

 Each record has its own address on the file with by the help of which it can be directly
accessed for reading or writing.
 The records need not be in any sequence within the file and they need not be in adjacent
locations on the storage medium.

Indexed sequential access

 This mechanism is built up on base of sequential access.

 An index is created for each file which contains pointers to various blocks.
 Index is searched sequentially and its pointer is used to access the file directly.

Space Allocation

Files are allocated disk spaces by operating system. Operating systems deploy following three
main ways to allocate disk space to files.

 Contiguous Allocation
 Linked Allocation
 Indexed Allocation

Contiguous Allocation

 Each file occupies a contiguous address space on disk.

 Assigned disk address is in linear order.
 Easy to implement.
 External fragmentation is a major issue with this type of allocation technique.

57 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

Linked Allocation

 Each file carries a list of links to disk blocks.

 Directory contains link / pointer to first block of a file.
 No external fragmentation
 Effectively used in sequential access file.
 Inefficient in case of direct access file.

Indexed Allocation

 Provides solutions to problems of contiguous and linked allocation.

 A index block is created having all pointers to files.
 Each file has its own index block which stores the addresses of disk space occupied by the
file.
 Directory contains the addresses of index blocks of files.

58 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

 Operating System Security
Security refers to providing a protection system to computer system resources such as CPU,
memory, disk, software programs and most importantly data/information stored in the computer
system. If a computer program is run by an unauthorized user, then he/she may cause severe
damage to computer or data stored in it. So a computer system must be protected against
unauthorized access, malicious access to system memory, viruses, worms etc. We're going to
discuss following topics in this chapter.

 Authentication
 One Time passwords
 Program Threats
 System Threats
 Computer Security Classifications

Authentication

Authentication refers to identifying each user of the system and associating the executing programs
with those users. It is the responsibility of the Operating System to create a protection system
which ensures that a user who is running a particular program is authentic. Operating Systems
generally identifies/authenticates users using following three ways −

 Username / Password − User need to enter a registered username and password with
Operating system to login into the system.
 User card/key − User need to punch card in card slot, or enter key generated by key
generator in option provided by operating system to login into the system.
 User attribute - fingerprint/ eye retina pattern/ signature − User need to pass his/her
attribute via designated input device used by operating system to login into the system.

59 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

One Time passwords

One-time passwords provide additional security along with normal authentication. In One-Time
Password system, a unique password is required every time user tries to login into the system.
Once a one-time password is used, then it cannot be used again. One-time password are
implemented in various ways.

 Random numbers − Users are provided cards having numbers printed along with
corresponding alphabets. System asks for numbers corresponding to few alphabets
randomly chosen.
 Secret key − User are provided a hardware device which can create a secret id mapped
with user id. System asks for such secret id which is to be generated every time prior to
login.
 Network password − Some commercial applications send one-time passwords to user on
registered mobile/ email which is required to be entered prior to login.

Program Threats

Operating system's processes and kernel do the designated task as instructed. If a user program
made these process do malicious tasks, then it is known as Program Threats. One of the common
example of program threat is a program installed in a computer which can store and send user
credentials via network to some hacker. Following is the list of some well-known program threats.

 Trojan Horse − Such program traps user login credentials and stores them to send to
malicious user who can later on login to computer and can access system resources.
 Trap Door − If a program which is designed to work as required, have a security hole in
its code and perform illegal action without knowledge of user then it is called to have a
trap door.
 Logic Bomb − Logic bomb is a situation when a program misbehaves only when certain
conditions met otherwise it works as a genuine program. It is harder to detect.

60 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

  Virus − Virus as name suggest can replicate themselves on computer system. They are
highly dangerous and can modify/delete user files, crash systems. A virus is generally a
small code embedded in a program. As user accesses the program, the virus starts getting
embedded in other files/ programs and can make system unusable for user

System Threats
System threats refers to misuse of system services and network connections to put user in trouble.
System threats can be used to launch program threats on a complete network called as program
attack. System threats creates such an environment that operating system resources/ user files are
misused. Following is the list of some well-known system threats.

 Worm − Worm is a process which can choked down a system performance by using system
resources to extreme levels. A Worm process generates its multiple copies where each copy
uses system resources, prevents all other processes to get required resources. Worms
processes can even shut down an entire network.
 Port Scanning − Port scanning is a mechanism or means by which a hacker can detects
system vulnerabilities to make an attack on the system.
 Denial of Service − Denial of service attacks normally prevents user to make legitimate
use of the system. For example, a user may not be able to use internet if denial of service
attacks browser's content settings.

61 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

Computer Security Classifications

As per the U.S. Department of Defense Trusted Computer System's Evaluation Criteria there are
four security classifications in computer systems: A, B, C, and D.

This is widely used specifications to determine and model the security of systems and of security
solutions. Following is the brief description of each classification.

S.N. Classification Type & Description

Type A
1
Highest Level. Uses formal design specifications and verification techniques. Grants a
high degree of assurance of process security.
Type B

Provides mandatory protection system. Have all the properties of a class C2 system.
Attaches a sensitivity label to each object. It is of three types.

 B1 − Maintains the security label of each object in the system. Label is used for
2
making decisions to access control.
 B2 − Extends the sensitivity labels to each system resource, such as storage
objects, supports covert channels and auditing of events.
 B3 − Allows creating lists or user groups for access-control to grant access or
revoke access to a given named object.

Type C

Provides protection and user accountability using audit capabilities. It is of two types.

 C1 − Incorporates controls so that users can protect their private information and
3
keep other users from accidentally reading / deleting their data. UNIX versions are
mostly Cl class.
 C2 − Adds an individual-level access control to the capabilities of a Cl level
system.

Type D
4
Lowest level. Minimum protection. MS-DOS, Window 3.1 fall in this category.

62 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

 Operating System Memory Management
Memory management is the functionality of an operating system which handles or manages
primary memory and moves processes back and forth between main memory and disk during
execution. Memory management keeps track of each and every memory location, regardless of
either it is allocated to some process or it is free. It checks how much memory is to be allocated to
processes. It decides which process will get memory at what time. It tracks whenever some
memory gets freed or unallocated and correspondingly it updates the status.

This tutorial will teach you basic concepts related to Memory Management.

Process Address Space

The process address space is the set of logical addresses that a process references in its code. For
example, when 32-bit addressing is in use, addresses can range from 0 to 0x7fffffff; that is, 2^31
possible numbers, for a total theoretical size of 2 gigabytes.

The operating system takes care of mapping the logical addresses to physical addresses at the time
of memory allocation to the program. There are three types of addresses used in a program before
and after memory is allocated −

S.N. Memory Addresses & Description

Symbolic addresses
1
The addresses used in a source code. The variable names, constants, and instruction labels
are the basic elements of the symbolic address space.
Relative addresses
2
At the time of compilation, a compiler converts symbolic addresses into relative addresses.
Physical addresses
3
The loader generates these addresses at the time when a program is loaded into main
memory.

63 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

Virtual and physical addresses are the same in compile-time and load-time address-binding
schemes. Virtual and physical addresses differ in execution-time address-binding scheme.

The set of all logical addresses generated by a program is referred to as a logical address space.
The set of all physical addresses corresponding to these logical addresses is referred to as a
physical address space.

The runtime mapping from virtual to physical address is done by the memory management unit
(MMU) which is a hardware device. MMU uses following mechanism to convert virtual address
to physical address.

 The value in the base register is added to every address generated by a user process, which
is treated as offset at the time it is sent to memory. For example, if the base register value
is 10000, then an attempt by the user to use address location 100 will be dynamically
reallocated to location 10100.
 The user program deals with virtual addresses; it never sees the real physical addresses.

Static vs. Dynamic Loading

The choice between Static or Dynamic Loading is to be made at the time of computer program
being developed. If you have to load your program statically, then at the time of compilation, the
complete programs will be compiled and linked without leaving any external program or module
dependency. The linker combines the object program with other necessary object modules into an
absolute program, which also includes logical addresses.

If you are writing a Dynamically loaded program, then your compiler will compile the program
and for all the modules which you want to include dynamically, only references will be provided
and rest of the work will be done at the time of execution.

At the time of loading, with static loading, the absolute program (and data) is loaded into memory
in order for execution to start.

If you are using dynamic loading, dynamic routines of the library are stored on a disk in re-
locatable form and are loaded into memory only when they are needed by the program.
64 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel
Static vs. Dynamic Linking

As explained above, when static linking is used, the linker combines all other modules needed by
a program into a single executable program to avoid any runtime dependency.

When dynamic linking is used, it is not required to link the actual module or library with the
program, rather a reference to the dynamic module is provided at the time of compilation and
linking. Dynamic Link Libraries (DLL) in Windows and Shared Objects in Unix are good
examples of dynamic libraries.

Swapping

Swapping is a mechanism in which a process can be swapped temporarily out of main memory (or
move) to secondary storage (disk) and make that memory available to other processes. At some
later time, the system swaps back the process from the secondary storage to main memory.

Though performance is usually affected by swapping process but it helps in running multiple and
big processes in parallel and that's the reason Swapping is also known as a technique for
memory compaction.

65 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

The total time taken by swapping process includes the time it takes to move the entire process to
a secondary disk and then to copy the process back to memory, as well as the time the process
takes to regain main memory.

Let us assume that the user process is of size 2048KB and on a standard hard disk where swapping
will take place has a data transfer rate around 1 MB per second. The actual transfer of the 1000K
process to or from memory will take

2048KB / 1024KB per second

= 2 seconds
= 2000 milliseconds

Now considering in and out time, it will take complete 4000 milliseconds plus other overhead
where the process competes to regain main memory.

Memory Allocation

Main memory usually has two partitions −

 Low Memory − Operating system resides in this memory.

 High Memory − User processes are held in high memory.

Operating system uses the following memory allocation mechanism.

S.N. Memory Allocation & Description

Single-partition allocation

In this type of allocation, relocation-register scheme is used to protect user processes from
1
each other, and from changing operating-system code and data. Relocation register
contains value of smallest physical address whereas limit register contains range of logical
addresses. Each logical address must be less than the limit register.
Multiple-partition allocation

In this type of allocation, main memory is divided into a number of fixed-sized partitions
2
where each partition should contain only one process. When a partition is free, a process
is selected from the input queue and is loaded into the free partition. When the process
terminates, the partition becomes available for another process.

66 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

Fragmentation

As processes are loaded and removed from memory, the free memory space is broken into little
pieces. It happens after sometimes that processes cannot be allocated to memory blocks
considering their small size and memory blocks remains unused. This problem is known as
Fragmentation.

Fragmentation is of two types −

S.N. Fragmentation & Description

External fragmentation
1
Total memory space is enough to satisfy a request or to reside a process in it, but it is not
contiguous, so it cannot be used.
Internal fragmentation
2
Memory block assigned to process is bigger. Some portion of memory is left unused, as
it cannot be used by another process.

The following diagram shows how fragmentation can cause waste of memory and a compaction
technique can be used to create more free memory out of fragmented memory −

67 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

External fragmentation can be reduced by compaction or shuffle memory contents to place all free
memory together in one large block. To make compaction feasible, relocation should be dynamic.

The internal fragmentation can be reduced by effectively assigning the smallest partition but large
enough for the process.

Paging

A computer can address more memory than the amount physically installed on the system. This
extra memory is actually called virtual memory and it is a section of a hard that's set up to emulate
the computer's RAM. Paging technique plays an important role in implementing virtual memory.

Paging is a memory management technique in which process address space is broken into blocks
of the same size called pages (size is power of 2, between 512 bytes and 8192 bytes). The size of
the process is measured in the number of pages.

Similarly, main memory is divided into small fixed-sized blocks of (physical) memory called
frames and the size of a frame is kept the same as that of a page to have optimum utilization of
the main memory and to avoid external fragmentation.

68 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

Address Translation

Page address is called logical address and represented by page number and the offset.

Logical Address = Page number + page offset

Frame address is called physical address and represented by a frame number and the offset.

Physical Address = Frame number + page offset

69 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

A data structure called page map table is used to keep track of the relation between a page of a
process to a frame in physical memory.

When the system allocates a frame to any page, it translates this logical address into a physical
address and create entry into the page table to be used throughout execution of the program.

When a process is to be executed, its corresponding pages are loaded into any available memory
frames. Suppose you have a program of 8Kb but your memory can accommodate only 5Kb at a
given point in time, then the paging concept will come into picture.

When a computer runs out of RAM, the operating system (OS) will move idle or unwanted pages
of memory to secondary memory to free up RAM for other processes and brings them back when
needed by the program.

This process continues during the whole execution of the program where the OS keeps removing
idle pages from the main memory and write them onto the secondary memory and bring them back
when required by the program.

70 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

Advantages and Disadvantages of Paging

 Paging reduces external fragmentation, but still suffer from internal fragmentation.
 Paging is simple to implement and assumed as an efficient memory management technique.
 Due to equal size of the pages and frames, swapping becomes very easy.
 Page table requires extra memory space, so may not be good for a system having small
RAM.

Segmentation

Segmentation is a memory management technique in which each job is divided into several
segments of different sizes, one for each module that contains pieces that perform related functions.
Each segment is actually a different logical address space of the program.

When a process is to be executed, its corresponding segmentation are loaded into non-contiguous
memory though every segment is loaded into a contiguous block of available memory.

Segmentation memory management works very similar to paging but here segments are of
variable-length where as in paging pages are of fixed size.

A program segment contains the program's main function, utility functions, data structures, and so
on. The operating system maintains a segment map table for every process and a list of free
memory blocks along with segment numbers, their size and corresponding memory locations in
main memory. For each segment, the table stores the starting address of the segment and the length
of the segment. A reference to a memory location includes a value that identifies a segment and
an offset.

71 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

 YMCA COMPREHENSIVE INSTITUTE
COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTMENT
END OF TERM EXAMINATIONS QUARTER

OPERATING SYSTEM

1. (a)Define the term operating systems (5marks)

(b) Write short notes about the following (20marks)

i. Process management
ii. Batch system
iii. Secondary Storage Management
iv. Time Sharing system
2. (a) Describe the purpose of the CPU scheduler in the operating system (5marks)
(b) Discuss the scheduling criteria (20 marks)

3. (a) write short notes about the following (25 marks)

i. Buffering
ii. Spooling
iii. Caching
iv. Scheduler
v. Scheduling Queues
4. (a) Define the term process (5marks)
(b) With the aid of a diagram describe the process state (20marks)

5. (a) write short notes about the following (20 marks)

vi. Job scheduler
vii. Medium term Scheduler
viii. Scheduler
ix. buffer
(b) Discuss the different scheduling Queues (5 marks)

72 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel

 6. (a) Define the term program (5marks)
(b) Consider the following set of process, with the length of the CPU burst given in
milliseconds

Process Arrival time Burst Time

P1 0 7

P2 2 4

P3 4 2

P4 5 4

Draw four Ghant charts (indicating the average waiting time) that illustrate the execution of
these processes using the following scheduling algorithm: FCFS, non-preemptive SJF,
preemptive SJF and RR (quantum=2) (20marks)

7. (a)Define the term computer system (2 marks)

(b)Define the term operating systems (5marks)

(c)Mention the operating system goals (4 marks)

(d)Describe any 5 components of the operating system (15 marks)

(e)Describe the computer system components (8 marks)

(f)Discuss the services of the operating system (6 marks)

8. (a) Define the term PCB (5 marks)

(b) Describe the different components of the PCB (15 marks)

73 | P a g e Senior Lecturer Mr. Mudde Emmanuel