Operating Systems Client/Server Communication

Client/Server communication involves two components, namely a client and a

server. They are usually multiple clients in communication with a single server.
The clients send requests to the server and the server responds to the client
requests.

There are three main methods to client/server communication. These are given as
follows −

Sockets

Sockets facilitate communication between two processes on the same machine or

different machines. They are used in a client/server framework and consist of the
IP address and port number. Many application protocols use sockets for data
connection and data transfer between a client and a server.

Socket communication is quite low-level as sockets only transfer an unstructured

byte stream across processes. The structure on the byte stream is imposed by the
client and server applications.

Remote Procedure Calls

These are interprocess communication techniques that are used for client-server
based applications. A remote procedure call is also known as a subroutine call or a
function call.

A client has a request that the RPC translates and sends to the server. This request
may be a procedure or a function call to a remote server. When the server receives
the request, it sends the required response back to the client

Pipes

These are interprocess communication methods that contain two end points. Data
is entered from one end of the pipe by a process and consumed from the other end
by the other process.

The two different types of pipes are ordinary pipes and named pipes. Ordinary
pipes only allow one way communication. For two way communication, two pipes
are required. Ordinary pipes have a parent child relationship between the processes
as the pipes can only be accessed by processes that created or inherited them.
Named pipes are more powerful than ordinary pipes and allow two way
communication. These pipes exist even after the processes using them have
terminated. They need to be explicitly deleted when not required anymore.

Hand Held Device Operating System

An operating system is a program whose job is to manage a computer’s hardware.
Its other use is that it also provides a basis for application programs and acts as an
intermediary between the computer user and the computer hardware. An amazing
feature of operating systems is how they vary in accomplishing these tasks.
Operating systems for mobile computers provide us with an environment in which
we can easily interface with the computer so that we can execute the programs.
Thus, some of the operating systems are made to be convenient, others to be well-
organized, and the rest to be some combination of the two.

Handheld operating systems are available in all handheld devices like Smartphones
and tablets. It is sometimes also known as a Personal Digital Assistant. The
popular handheld device in today’s world is Android and iOS. These operating
systems need a high-processing processor and are also embedded with various
types of sensors.

Some points related to Handheld operating systems are as follows:

1. Since the development of handheld computers in the 1990s, the demand for
software to operate and run on these devices has increased.
2. Three major competitors have emerged in the handheld PC world with three
different operating systems for these handheld PCs.
3. Out of the three companies, the first was the Palm Corporation with their
PalmOS.
4. Microsoft also released what was originally called Windows CE. Microsoft’s
recently released operating system for the handheld PC comes under the name
of Pocket PC.
5. More recently, some companies producing handheld PCs have also started
offering a handheld version of the Linux operating system on their machines.

Features of Handheld Operating System:

1. Its work is to provide real-time operations.

 2. There is direct usage of interrupts.
3. Input/Output device flexibility.
4. Configurability.

Types of Handheld Operating Systems:

Types of Handheld Operating Systems are as follows:

1. Palm OS
2. Symbian OS
3. Linux OS
4. Windows
5. Android
6. Ios

Advantages of Handheld Operating System:

Some advantages of a Handheld Operating System are as follows:

1. Less Cost.
2. Less weight and size.
3. Less heat generation.
4. More reliability.

Disadvantages of Handheld Operating System:

Some disadvantages of Handheld Operating Systems are as follows:

1. Less Speed.
2. Small Size.
3. Input / Output System (memory issue or less memory is available)

What is a network operating system (NOS)?

A network operating system (NOS) is a computer operating system (OS) that's
designed primarily to support workstations, PCs and, in some instances, older
terminals that are connected on a local area network (LAN). The software behind a
NOS enables multiple devices within a network to communicate and share
resources with each other. However, a typical NOS no longer exists, as most OSes
have built-in network stacks that support a client-server model.

A NOS coordinates the activities of multiple computers across a network. This can
include such devices as PCs, printers, file servers and databases connected to a
local network. The role of the NOS is to provide basic network services and
features that support multiple input requests simultaneously in a multiuser
environment.

Types of network operating systems

There are two basic types of network operating systems:

1. Peer-to-peer (P2P) network OSes let users share network resources saved
in a common, accessible location. In this architecture, all devices are treated
equally in terms of functionality. P2P usually works best for small and
medium LANs and is less expensive to set up compared to the client-server
model.

2. Client-server network OSes provide users with access to resources through

a server. In this architecture, all functions and applications are unified under
one file server that can be used to execute individual client actions,
regardless of physical location. Client-server tends to be more expensive
than P2P to set up and requires significant technical maintenance. An
advantage of the client-server model is that the network is controlled
centrally, which makes changes or additions to technology easier to
incorporate.

Common features of network operating systems

Features of network operating systems are typically associated with user

administration, system maintenance and resource management functionality. These
include the following:
  Basic support for OSes, including protocol and processor support, hardware
detection and multiprocessing.
 Printer and application sharing.
 Common file system and database sharing.
 Network security capabilities, such as user authentication and access control.
 Directory services.
 Backup and web services.
 Internetworking.

Multimedia in OS
Operating systems may have the task of handling different types of data, including
multimedia. In recent years, technology has seen an increase in the use of
multimedia data within computer systems. Multimedia data includes continuous
media in the form of audio or video files and conventional files. Continuous media
data differs from conventional data, requiring specific time restrictions to deliver
files such as video, images, or audio frames.

What is multimedia delivery

Multimedia data is stored in the file system just like any other data. The main
difference between a regular file and a multimedia file is that multimedia files need
to be accessed at a specific rate while accessing a standard file does not require any
particular timing. A video usually comprises a sequence of images, known as
frames, displayed rapidly. The faster the frames are displayed to users, the
smoother the video looks. Typically, a rate of 24 to 30 frames per second is
necessary for the video to appear smooth to the human eye.

When data is delivered from the local file system, it is called 'local playback.'
Multimedia files can also be stored on a remote server and delivered to a client
across a network using a technique called streaming.

There are two types of streaming techniques:

 Progressive download.
 Real-time streaming.
There are two options for downloading audio and video media files: progressive
download and real-time streaming. The media file is downloaded and stored on the
user's local file system with progressive download. On the other hand, real-time
streaming allows the media file to be streamed to the client but not stored or
downloaded by the client.

Real-time streaming is preferred for media files that are too large to store on the
client system, such as long videos and Internet radio or TV broadcasts. Since the
media file is not stored on the client system, real-time streaming is a better option
for those who want to conserve space on their devices.

Characteristics of multimedia system

The demands of multimedia systems differ significantly from those of

conventional applications. Multimedia systems can have the following
characteristics:

 Multimedia files can be relatively large. For example, a 100-minute MPEG-

1 video file uses roughly 1.125 GB of storage, and 100 minutes of high-
definition television needs approximately 15 GB of storage.
 Continuous media might need very high data rates. Think of a digital video
wherein a frame of color is displayed at a resolution of 800 x 600.
 Multimedia applications are pretty sensitive to time delays at some point in
playback.