Operating Systems

lecture one

Instructor: Nzamuye Robert

0774915828
[email protected]
 Pre-requisites
• Computer skills

Question:
Examples of operating systems!!!
 Objectives
• At the end of the module the student should:
• Understand fundamental operating system
abstractions such as processes, threads, files, shared
memory regions, etc.
• Understand how the operating system abstractions
can be used in the development of application
programs
• Understand CPU scheduling algorithms and basic
resource management techniques (scheduling or
time management, space management) and
principles.
 Teaching & Assessment
• Lectures: 20 hours;
• Private study: Self directed study: 25 hours;
• Monitoring of progress
-Assessed coursework, Presentations, Tests.
(30% of the overall grade)
• Form of assessment
-Exam: 3 hours closed book, contributing 70% of
the overall grade.
 REFERENCES:
• Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne, 2008. Operating System
Concepts. (8th edition)
• Abraham Silberschatz, A. and Galvin, P.B. (1998) Operating
System Concepts. (5th Ed) Addison-Wesley
• Tanenbaum, A. S. and Albert S. Woodhull. (1997) Operating
Systems: Design and Implementation. (2nd Ed) Prentice Hall
• Tanenbaum, A. S. (2007) Modern Operating Systems. (3rd Ed)
Prentice Hall
• Doeppner, T.W. (2010) Operating Systems In Depth: Design
and Programming. (1st Ed) Wiley
 Lecture One
Content:
• What Operating Systems Do
• Computer-System Organization
• Operating-System Structure
• Operating-System Operations
• Process Management
• Memory Management
• Storage Management
• Protection and Security
• Distributed Systems
• Special-Purpose Systems
• Open-Source Operating Systems
• Computing Environments
What is an Operating System?
• A program that acts as an intermediary
between a user of a computer and the
computer hardware.
• Operating system goals:
– Execute user programs and make solving user
problems easier.
– Make the computer system convenient to
use.
– Use the computer hardware in an efficient
manner.

Lecture one
 Computer System Components
1. Hardware – provides basic computing resources
(CPU, memory, I/O devices).
2. Operating system – controls and coordinates the
use of the hardware among the various
application programs for the various users.
3. Applications programs – define the ways in which
the system resources are used to solve the
computing problems of the users (e.g Word
processors, web browsers, compilers, database
systems, video games, business programs).
4. Users (people, machines, other computers).
Lecture one
Abstract View of System
Components

Lecture one
Operating System Definitions
• Resource allocator
-manages and allocates resources.
-decides between conflicting requests for
efficient and fair resource use.
• Control program
-controls the execution of user programs and
operations of I/O devices .
-also prevents errors and improper use of the
computer
• Kernel – the one program running at all times.
Everything else is either a system program
(ships with the operating system) or an
application program.
Lecture one
 Why Operating Systems
• Users want convenience, ease of use, they
don’t care about resource utilization.
• Shared computers such as mainframe or
minicomputer must keep all users happy
• Users of workstation systems frequently use
shared resources from servers
• etc

Lecture one
 Computer Startup
• bootstrap program is loaded at power-up or
reboot
– Typically stored in ROM, generally known as
firmware
– Initializes all aspects of system
– Loads operating system kernel and starts
execution
Computer System Organization
• Computer-system operation
– One or more CPUs, device controllers connect
through common bus providing access to shared
memory
– Concurrent execution of CPUs and devices
competing for memory cycles
Computer-System Operation
• I/O devices and the CPU can execute
concurrently
• Each device controller is in charge of a
particular device type
• CPU moves data from/to main memory
to/from local buffers
• Device controller informs CPU that it has
finished its operation by causing an interrupt
 Storage Structure
• Main memory – only large storage media that
the CPU can access directly
– Random access
– Typically volatile
• Secondary storage – extension of main memory
that provides large nonvolatile storage capacity

• Magnetic disks – rigid metal or glass platters

covered with magnetic recording material
– Disk surface is logically divided into tracks, which are
subdivided into sectors
– The disk controller determines the logical
interaction between the device and the computer
 Storage Hierarchy
• Storage systems organized in hierarchy
– Speed
– Cost
– Volatility

• Caching – copying information into faster

storage system; main memory can be
viewed as a cache for secondary storage
 Caching
• Important principle, performed at many
levels in a computer (in hardware,
operating system, software)
• Information in use copied from slower to
faster storage temporarily
• Faster storage (cache) checked first to
determine if information is there
– If it is, information used directly from the
cache (fast)
– If not, data copied to cache and used there
 Parallel Systems
• Multiprocessor systems with more than one CPU
in close communication.
• Tightly coupled system – processors share
memory and a clock; communication usually
takes place through the shared memory.
• Advantages of parallel system:
– Increased throughput
– Economical
– Increased reliability i.e. graceful degradation or fault
tolerance

Lecture one
Two types of Parallel Systems
• Symmetric multiprocessing (SMP)
– Each processor runs an identical copy of the
operating system.
– Many processes can run at once without
performance deterioration.
– Most modern operating systems support SMP
• Asymmetric multiprocessing
– Each processor is assigned a specific task; master
processor schedules and allocates work to slave
processors.
– More common in extremely large systems

Exercise: Read about how a modern computer works.

Lecture one
Symmetric Multiprocessing Architecture

Lecture one
 Clustered Systems
• Clustering allows two or more systems to
share storage via a storage-area network
(SAN).
• Provides high reliability. i.e high-availability
service.
• Asymmetric clustering: one server runs the
application while other servers standby.
• Symmetric clustering: all N hosts are running
the application.
Lecture one
Clustered Systems
 Operating System Structure
• Multiprogramming needed for efficiency
– Multiprogramming organizes jobs (code and data) so CPU always has
one to execute
– A subset of total jobs in system is kept in memory
– One job selected and run via job scheduling
– When it has to wait (for I/O for example), OS switches to another job

• Timesharing (multitasking) is logical extension in which CPU switches jobs

so frequently that users can interact with each job while it is running,
creating interactive computing
– Response time should be < 1 second
– Each user has at least one program executing in memory process
– If several jobs ready to run at the same time  CPU scheduling
– If processes don’t fit in memory, swapping moves them in and out to
run
– Virtual memory allows execution of processes not completely in
memory
OS Features Needed for Multiprogramming
• Input/Output routine supplied by the
system.
• Memory management – the system must
allocate the memory to several jobs.
• CPU scheduling – the system must choose
among several jobs ready to run.
• Allocation of devices.

Lecture one
Memory Layout for Multiprogrammed System
Several jobs are kept in main memory at the same time, and the
CPU is multiplexed among them.
 Operating-System Operations
• Dual-mode operation allows OS to protect
itself and other system components
– User mode and kernel mode
– Mode bit provided by hardware
• Provides ability to distinguish when system is
running user code or kernel code
• Some instructions are designated as privileged,
only executable in kernel mode
• System call changes mode to kernel, return from
call resets it to user
 Transition from User to Kernel Mode
• Timer to prevent infinite loop / process hogging
resources
– Set interrupt after specific period
– Operating system decrements counter
– When counter zero generate an interrupt
– regain control or terminate program that exceeds
allotted time
 Process Management
• A process is a program in execution. It is a unit of work
within the system. Program is a passive entity, process
is an active entity.
• Process needs resources to accomplish its task
– CPU, memory, I/O, files
– Initialization data
• Single-threaded process has one program counter
specifying location of next instruction to execute
– Process executes instructions sequentially, one at a time,
until completion
• Multi-threaded process has one program counter per
thread
-Typically system has many processes, some user,
some operating system running concurrently on one or
more CPUs
– Concurrency by multiplexing the CPUs among the
processes / threads
 Process Management Activities
The operating system is responsible for the following
activities in connection with process management:

• Creating and deleting both user and system

processes
• Suspending and resuming processes
• Providing mechanisms for process
synchronization
• Providing mechanisms for process
communication
• Providing mechanisms for deadlock handling
 Memory Management
• All data in memory before and after processing
• All instructions in memory in order to execute
• Memory management determines what is in
memory when
– Optimizing CPU utilization and computer response to
users
• Memory management activities
– Keeping track of which parts of memory are currently
being used and by whom
– Deciding which processes (or parts thereof) and data
to move into and out of memory
– Allocating and deallocating memory space as needed
 Storage Management
• OS provides uniform, logical view of information storage
– Abstracts physical properties to logical storage unit - file
– Each medium is controlled by device (i.e., disk drive, tape
drive)
• Varying properties include access speed, capacity, data-
transfer rate, access method (sequential or random)

• File-System management
– Files usually organized into directories
– Access control on most systems to determine who can access
what
– OS activities include
• Creating and deleting files and directories
• Primitives to manipulate files and dirs
• Mapping files onto secondary storage
• Backup files onto stable (non-volatile) storage media
 Mass-Storage Management
• Usually disks used to store data that does not fit in
main memory or data that must be kept for a “long”
period of time
• Proper management is of central importance because
entire speed of computer operation hinges on disk
subsystem and its algorithms
• OS activities
– Free-space management
– Storage allocation
– Disk scheduling
• Some storage need not be fast
– Tertiary storage includes optical storage, magnetic tape
– Still must be managed – by OS or applications
– Varies between WORM (write-once, read-many-times)
and RW (read-write)
 I/O Subsystem

• One purpose of OS is to hide peculiarities of

hardware devices from the user

• I/O subsystem responsible for

– Memory management of I/O including buffering
(storing data temporarily while it is being
transferred), caching (storing parts of data in
faster storage for performance), spooling (the
overlapping of output of one job with input of
other jobs)
 Protection and Security
• Protection – any mechanism for controlling access of
processes or users to resources defined by the OS
• Security – defense of the system against internal and
external attacks
– Huge range, including denial-of-service, worms, viruses,
identity theft, theft of service
• Systems generally first distinguish among users, to
determine who can do what
– User identities (user IDs, security IDs) include name and
associated number, one per user
– User ID then associated with all files, processes of that user
to determine access control
– Group identifier (group ID) allows set of users to be defined
and controls managed, then also associated with each
process, file
– Privilege escalation allows user to change to effective ID
with more rights
 Distributed Computing
• Collection of separate, possibly heterogeneous,
systems networked together
– Network is a communications path
– Local Area Network (LAN)
– Wide Area Network (WAN)
– Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)
• Network Operating System provides features
between systems across network
– Communication scheme allows systems to exchange
messages
– Illusion of a single system
General Structure of Client-Server

• Advantages of distributed systems.

– Resources sharing
– Computation speed up – load sharing
– Reliability
– Communications
Lecture one
 Special-Purpose Systems
• Real-time embedded systems : Often used as a control
device in a dedicated application such as controlling
scientific experiments, medical imaging systems, industrial
control systems, and some display systems.
– Special purpose, limited purpose OS, real-time OS
• Multimedia systems
– Streams of data must be delivered according to time restrictions
• Handheld systems e. g PDAs, smart phones.
Issues:
– limited CPU, memory, power
– Reduced feature set OS, limited I/O
– Small display screens
 Open-Source Operating Systems
• Operating systems made available in
source-code format rather than just binary
closed-source

• Examples include GNU/Linux and BSD

UNIX (including core of Mac OS X), and
many more
 Exercise Two:

Research and make notes about these

computing environments;

• Traditional computing
• Web-Based computing
• Embedded computing
• Client-Server computing
• Peer to peer computing
Lecture one