Components of Operating System

Last Updated : 05 Dec, 2022

An Operating system is an interface between users and the hardware of a

computer system. It is a system software that is viewed as an organized
collection of software consisting of procedures and functions, providing
an environment for the execution of programs. The operating system
manages resources of system software and computer hardware
resources. It allows computing resources to be used in an efficient way.
Programs interact with computer hardware with the help of operating
system. A user can interact with the operating system by making system
calls or using OS commands.

Important Components of the Operating System:

Process management
Files management
Command Interpreter
System calls
Signals
Network management
Security management
I/O device management
Secondary storage management
Main memory management

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Process Management :

A process is a program in execution. It consists of the followings:

Executable program
Program’s data
Stack and stack pointer
Program counter and other CPU registers
Details of opened files

A process can be suspended temporarily and the execution of another

process can be taken up. A suspended process can be restarted later.
Before suspending a process, its details are saved in a table called the
process table so that it can be executed later on. An operating system
supports two system calls to manage processes Create and Kill –

Create a system call used to create a new process.

Kill system call used to delete an existing process.

A process can create a number of child processes. Processes can

communicate among themselves either using shared memory or by

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message-passing techniques. Two processes running on two different
computers can communicate by sending messages over a network.

Files Management :

Files are used for long-term storage. Files are used for both input and
output. Every operating system provides a file management service. This
file management service can also be treated as an abstraction as it hides
the information about the disks from the user. The operating system also
provides a system call for file management. The system call for file
management includes –

File creation
File deletion
Read and Write operations

Files are stored in a directory. System calls provide to put a file in a

directory or to remove a file from a directory. Files in the system are
protected to maintain the privacy of the user. Below shows the
Hierarchical File Structure directory.

Command Interpreter :

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There are several ways for users to interface with the operating system.
One of the approaches to user interaction with the operating system is
through commands. Command interpreter provides a command-line
interface. It allows the user to enter a command on the command line
prompt (cmd). The command interpreter accepts and executes the
commands entered by a user. For example, a shell is a command
interpreter under UNIX. The commands to be executed are implemented
in two ways:

The command interpreter itself contains code to be executed.

The command is implemented through a system file. The necessary
system file is loaded into memory and executed.

System Calls :

System calls provide an interface to the services made by an operating

system. The user interacts with the operating system programs through
System calls. These calls are normally made available as library functions
in high-level languages such as C, Java, Python etc. It provides a level of
abstraction as the user is not aware of the implementation or execution of
the call made. Details of the operating system is hidden from the user.
Different hardware and software services can be availed through system
calls.

System calls are available for the following operations:

Process Management
Memory Management
File Operations
Input / Output Operations

Signals :

Signals are used in the operating systems to notify a process that a

particular event has occurred. Signals are the software or hardware
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interrupts that suspend the current execution of the task. Signals are also
used for inter-process communication. A signal follows the following
pattern :

A signal is generated by the occurrence of a particular event it can be

the clicking of the mouse, the execution of the program successfully or
an error notifying, etc.
A generated signal is delivered to a process for further execution.
Once delivered, the signal must be handled.
A signal can be synchronous and asynchronous which is handled by a
default handler or by the user-defined handler.

The signal causes temporarily suspends the current task it was

processing, saves its registers on the stack, and starts running a special
signal handling procedure, where the signal is assigned to it.

Network Management :

In today’s digital world, the complexity of networks and services has

created modern challenges for IT professionals and users. Network
management is a set of processes and procedures that help
organizations to optimize their computer networks. Mainly, it ensures that
users have the best possible experience while using network applications
and services.

Network management is a fundamental concept of computer networks.

Network Management Systems is a software application that provides
network administrators with information on components in their
networks. It ensures the quality of service and availability of network
resources. It also examines the operations of a network, reconstructs its
network configuration, modifies it for improving performance of tasks.

Security Management:

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The security mechanisms in an operating system ensure that authorized
programs have access to resources, and unauthorized programs have no
access to restricted resources. Security management refers to the various
processes where the user changes the file, memory, CPU, and other
hardware resources that should have authorization from the operating
system.

I/O Device Management :

The I/O device management component is an I/O manager that hides the
details of hardware devices and manages the main memory for devices
using cache and spooling. This component provides a buffer cache and
general device driver code that allows the system to manage the main
memory and the hardware devices connected to it. It also provides and
manages custom drivers for particular hardware devices.

The purpose of the I/O system is to hide the details of hardware devices
from the application programmer. An I/O device management component
allows highly efficient resource utilization while minimizing errors and
making programming easy on the entire range of devices available in their
systems.

Secondary Storage Management :

Broadly, the secondary storage area is any space, where data is stored
permanently and the user can retrieve it easily. Your computer’s hard drive
is the primary location for your files and programs. Other spaces, such as
CD-ROM/DVD drives, flash memory cards, and networked devices, also
provide secondary storage for data on the computer. The computer’s main
memory (RAM) is a volatile storage device in which all programs reside, it
provides only temporary storage space for performing tasks. Secondary
storage refers to the media devices other than RAM (e.g. CDs, DVDs, or
hard disks) that provide additional space for permanent storing of data
and software programs which isOpen
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called
Main memory management :

Main memory is a flexible and volatile type of storage device. It is a large

sequence of bytes and addresses used to store volatile data. Main
memory is also called Random Access Memory (RAM), which is the
fastest computer storage available on PCs. It is costly and low in terms of
storage as compared to secondary storage devices. Whenever computer
programs are executed, it is temporarily stored in the main memory for
execution. Later, the user can permanently store the data or program in
the secondary storage device.

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