OPERATING SYSTEM

CPU SCHEDULING
Outline
• Basic Concepts
• Scheduling Criteria
• Scheduling Algorithms
 Basic Concepts
• Maximum CPU
utilization obtained with
multiprogramming
• CPU–I/O Burst Cycle –
Process execution
consists of a cycle of
CPU execution and I/O
wait
• CPU burst followed by
I/O burst
• CPU burst distribution is
of main concern
 Histogram of CPU-burst Times
Large number of short bursts

Small number of longer bursts

 CPU Scheduler
• The CPU scheduler selects from among the
processes in ready queue, and allocates a CPU core
to one of them
– Queue may be ordered in various ways
• 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
• For situations 1 and 4, there is no choice in terms of
scheduling. A new process (if one exists in the ready
queue) must be selected for execution.
• For situations 2 and 3, however, there is a choice.
 Preemptive and Nonpreemptive Scheduling

• When scheduling takes place only under

circumstances 1 and 4, the scheduling
scheme is nonpreemptive.
• Otherwise, it is preemptive.
• Under Nonpreemptive scheduling, once the
CPU has been allocated to a process, the
process keeps the CPU until it releases it
either by terminating or by switching to the
waiting state.
• Virtually all modern operating systems
including Windows, MacOS, Linux, and UNIX
use preemptive scheduling algorithms.
 Preemptive Scheduling and Race Conditions

• Preemptive scheduling can result in race

conditions when data are shared among several
processes.
• Consider the case of two processes that share
data. While one process is updating the data, it is
preempted so that the second process can run.
The second process then tries to read the data,
which are in an inconsistent state.
 Dispatcher
• Dispatcher module gives
control of the CPU to the
process selected by the CPU
scheduler; this involves:
– Switching context
– Switching to user mode
– Jumping to the proper location
in the user program to restart
that program
• Dispatch latency – time it
takes for the dispatcher to
stop one process and start
another running
 Scheduling Criteria
1. CPU utilization – keep the CPU as busy as
possible
2. Throughput – # of processes that
complete their execution per time unit
3. Turnaround time – amount of time to
execute a particular process
4. Waiting time – amount of time a process
has been waiting in the ready queue
5. Response time – amount of time it takes
from when a request was submitted until
the first response is produced.
 Scheduling Algorithm Optimization Criteria

• Max CPU utilization

• Max throughput
• Min turnaround time
• Min waiting time
• Min response time
First- Come, First-Served (FCFS) Scheduling

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
 FCFS Scheduling (Cont.)

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
– Consider one CPU-bound and many I/O-bound processes
 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
• SJF is optimal – gives minimum average waiting
time for a given set of processes
– The difficulty is knowing the length of the next CPU
request
 Shortest-Job-First (SJF) Scheduling (Cont.)

• Preemptive version called shortest-

remaining-time-first
• How do we determine the length of
the next CPU burst?
– Could ask the user
– Estimate
 Example of SJF

ProcessArriva l Burst Time

P1 0.0 6
P2 2.0 8
P3 4.0 7
P4 5.0 3

• SJF scheduling chart

P4 P1 P3 P2
0 3 9 16 24

• Average waiting time = (3 + 16 + 9 + 0) / 4 = 7

 Determining Length of Next CPU Burst

• Can only estimate the length – should be

similar to the previous one
– Then pick process with shortest predicted next
CPU burst
• Can be done by using the length of previous
CPU bursts, using exponential averaging
1. t n  actual length of n th CPU burst
2.  n 1  predicted value for the next CPU burst
3.  , 0    1
4. Define :

• Commonly, α set to ½
Prediction of the Length of the Next CPU Burst
 Examples of Exponential Averaging
•  =0
n+1 = n
– Recent history does not count
•  =1
n+1 =  tn
– Only the actual last CPU burst counts
• If we expand the formula, we get:
n+1 =  tn+(1 - ) tn -1 + …+(1 - )j  tn -j + … +(1 -  )n +1 0

• Since both  and (1 - ) are less than or equal to

1, each successive term has less weight than its
predecessor.
Example of Shortest-remaining-time-first (SRTF)

• Now we add the concepts of varying arrival times and preemption to

the analysis
ProcessA arri Arrival TimeT Burst Time
P1 0 8
P2 1 4
P3 2 9
P4 3 5

• Preemptive SJF Gantt Chart

P1 P2 P4 P1 P3
0 1 5 10 17 26

• Average waiting time = [(10-1)+(1-1)+(17-2)+(5-3)]/4 = 26/4 = 6.5

 Round Robin (RR)
• Each process gets a small unit of CPU time (time
quantum q), usually 10-100 milliseconds. After this
time has elapsed, the process is preempted and
added to the end of the ready queue.
• If there are n processes in the ready queue and the
time quantum is q, then each process gets 1/n of
the CPU time in chunks of at most q time units at
once. No process waits more than (n-1)q time
units.
• Timer interrupts every quantum to schedule next
process
• Performance
– q large  FIFO
– q small  q must be large with respect to context
switch, otherwise overhead is too high
 Example of RR with Time Quantum = 4

Process Burst Time

P1 24
P2 3
P3 3

• The Gantt chart is:

P1 P2 P3 P1 P1 P1 P1 P1
0 4 7 10 14 18 22 26 30

• Typically, higher average turnaround than SJF, but

better response
• q should be large compared to context switch time
– q usually 10 milliseconds to 100 milliseconds,
– Context switch < 10 microseconds
Time Quantum and Context Switch Time
Turnaround Time Varies With The Time Quantum

80% of CPU bursts

should be shorter than q
 Priority 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)
– Preemptive
– Nonpreemptive
• SJF is priority scheduling where priority is the inverse of
predicted next CPU burst time
• Problem  Starvation – low priority processes may
never execute
• Solution  Aging – as time progresses increase the
priority of the process
 Example of Priority Scheduling

ProcessAarBurst TimeT Priority

P1 10 3
P2 1 1
P3 2 4
P4 1 5
P5 5 2

• Priority scheduling Gantt Chart

• Average waiting time = 8.2

 Priority Scheduling w/ Round-Robin
ProcessAaBurst TimeT Priority
P1 4 3
P2 5 2
P3 8 2
P4 7 1
P5 3 3
• Run the process with the highest priority.
Processes with the same priority run round-
robin

• Gantt Chart with time quantum = 2

 Multilevel Queue
• With priority scheduling, have separate
queues for each priority.
• Schedule the process in the highest-
priority queue!
 Multilevel Queue (Cont.)

• Prioritization based upon process type

 Multilevel Feedback Queue
• A process can move between the various
queues.
• Multilevel-feedback-queue scheduler defined by
the following parameters:
– Number of queues
– Scheduling algorithms for each queue
– Method used to determine when to upgrade a
process
– Method used to determine when to demote a
process
– Method used to determine which queue a process
will enter when that process needs service
• Aging can be implemented using multilevel
feedback queue
 Example of Multilevel Feedback Queue

• Three queues:
– Q0 – RR with time quantum 8
milliseconds
– Q1 – RR time quantum 16 milliseconds
– Q2 – FCFS
• Scheduling
– A new process enters queue Q0 which is
served in RR
• When it gains CPU, the process receives
8 milliseconds
• If it does not finish in 8 milliseconds, the
process is moved to queue Q1
– At Q1 job is again served in RR and
receives 16 additional milliseconds
• If it still does not complete, it is
preempted and moved to queue Q2
Reference: Operating System Concepts, Abraham Silberschatz,
Peter Baer Galvin, Greg Gagne, Wiley Publications

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