Operating Systems

Functions and
Services

Operating Systems 1
 Introduction Operating System Components

Key functions of an operating system

•Process Management
•Main Memory Management
•File Management
•I/O System Management
•Secondary Storage Management (disk)
•Networking
•Protection System
•Command-Interpreter System

Operating Systems 2
 Introduction Process Management

•A process is a program in some “state” of execution. A process needs

certain resources, including CPU time, memory, files, and I/O devices, to
accomplish its task.
•A process is a unit of work in a system
•The operating system is responsible for the following activities in
connection with process management.
✓ Process creation and deletion.
❑ UNIX: processes should have the ability to dynamically (in real
time) spawn off or create other processes
✓ process suspension (process is in I/O wait queue, or “swapped” out
to disk, …) and resumption (move to ready queue or execution) –
manage the state of the process.
✓ Provision of mechanisms for:
❑ process synchronization - concurrent processing is supported
thus the need for synchronization of processes or threads.
❑ process communication
❑ Deadlock handling
Operating Systems 3
 Introduction Main-Memory Management

•Memory is a large array of words or bytes, each with its own

address. It is a repository of quickly accessible data shared by the
CPU and I/O devices.
•Main memory is a volatile storage device. It loses it contents in the
case of system failure.
•The operating system is responsible for the following activities in
connections with memory management:
✓ Keep track of which parts of memory are currently being used
and by whom.
✓ Decide which processes to load when memory space becomes
available - long term or medium-term scheduler.
✓ Mapping addresses in a process to absolute memory
addresses - at load time or run time.
✓ Allocate and deallocate memory space as needed.
✓ Memory partitioning, allocation, paging (VM), address
translation, defrag, …
✓ Memory protection
Operating Systems 4
 Introduction File Management

• The OS abstracts the data stored on a physical device to a

logical unit: The File
• A file is a collection of related information defined by its
creator. Commonly, files represent programs (both source and
object forms) and data - identifiable by name and location.
• The operating system is responsible for the following activities
in connections with file management:
✓ File creation and deletion - system calls or commands.
✓ Directory creation and deletion - system calls or commands.
✓ Support of primitives for manipulating files and directories in an
efficient manner - system calls or commands.
✓ Mapping files onto secondary storage.
✓ File backup on stable (nonvolatile) storage media.
✓ EX: File Allocation Table (FAT) for Windows/PC systems

Operating Systems 5
 Introduction I/O System Management

• Hide the peculiarities of a specific HW

device from the user - device drivers
• The I/O system consists of:
✓ A buffer-caching system
✓ A general device-driver interface – part of OS
✓ Drivers for specific hardware devices – OS must
provide for all devices.
✓ Provide system call API for I/O - I/O is a privileged
operation

Operating Systems 6
 Introduction 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 (disk) to back up main memory – basis for virtual
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:
✓ Free space management
✓ Storage allocation
✓ Disk scheduling – minimize seeks (arm movement … very slow operation)
✓ Disk as the media for mapping virtual memory space
✓ Disk caching for performance
✓ Disk utilities: defrag, recovery of lost clusters, etc.
• Accessing secondary storage is very frequent, thus disk performance can be a
performance bottleneck for the entire system
✓ Minimize head seeks (cylinder transitions)

Operating Systems 7
 Introduction Networking (Distributed Systems)

• Low level support for pure connectivity - message passing, FTP, file sharing,
…
• Higher level functional support: clustering, parallel processing, …
• A distributed system is a collection heterogeneous processors that do not
share memory or a clock. Each processor has its own local memory.
Connected by a network.
• The processors in the system are connected through a communication
network.
• Communication takes place using a protocol.
• A distributed system provides user access to various system resources.
• Cooperative vs independent processing.
• Access to a shared resource allows:
✓ Computation speed-up
✓ Increased data availability
✓ Enhanced reliability

Operating Systems 8
 Introduction Protection System

•Keep processes from interfering with each

other
•Protection refers to a mechanism for
controlling access by programs, processes, or
users to both system and user resources.
•The protection mechanism must:
✓ distinguish between authorized and unauthorized usage.
✓ specify the controls to be imposed.
✓ provide a means of enforcement.

•Hardware assists in screening addresses for

illegal references.

Operating Systems 9
 Introduction Command-Interpreter System

•Many commands are given to the operating system by

control statements which deal with:
✓ process creation and management
✓ I/O handling
✓ secondary-storage management
✓ main-memory management
✓ file-system access
✓ protection
✓ Networking
✓ Commands may have counterparts for use in
programming
•ASCII command line vs. graphic interface, Windows
explorer, “add-ins” like Norton Utilities

Operating Systems 10
 Introduction Command-Interpreter System

• The program that reads and interprets control statements is

called variously:
✓ command-line interpreter (Control card interpreter in the
“old batch days”)
✓ shell (in UNIX)
✓ Command.com for commands in DOS
Its function is to get and execute the next command
statement.

• Example: DOS window, UNIX command line, Windows

“run” window

Operating Systems 11
 Introduction Operating System Services

•OS as a service provider via system calls & commands (typically for the
programmer).
•Program execution – system capability to load a program into memory and
to run it - address mapping and translation a key issue.
•I/O operations – since user programs cannot execute I/O operations directly,
the operating system must provide some means to perform I/O - system calls
and API.
•File-system manipulation – program capability to read, write, create, and
delete files
•Communications – exchange of information between processes executing
either on the same computer or on different systems tied together by a
network. Implemented via shared memory or message passing.
•Error detection – ensure correct computing by detecting errors in the CPU
and memory hardware, in I/O devices, or in user programs – ex:parity errors,
arithmetic “errors”, out of memory, out of disk space, program not found, …
•Memory management

Operating Systems 12
 Introduction Additional Operating System Services

Additional functions exist not for helping the user, but rather for
ensuring efficient system operations.
•Resource allocation – allocating resources to multiple
users or multiple jobs running at the same time – avoiding
Deadlock.
•Accounting – keep track of and record which users use
how much and what kinds of computer resources for
account billing or for accumulating usage statistics.
•Protection – ensuring that all access to system resources is
controlled, ex: firewalls, passwords, file permissions, etc.

Operating Systems 13
 Introduction System Calls

• System calls provide the interface between a running program and the
operating system– like invoking a command from inside a program.
✓ Generally available as assembly-language instructions.
✓ Languages defined to replace assembly language for systems
programming allow system calls to be made directly (e.g., C, C++) -
C language: open, close, read, write, …
• Three general methods are used to pass parameters between a
running program and the operating system.
✓ Pass parameters in registers.
✓ Store the parameters in a table in memory, and the table address
is passed as a parameter in a register – if parms complicated.
✓ Push (store) the parameters onto the stack by the program, and
pop off the stack by operating system – usually in assembly
language.

Operating Systems 14
 Introduction Types of System Calls

• Process control
✓ create process, terminate process
✓ end, abort
✓ load, execute
✓ get process attributes, set process attributes
✓ wait for time
✓ wait event, signal event
✓ allocate and free memory
✓ Dump memory if error
✓ Debugger for determining bugs, single step execution
✓ Locks for managing access to shared data between processes
• File management
✓ create file, delete file
✓ open, close file
✓ read, write, reposition
✓ get and set file attributes

Operating Systems 15
 Introduction Types of System Calls

• Device management
✓ request device, release device
✓ read, write, reposition
✓ get device attributes, set device attributes
✓ logically attach or detach devices
• Information maintenance
✓ get time or date, set time or date
✓ get system data, set system data
✓ get and set process, file, or device attributes

Operating Systems 16
 Introduction Types of System Calls

• Communications
✓ create, delete communication connection
✓ send, receive messages if message passing model to host name
or process name
❑ From client to server
✓ Shared-memory model create and gain access to memory
regions
✓ transfer status information
✓ attach and detach remote devices
• Protection
✓ Control access to resources
✓ Get and set permissions
✓ Allow and deny user access

Operating Systems 17
Introduction Examples of Windows and Unix System Calls

Operating Systems 18
 Bibliography
❖ Silberschatz, A, Galvin, P.B, and Gagne, G., Operating System
Principles, 9e, John Wiley & Sons, 2013.
❖ Stallings W., Operating Systems-Internals and Design Principles, 7e,
Pearson Education, 2014.
❖ Harvey M. Deital, “Operating System”, Third Edition, Pearson
Education, 2013.
❖ Andrew S. Tanenbaum, “Modern Operating Systems”, Second
Edition, Pearson Education, 2004.
❖ Gary Nutt, “Operating Systems”, Third Edition, Pearson Education,
2004.
 Acknowledgements
❖I have drawn materials from various sources such as mentioned in
bibliography or freely available on Internet to prepare this presentation.
❖I sincerely acknowledge all sources, their contributions and extend my
courtesy to use their contribution and knowledge for educational
purpose.
Thank You!!
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