THREADING & MULTITASKING

CHAPTER # 7 Operating Systems

 Chapter 7 - Outline
S H E H E R YAR MALI K

 Multitasking
 Threads
 Types of threads
 Kernel threads
 User level threads
 Multithreading model
 One to One Model
 Many to One Model
 Many to Many Model
 Solaris 2 threads
 Windows 2000 threads
 Linux threads
 Java threads

Chapter # 7 Operating Systems 2

 Multitasking
S H E H E R YAR MALI K

 A utility reads records from a tape with a blocking factor of 5

 Process them and writes them into a disk one by one
Begin
OSLecture;
while Not EOF do
Read a record;
Process record;
Write a record;
End while
End
 Assume, round robin scheduling with time slice of 25ms
 Process will be blocked immediately due to read system call
 Utilizes a small fraction of time slice
 When record is read, the process become ready and then it is
dispatched
 Block again due to write system call and so on

Chapter # 7 Operating Systems 3

 Multitasking
S H E H E R YAR MALI K

 An improvement to above is to define two tasks within same process

Begin
OSLecture;
while not EOF do
Task-0-Begin
Read a record;
Process a record;
Task-0-End
Task-1-Begin
Write a record;
Task-1-End
End while
End
 Advantage
 Subtask can run concurrently within the same process
 The complier recognizes as different tasks and maintain their different identities

Chapter # 7 Operating Systems 4

 Multitasking
S H E H E R YAR MALI K

 When process starts, the OS creates process control block (PCB)

 Now, in addition to PCB, it also creates task control block (TCB) for each task
within a process
 A TCB needs to have save area for each task
 A task also could have priorities and states
 If process time slice is not over but the current task is either over or blocked
 The OS chooses the next highest priority ready task within same process and
schedules it
 If no task is ready in the same process the process will be blocked and OS will
schedules a task from some other process
 This reduces the overheads of context switching at process level
 The context switching at task level is far less time consuming e.g.
 Also it shares the same address space and resources of process
 Some OS called it multitasking and some call it multithreading
 OS/2 use the concept name as multithreading

Chapter # 7 Operating Systems 5

 Threads
S H E H E R YAR MALI K

 A thread is a basic unit of CPU utilization

 It is also called a light weight process (LWP)
 A thread is subdivision of work within a process
 Threads are like little mini processes
 It may consist of;
 Program counter
 Register set
 Stack space
 A threads shares with its peer threads its
 Code section
 Data section
 Operating system resources

Chapter # 7 Operating Systems 6

 Threads
S H E H E R YAR MALI K

 Thread idea is used for higher throughput and better

performance
 Threads are cheaper in terms of system overheads
 Avoid context switching of processes if thread switch is used
 Each thread run sequentially
 Thread can create child threads
 If thread is blocked, another thread within same process can
run
 A traditional or heavyweight process is equal to a task with
one thread
 Threads provide a mechanism to achieve parallelism
 Threads are very important in the design of distributed and
client server systems

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 Threads
S H E H E R YAR MALI K

 In some systems, threads are supported by the operating

system
 Where the OS is not multithreaded, threads cannot be
managed with application system code
 Some database management systems provide their own
thread management
 Some languages, like Java, provide direct support for writing
the thread based programs
 In the absence of language support, threads can still be
utilized by use of library subroutines

Chapter # 7 Operating Systems 8

 Benefits of Multithreading
S H E H E R YAR MALI K

 Responsiveness
 It allows to run a program even if some part of it is in block state
 Resource sharing
 Different threads of a program behaving like multiple processes
are sharing same address space
 Economy
 Overheads of context switching of TCB are much lesser than of
PCB
 Scalability
 Utilization of multiprocessor architecture
 Threads are very useful in multiprocessor architecture
 Due to threading a single program can run on different
processors at same time

Chapter # 7 Operating Systems 9

 Single and Multithreaded Processes
S H E H E R YAR MALI K

Chapter # 7 Operating Systems 10

 Types of Threads
S H E H E R YAR MALI K

 There are two types of threads i.e. kernel threads and user
level threads
 Kernel threads
 Theses are supported directly by operating system
 The kernel perform thread creation, scheduling and management
 Example kernel threads supporting OS are;
 Windows 95/98/2000/XP
 Solaris, Tru64, Unix
 Linux, Mach and OS/2

Chapter # 7 Operating Systems 11

 Types of Threads
S H E H E R YAR MALI K

 User threads
 These are supported above the kernel, via a set of library calls at
the user level
 Library provides support for thread creation, scheduling and
management with no support from kernel
 Example user-threads
 POSIX P thread
 Mach C thread
 Solaris UI thread
 Hybrid approach implements both user-level and kernel
supported threads

Chapter # 7 Operating Systems 12

 Multithreading Models
S H E H E R YAR MALI K

 Many to One Model

 Many user-level threads
mapped to single kernel thread
 One thread blocking causes all
to block
 Used on systems that do not
support kernel threads
 Multiple threads may not run in
parallel on multicore system
because only one may be in
kernel at a time
 Few systems currently use this
model
 Examples:
 Solaris Green Threads
 GNU Portable Threads

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 Multithreading Models
S H E H E R YAR MALI K

 One to One Model

 Each user-level thread maps to kernel thread
 Creating a user-level thread creates a kernel thread
 Number of threads per process sometimes restricted due to overhead
 Examples
 Windows
 Linux
 Solaris 9 and later

Chapter # 7 Operating Systems 14

 Multithreading Models
S H E H E R YAR MALI K

 Many to Many Model

 Allow many user level threads to
map to many kernel threads
 Allow the operating system to
create a sufficient number of
kernel threads
 Example OS;
 Windows NT/2000 with thread
fiber package
 Windows XP, 7
 Solaris prior to version 9

Chapter # 7 Operating Systems 15

 Solaris 2 Threads
S H E H E R YAR MALI K

 Solaris 2 is based on Unix with support for threads at the kernel and user
levels
 It introduce an intermediate level between kernel and user level threads
which is called LWP(light weight process)
 Resource needs of threads;
 Kernel thread
 Small data structure and stack
 Thread switching does not require changing memory access information
 It is relatively fast
 LWP
 PCB with register data
 Accounting and memory information
 Switching between LWPs is relatively slow
 User level thread
 Only need stack and program counter
 No kernel involvement means fast switching
 Kernel only sees the LWPs that support user level threads

Chapter # 7 Operating Systems 16

 Windows 2000 Threads
S H E H E R YAR MALI K

 Implements one-to-one mapping

 Each thread contains
 Thread ID
 Register set
 Separate user and kernel stack
 Private data storage area

Chapter # 7 Operating Systems 17

 Linux Threads
S H E H E R YAR MALI K

 Linux refers threads as tasks

 Thread creation is done through clone() system call
 Clone() allows a child task to share address space of
the parent task

Chapter # 7 Operating Systems 18

 Java Threads (5c,5d,5a,5b)
S H E H E R YAR MALI K

 Java threads may be created by

 Extending thread class
 Implementing the runnable interface
 Java threads are managed by the JVM

Chapter # 7 Operating Systems 19