 How will you deal with shortage of

MEMORY (RAM)?
Have u ever seen this symbol?
Virtual Memory
 Memory
REGISTER

CPU cache

• larger capacity
Main Memory • lower speed
• lower cost

Secondary Storage

Server (or INTERNET)

 What is…
 It creates the illusion to users of a very
large (main) memory
 Virtual memory as an alternate set of memory
addresses.
 Programs use these virtual addresses rather than
real addresses to store instructions and data.
 When the program is actually executed, the
virtual addresses are converted into real memory
addresses.
 It is a feature of an OPERATING SYSTEM.
 It compensate for physical memory( RAM)
shortage
 It uses Unused hard disk locations and
transfers the RAM data into that locations.
 It hold both data and applications.

 It allows user to load longer and multiple

programs at the same time.

 It increases the efficiency of system but

using HDD free space.

History

 virtual memory was developed in

approximately 1959 – 1962, at the University
of Manchester for the Atlas Computer,
completed in 1962.

 In 1961, Burroughs released the B5000, the

first commercial computer with virtual
memory.
Why is it needed….
 Before the development of the virtual memory
technique, programmers in the 1940s and
1950s had to manage directly two-level
storage such as main memory or ram and
secondary memory in the form of hard disks
or earlier, magnetic drums.

 Enlarge the address space, the set of

addresses a program can utilize.
 Virtual memory might contain twice as many
addresses as main memory.
Object…
 When a computer is executing many
programs at the same time, Virtual memory
make the computer to share memory
efficiently.

 Eliminate a restriction that a computer works

in memory which is small and be limited.

 When many programs is running at the same

time, by distributing each suitable memory
area to each program, VM protect programs
to interfere each other in each memory area.
How does it work…
 To facilitate copying virtual memory into real
memory, the operating system divides virtual
memory into pages, each of which contains a
fixed number of addresses.
 Each page is stored on a disk until it is
needed.
 When the page is needed, the operating
system copies it from disk to main memory,
translating the virtual addresses into real
addresses.
MMU (Memory Management Unit)
 The hardware base that makes a virtual memory
system possible.
 Allows software to reference physical memory by
virtual addresses, quite often more than one.
 It accomplishes this through the use of page and
page tables.
 Use a section of memory to translate virtual
addresses into physical addresses via a series of
table lookups.
 The software that handles the page fault is generally
part of an operating system and the hardware that
detects this situation.
Segmentation……
 Segmentation involves the relocation of variable sized
segments into the physical address space.
 Generally these segments are contiguous units, and
are referred to in programs by their segment number
and an offset to the requested data.
 Efficient segmentation relies on programs that are
very thoughtfully written for their target system.
 Since segmentation relies on memory that is located
in single large blocks, it is very possible that enough
free space is available to load a new module, but can
not be utilized.
 Segmentation may also suffer from internal
fragmentation if segments are not variable-sized,
where memory above the segment is not used by the
program but is still “reserved” for it.
Paging……
 Paging provides a somewhat easier interface for
programs, in that its operation tends to be more
automatic and thus transparent.
 Each unit of transfer, referred to as a page, is of a
fixed size and swapped by the virtual memory
manager outside of the program’s control.
 Instead of utilizing a segment/offset addressing
approach, as seen in segmentation, paging uses a
linear sequence of virtual addresses which are
mapped to physical memory as necessary.
 Due to this addressing approach, a single program
may refer to series of many non-contiguous
segments.
 Although some internal fragmentation may still exist
due to the fixed size of the pages, the approach
virtually eliminates external fragmentation.
Paging……(cont’d)
 A technique used by virtual memory operating
systems to help ensure that the data you
need is available as quickly as possible.
 The operating system copies a certain
number of pages from your storage device to
main memory.
 When a program needs a page that is not in
maim memory, the operating system copies
the required page into memory and copies
another page back to the disk.
 Virtual Memory (Paging)
Page table Page table

Address Space Address Space

Physical
Memory
 Page fault
 An interrupt to the software raised by the
hardware when a program accesses a page
that is not mapped in physical memory.

 when a program accesses a memory location

in its memory and the page corresponding to
that memory is not loaded
 when a program accesses a memory location
in its memory and the program does not have
privileges to access the page corresponding
to that memory.
 Paging replacement
algorithms
 OPT(MIN) : eliminate the page that be not
expected to be used.
 FIFO(first input/first output) : rather than
choosing the victim page at random, the
oldest page is the first to be removed.
 LRU(Least Recently used) : move out the
page that is the least rarely used.
 LFU(Least Frequently used) : move out the
page that is not used often in the past.
Summary…
 Virtual memory is a common part of most operating
systems on computers.
 It has become so common because it provides a big
benefit for users at a very low cost.
 benefits of executing a program that is only partially
in memory.
 program is no longer constrained by the amount of
physical memory.
⇒ user would be able to write programs for an
extremely large virtual address space.
 more programs could be run at the same time
⇒ increase CPU utilization and throughput.
 less I/O would be needed to load or swap each user
program
⇒ run faster
Thank you for
your attention!