CS-303 Operating Systems

Dr. Samia Ijaz

Fall - 2024

Department of Computer
Science
HITEC University Taxila
Chapter 9: Main Memory
 Background

● Program must be brought (from disk) into

memory to run
● Main memory and registers are only
storage CPU can access directly
● Register access in one cycle of CPU clock
(or less)
● Completing memory access may take
many cycles of the
clock.
● Memory stall may occur
● Cache sits between main memory and
CPU registers
 Base and Limit Registers

● Each process has a separate

memory space.
● Separate per-process memory
space protects the processes from
each other
● A pair of base and limit registers
define the legal physical address
space of each process
● CPU must check every memory
access generated in user mode to
be sure it is between base and
limit for that user
Hardware Address Protection
 Address Binding

● Address binding is the process of assigning

memory addresses to a program’s instructions
and data.
● Compile Time Binding (during compilation) If
the location in memory where the program will
run is already known at compile time, the
absolute addresses are directly generated.
● These addresses cannot change during
execution.
● If the program is fixed to start at memory
address 1000, all addresses in the program are
set relative to 1000 during compilation.
 Address Binding

● Load Time Binding (when the program is

loaded into memory before execution): If the
memory location is unknown at compile time, the
compiler generates relocatable addresses
(relative addresses).
● The loader translates these relocatable addresses
into absolute addresses when loading the
program into memory.
● If a program uses address 356 (relative) and the
loader decides to place the program at address
12000, the actual (absolute) address will be:
● Absolute Address=12000+356=12356
 Address Binding
● Run Time Binding:
4 f the process can move to a different memory location while
running, address binding is done at runtime.
4 The CPU generates a logical address (e.g., 356), and the
Memory Management Unit (MMU) translates it to a physical
address using a relocation register (base address).
4 CPU generates logical address 356.
4 MMU adds the base address 12000 (relocation register
value):
4 Physical Address=356+12000=12356
 Logical vs. Physical Address Space

● Logical address – generated by the CPU;

also referred to as virtual address
● Physical address – address seen by the
memory unit
● Logical and physical addresses are the same
in compile-time and load-time address-
binding schemes; logical (virtual) and physical
addresses differ in execution-time address-
binding scheme
● Logical address space is the set of all
logical addresses generated by a program
● Physical address space is the set of all
physical addresses generated by a program
Memory-Management Unit (MMU)
Multistep Processing of a User Program
Dynamic Loading
Dynamic Loading
Dynamic Loading
Dynamic Loading
Dynamic Loading
Dynamic Loading
Dynamic Linking
Dynamic Linking
Dynamic Linking
Dynamic Linking
 Swapping
● A process can be swapped temporarily out of
memory to a backing store, and then brought
back into memory for continued execution
● Total physical memory space of processes
can exceed physical memory
● Backing store – fast disk large enough to
accommodate copies of all memory images
for all users;
● Roll out, roll in – swapping variant used for
priority-based scheduling algorithms; lower-
priority process is swapped out so higher-
priority process can be loaded and executed
● Major part of swap time is transfer time; total
transfer time is directly proportional to the
amount of memory swapped
 Swapping (Cont.)
● Does the swapped out process need to swap
back in to same physical addresses?
● Depends on address binding method
● Modified versions of swapping are found on
many systems (i.e., UNIX, Linux, and Windows)
● Swapping normally disabled
● Started if more than threshold amount of
memory allocated
● Disabled again once memory demand
reduced below threshold
Schematic View of Swapping
 Context Switch Time including Swapping

● If next processes to be put on CPU is not in

memory, need to swap out a process and
swap in target process
● Context switch time can then be very high
● 100MB process swapping to hard disk with
transfer rate of 50MB/sec
● Time = process size / transfer rate.
● Swap out time of (100/50=2 sec) = 2000
ms
● Plus swap in of same sized process
● Total context switch swapping component
time of 4000ms (4 seconds)
 Example

• User process size is 2048Kb.

• Data transfer rate is 1Mbps = 1024 kbps.
● What is the Total context switch swapping
component time?
 Memory Allocation

OS 2m 4m 2m 3m 3
b b b b m
b
p p p p p
1 2 3 4 7

Memory Allocation

Contiguous Non- Contiguous

 Memory Allocation

Memory Allocation

Contiguous Non- Contiguous

Fixed Dynamic Paging Segmentation

Partitioning Partitioning

Equal size Variable size

Partitioning Partitioning
 Memory Allocation

● Contiguous memory allocation:

● A method in which a single
contiguous section/part of
memory is allocated to a
process
● Non-Contiguous memory
allocation:
● A method that allocates the
memory space present in
different locations to the
process as per it’s
requirements.
 Memory Allocation

● Equal Size Fixed Partitioning:

● Equal blocks of memory

OS

8 MB

8 MB

8 MB
 Memory Allocation

● Variable Size Fixed Partitioning:

● Variable sized blocks of memory
● Number of blocks and size of block
is fixed
OS

2 MB

10 MB

4 MB
4 MB
 Memory Allocation

● Variable Size Fixed Partitioning:

● First-fit: Allocate the first hole
that is big enough

● Best-fit: Allocate the smallest

hole that is big enough; must
search entire list, unless ordered by
size

● Worst-fit: Allocate the largest

hole; must also search entire list
 Fragmentation

● External Fragmentation – total memory

space exists to satisfy a request, but it is
not contiguous
● Internal Fragmentation – allocated
memory may be slightly larger than
requested memory; this size difference is
memory internal to a partition, but not
being used
 Example
● Process P is of size 4 KB. How to fit the process in the two
available memory spaces of 2KB.
 Fragmentation (Cont.)

● Reduce external fragmentation by

compaction
● Shuffle memory contents to place all free
memory together in one large block
● Compaction is possible only if relocation is
dynamic, and is done at execution time
 Memory Allocation

● Compaction:
● Compaction is a technique to collect all
the free memory present in form of
fragments into one large chunk of
free memory,
● which can be used to run other processes.
● Reduce external fragmentation by
compaction
● Move all the processes towards one end of
the memory and all the available free
space towards the other end of the
memory so that it becomes contiguous.
● Compaction is possible only if relocation is
dynamic, and is done at execution time
 Memory Allocation

● Advantages of Compaction:
● Reduces external fragmentation
● Memory becomes contagious
● More processes can be loaded to
memory
● Disadvantages of Compaction:
● A huge amount of time is wasted in
performing compaction.
● CPU sits idle for a long time.
 Memory Allocation

● Limitations of Fixed Partitioning:

● Internal Fragmentation
4 The process size is smaller than
the memory allocated to it so free
space is created in the memory
block which cannot be used by
any other process.
● External Fragmentation
4 Total available space is sufficient
to hold a process in it but it isn’t
contiguous; thus cannot be used
● Fixed Degree of multiprogramming
 Memory Allocation

● Dynamic Partitioning / Dynamic

Memory Allocation:
● The process of assigning the
memory space during the
execution time or the run time.
● Efficient utilization of memory
 Memory Allocation

● Advantages of Dynamic Partitioning:

● No Internal Fragmentation
● Degree of multiprogramming is
dynamic
● Disadvantages of Dynamic
Partitioning:
● External Fragmentation
● Allocation and deallocation is
complex