Chapter 6: CPU Scheduling

Shatabdi Roy Moon

Lecturer, Dept. of CSE
 Chapter 6: CPU Scheduling

● Basic Concepts
● Scheduling Criteria
● Scheduling Algorithms
● Examples
 Objectives
● To introduce CPU scheduling, which is the basis for multi-
programmed operating systems

● To describe various CPU-scheduling algorithms

● To discuss evaluation criteria for selecting a CPU-scheduling

algorithm for a particular system
 Basic Concepts
● Maximum CPU utilization obtained with
multiprogramming

● Continuous Cycle :
● one process has to wait (I/O)
● Operating system takes the CPU away
● Give CPU to another process
● This pattern continues

● CPU–I/O Burst Cycle – Process execution consists of a

cycle of CPU execution and I/O wait
 CPU and I/O Burst Cycle
● Almost all processes alternate between two states in a
continuing cycle, as shown in Figure below :
● A CPU burst of performing calculations, and
● An I/O burst, waiting for data transfer in or out of the system.

● Processes alternate back and forth between this two states.

Alternating Sequence of CPU and
I/O Bursts
 CPU Scheduler
● Whenever the CPU becomes idle, it is the job of the CPU Scheduler ( a.k.a.
the short term scheduler ) to select another process from the ready queue to
run next.
● The storage structure for the ready queue and the algorithm used to select
the next process are not necessarily a FIFO queue. There are several
alternatives to choose from, as well as numerous adjustable parameters for
each algorithm.
● CPU scheduling decisions may take place when a process:
1. Switches from running to waiting state (I/O request)
2. Switches from running to ready state (e.g. when interrupt occurs)
3. Switches from waiting to ready (e.g. at completion of I/O)
4. Terminates
● Scheduling under 1 and 4 is non-preemptive
● All other scheduling is preemptive
● Consider access to shared data
● Consider preemption while in kernel mode
● Consider interrupts occurring during crucial OS activities
 Dispatcher
● The dispatcher is the module that gives control of the CPU to the
process selected by the scheduler. This function involves:
o Switching context.
o Switching to user mode.
o Jumping to the proper location in the newly loaded program.

● The dispatcher needs to be as fast as possible, as it is run on

every context switch. The time consumed by the dispatcher is
known as dispatch latency.
 Scheduling Criteria
There are several different criteria to consider when trying to select the "best"
scheduling algorithm for a particular situation and environment, including:

● CPU utilization – Ideally the CPU would be busy 100% of the time, so as to
waste 0 CPU cycles. On a real system CPU usage should range from 40%
( lightly loaded ) to 90% ( heavily loaded. )
● Throughput – Number of processes completed per unit time. May range
from 10/second to 1/hour depending on the specific processes.
● Turnaround time
– amount of time to execute a particular process
-- the interval from the time of submission of a process to the time of the
completion.
● Waiting time – Amount of time a process has been waiting in the ready
queue.
( Load average – The average number of processes sitting in the ready
queue waiting their turn to get into the CPU )
● Response time – Amount of time it takes from when a request was
submitted until the first response is produced, not output (for time-sharing
environment)
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
● Turnaround time P1 = 24; P2 = 27; P3 = 30
 FCFS Scheduling (Cont.)
Suppose that the processes arrive in the order:
P2 , P3 , P1
● The Gantt chart for the schedule is:

P2 P3 P1

3
0 3 6
0

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
 FCFS Scheduling (Cont.)

Convoy Effect :

many I/O bound process and one CPU bound process

CPU bound process I/O bound process Effect

I/O device I/O queue CPU site idle
CPU processing Ready queue I/O site idle
 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
● Two schemes:
● Non-preemptive – Once CPU given to the process it cannot be
preempted until completes its CPU burst
● Preemptive – If a new process arrives with CPU burst length
less than remaining time of current executing process, preempt.
This scheme is know as the
Shortest-Remaining-Time-First (SRTF)
● SJF is optimal – gives minimum average waiting time for a given set
of processes
 Example of SJF
Process Arrival Time Burst Time
P1 0.0
6
P2 2.0
8
P3 4.0
7
P4 5.0
P4 P1 P3 P2
3
● SJF scheduling chart
3 9 1 2
0
6 4

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

 Example of Non-Preemptive SJF
Process Arrival Time Burst Time
P1 0.0 7
P2 2.0 4
P3 4.0 1
P4 5.0 4
● SJF (non-preemptive)

P1 P3 P2 P4

0 3 7 8 12 16

Average waiting time = (0 + 6 + 3 + 7)/4 = 4

 Example of Preemptive SJF
Process Arrival Time Burst Time
P1 0.0 7
P2 2.0 4
P3 4.0 1
P4 5.0 4
● SJF (preemptive)

P1 P2 P3 P2 P4 P1

0 2 4 5 7 11 16

● Average waiting time = (9 + 1 + 0 +2)/4 = 3

 Example of Shortest-remaining-time-first
● Now we add the concepts of varying arrival times and preemption to the analysis

Process Arrival Time Burst Time

P1 0 8
P2 1 4
P3 2 9
P4 3 5
● Preemptive SJF Gantt Chart

P1 P2 P4 P1 P3

1 1 2
0 1 5
0 7 6
● Average waiting time = [9+0+5+15+2]/4 = 31/4 = 7.75 ms
 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
● Non-preemptive
● SJF is priority scheduling where priority is the inverse of predicted next CPU
burst time
● Priority can be defined either internally or externally.
● Factors for internal priority assignment:
4 Time limit, memory requirements, the number or open files etc.
● Factors for external priority assignment:
4 Importance of the process, the type and amount of funds of funds
being paid for computer use, department sponsoring works etc.
 Example of Priority Scheduling
ProcessA Burst Time Priority
P1 10 3
P2 1 1
P3 2 4
P4 1 5
P5 5 2
● Priority scheduling Gantt Chart

P2 P5 P1 P3 P4

1 1 1
0 1 6
6 8 9

Average waiting time = 8.2 msec

 Priority Scheduling

● Problem ≡ Starvation – low priority processes may never

execute

● Solution ≡ Aging – as time progresses increase the priority

of the process
 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

1 1 1 2 2 3
0 4 7
0 4 8 2 6 0

• Average waiting time is 17 / 3 = 5.66 millisecond

• Typically, higher average turnaround than SJF, but better response
• quantum should be large compared to context switch time
• Quantum usually 10ms to 100ms, context switch < 10
Time Quantum and Context Switch Time
Turnaround Time Varies With
The Time Quantum

80% of CPU bursts should

be shorter than quantum
 Multilevel Queue
● Another class of scheduling algorithm needs- in which processes are classified into different
groups, e.g.:
● foreground (interactive) processes
● background (batch) processes
● They have different response time requirements-so different scheduling needs.
● Foreground processes may have priority over background processes.
● A multilevel queue-scheduling algorithm partitions the ready queue into several separate
queues-we can see it in the figure of next slide:-

● Each queue has its own scheduling algorithm:

● Foreground queue scheduled by – RR algorithm
● Background queue scheduled by – FCFS algorithm

● Scheduling must be done between the queues:

● Fixed priority preemptive scheduling; (i.e., serve all from foreground then from
background). Possibility of starvation.
● Time slice – each queue gets a certain amount of CPU time which it can schedule
amongst its processes; i.e., foreground queue can be given 80% of the CPU time for RR-
scheduling among its processes, while 20% to background in FCFS manner.
Example of Multilevel Feedback Queue
● Three queues: (can see the figure in next slide)
● Q0 – RR with time quantum 8 milliseconds
● Q1 – RR time quantum 16 milliseconds
● Q2 – FCFS

● Scheduling
● A new job enters queue Q0 which is served for RR
4 When it gains CPU, job receives 8 milliseconds
4 If it does not finish in 8 milliseconds, job is moved to queue Q1
● At Q1 job is again served RR and receives 16 additional
milliseconds
4 If it still does not complete, it is preempted and moved to
queue Q2
Multilevel Feedback Queues
End of Chapter 6