Chapter 1: Introduction

What Operating Systems Do Computer-System Organization Computer-System Architecture

Operating-System Structure
Operating-System Operations Process Management Memory Management

Storage Management
Protection and Security Distributed Systems Special-Purpose Systems Computing Environments Open-Source Operating Systems

Objectives
To provide a grand tour of the major operating systems components To provide coverage of basic computer system organization

What is an Operating System?

A program that acts as an intermediary between a user of a computer

and the computer hardware

Operating system goals:

Execute user programs and make solving user problems easier

Make the computer system convenient to use

Use the computer hardware in an efficient manner

Computer System Structure

Computer system can be divided into four components

Hardware provides basic computing resources

CPU, memory, I/O devices Controls and coordinates use of hardware among various applications and users

Operating system

Application programs define the ways in which the system resources are used to solve the computing problems of the users

Word processors, compilers, web browsers, database systems, video games People, machines, other computers

Users

Four Components of a Computer System

Operating System Definition

OS is a resource allocator

Manages all resources

Decides between conflicting requests for efficient and fair resource use
Controls execution of programs to prevent errors and improper use of the computer

OS is a control program

Operating System Definition (Cont)

No universally accepted definition Everything a vendor ships when you order an operating system is good

approximation

But varies wildly

The one program running at all times on the computer is the kernel.

Everything else is either a system program (ships with the operating system) or an application program

Computer Startup
bootstrap program is loaded at power-up or reboot

Typically stored in ROM or EPROM, generally known as firmware Initializes all aspects of system

Loads operating system kernel and starts execution

Computer System Organization

Computer-system operation

One or more CPUs, device controllers connect through common bus providing access to shared memory Concurrent execution of CPUs and devices competing for memory cycles

Computer-System Operation
I/O devices and the CPU can execute concurrently Each device controller is in charge of a particular device type Each device controller has a local buffer

CPU moves data from/to main memory to/from local buffers

I/O is from the device to local buffer of controller Device controller informs CPU that it has finished its operation by causing

an interrupt

Common Functions of Interrupts

Interrupt transfers control to the interrupt service routine generally, through

the interrupt vector, which contains the addresses of all the service routines
Interrupt architecture must save the address of the interrupted instruction Incoming interrupts are disabled while another interrupt is being processed

to prevent a lost interrupt

A trap is a software-generated interrupt caused either by an error or a user

request
An operating system is interrupt driven

Interrupt Handling
The operating system preserves the state of the CPU by storing registers

and the program counter

Determines which type of interrupt has occurred:

polling vectored interrupt system

Separate segments of code determine what action should be taken for each

type of interrupt

Interrupt Timeline

I/O Structure
After I/O starts, control returns to user program only upon I/O

completion

Wait instruction idles the CPU until the next interrupt Wait loop (contention for memory access) At most one I/O request is outstanding at a time, no simultaneous I/O processing
After I/O starts, control returns to user program without waiting

for I/O completion System call request to the operating system to allow user to wait for I/O completion Device-status table contains entry for each I/O device indicating its type, address, and state Operating system indexes into I/O device table to determine device status and to modify table entry to include interrupt

Direct Memory Access Structure

Used for high-speed I/O devices able to transmit information at close to

memory speeds
Device controller transfers blocks of data from buffer storage directly to

main memory without CPU intervention

Only one interrupt is generated per block, rather than the one interrupt per

byte

Storage Structure
Main memory only large storage media that the CPU can access directly Secondary storage extension of main memory that provides large

nonvolatile storage capacity

Magnetic disks rigid metal or glass platters covered with magnetic

recording material

Disk surface is logically divided into tracks, which are subdivided into sectors The disk controller determines the logical interaction between the device and the computer

Storage Hierarchy
Storage systems organized in hierarchy

Speed Cost

Volatility

Caching copying information into faster storage system; main memory

can be viewed as a last cache for secondary storage

Storage-Device Hierarchy

Caching
Important principle, performed at many levels in a computer (in

hardware, operating system, software)

Information in use copied from slower to faster storage temporarily Faster storage (cache) checked first to determine if information is

there

If it is, information used directly from the cache (fast) If not, data copied to cache and used there Cache management important design problem Cache size and replacement policy

Cache smaller than storage being cached

Computer-System Architecture
Most systems use a single general-purpose processor (PDAs through

mainframes)

Most systems have special-purpose processors as well Also known as parallel systems, tightly-coupled systems Advantages include
1. 2. 3.

Multiprocessors systems growing in use and importance

Increased throughput Economy of scale Increased reliability graceful degradation or fault tolerance Asymmetric Multiprocessing Symmetric Multiprocessing

Two types
1. 2.

How a Modern Computer Works

Symmetric Multiprocessing Architecture

A Dual-Core Design

Clustered Systems
Like multiprocessor systems, but multiple systems working together

Usually sharing storage via a storage-area network (SAN) Provides a high-availability service which survives failures

Asymmetric clustering has one machine in hot-standby mode

Symmetric clustering has multiple nodes running applications, monitoring each other Applications must be written to use parallelization

Some clusters are for high-performance computing (HPC)

Operating System Structure

Multiprogramming needed for efficiency

Single user cannot keep CPU and I/O devices busy at all times Multiprogramming organizes jobs (code and data) so CPU always has one to execute A subset of total jobs in system is kept in memory One job selected and run via job scheduling When it has to wait (for I/O for example), OS switches to another job

Timesharing (multitasking) is logical extension in which CPU switches jobs so frequently that users can interact with each job while it is running, creating interactive computing

Response time should be < 1 second

Each user has at least one program executing in memory process If several jobs ready to run at the same time CPU scheduling If processes dont fit in memory, swapping moves them in and out to run

Virtual memory allows execution of processes not completely in

memory

Memory Layout for Multiprogrammed System

Operating-System Operations
Interrupt driven by hardware Software error or request creates exception or trap

Division by zero, request for operating system service

Other process problems include infinite loop, processes modifying each

other or the operating system Dual-mode operation allows OS to protect itself and other system components User mode and kernel mode

Mode bit provided by hardware Provides ability to distinguish when system is running user code or kernel code Some instructions designated as privileged, only executable in kernel mode

System call changes mode to kernel, return from call resets it to user

Transition from User to Kernel Mode

Timer to prevent infinite loop / process hogging resources

Set interrupt after specific period Operating system decrements counter

When counter zero generate an interrupt

Set up before scheduling process to regain control or terminate program that exceeds allotted time

Process Management

A process is a program in execution. It is a unit of work within the system. Program is a passive entity, process is an active entity. Process needs resources to accomplish its task

CPU, memory, I/O, files

Initialization data

Process termination requires reclaim of any reusable resources Single-threaded process has one program counter specifying location of next instruction to execute

Process executes instructions sequentially, one at a time, until completion

Multi-threaded process has one program counter per thread Typically system has many processes, some user, some operating system running concurrently on one or more CPUs

Concurrency by multiplexing the CPUs among the processes / threads

Process Management Activities

The operating system is responsible for the following activities in connection with process management:
Creating and deleting both user and system processes Suspending and resuming processes Providing mechanisms for process synchronization Providing mechanisms for process communication Providing mechanisms for deadlock handling

Memory Management
All data in memory before and after processing All instructions in memory in order to execute Memory management determines what is in memory when

Optimizing CPU utilization and computer response to users

Keeping track of which parts of memory are currently being used and by whom Deciding which processes (or parts thereof) and data to move into and out of memory Allocating and deallocating memory space as needed

Memory management activities

Storage Management
OS provides uniform, logical view of information storage

Abstracts physical properties to logical storage unit - file Each medium is controlled by device (i.e., disk drive, tape drive) Varying properties include access speed, capacity, datatransfer rate, access method (sequential or random)
File-System management

Files usually organized into directories Access control on most systems to determine who can access what

OS activities include Creating and deleting files and directories

Primitives to manipulate files and dirs

Mapping files onto secondary storage Backup files onto stable (non-volatile) storage media

Mass-Storage Management

Usually disks used to store data that does not fit in main memory or data that must be kept for a long period of time Proper management is of central importance Entire speed of computer operation hinges on disk subsystem and its algorithms OS activities

Free-space management Storage allocation Disk scheduling Tertiary storage includes optical storage, magnetic tape Still must be managed Varies between WORM (write-once, read-many-times) and RW (read-write)

Some storage need not be fast

Performance of Various Levels of Storage

Movement between levels of storage hierarchy can be explicit or implicit

Migration of Integer A from Disk to Register

Multitasking environments must be careful to use most recent value, no

matter where it is stored in the storage hierarchy

Multiprocessor environment must provide cache coherency in hardware

such that all CPUs have the most recent value in their cache
Distributed environment situation even more complex

Several copies of a datum can exist Various solutions covered in Chapter 17

I/O Subsystem
One purpose of OS is to hide peculiarities of hardware devices from the

user
I/O subsystem responsible for

Memory management of I/O including buffering (storing data temporarily while it is being transferred), caching (storing parts of data in faster storage for performance), spooling (the overlapping of output of one job with input of other jobs) General device-driver interface

Drivers for specific hardware devices

Protection and Security

Protection any mechanism for controlling access of processes or

users to resources defined by the OS Security defense of the system against internal and external attacks Huge range, including denial-of-service, worms, viruses, identity theft, theft of service Systems generally first distinguish among users, to determine who can do what User identities (user IDs, security IDs) include name and associated number, one per user

User ID then associated with all files, processes of that user to determine access control Group identifier (group ID) allows set of users to be defined and controls managed, then also associated with each process, file Privilege escalation allows user to change to effective ID with more rights

Computing Environments
Traditional computer

Blurring over time Office environment

PCs

connected to a network, terminals attached to mainframe or minicomputers providing batch and timesharing
portals allowing networked and remote systems access to same resources to be single system, then modems

Now

Home networks
Used Now

firewalled, networked

Computing Environments (Cont)

Client-Server Computing Dumb terminals supplanted by smart PCs Many systems now servers, responding to requests generated by

clients Compute-server provides an interface to client to request

services (i.e. database)

File-server provides interface for clients to store and retrieve

files

Peer-to-Peer Computing
Another model of distributed system P2P does not distinguish clients and servers

Instead all nodes are considered peers

May each act as client, server or both

Node must join P2P network

Registers its service with central lookup service on network, or Broadcast request for service and respond to requests for service via discovery protocol

Examples include Napster and Gnutella

Web-Based Computing
Web has become ubiquitous PCs most prevalent devices More devices becoming networked to allow web access

New category of devices to manage web traffic among similar servers: load

balancers
Use of operating systems like Windows 95, client-side, have evolved into

Linux and Windows XP, which can be clients and servers

Open-Source Operating Systems

Operating systems made available in source-code format rather than just

binary closed-source
Counter to the copy protection and Digital Rights Management (DRM)

movement
Started by Free Software Foundation (FSF), which has copyleft GNU

Public License (GPL)

Examples include GNU/Linux, BSD UNIX (including core of Mac OS X), and

Sun Solaris

End of Chapter 1