UNIT-1

Operating Systems Overview:

 Operating system functions
 Operating system structure
 Operating systems operations
 Computing environments
 Open-Source Operating Systems.
System Structures:
 Operating System Services
 User and Operating-System Interface
 Systems calls
 Types of System Calls
 System programs
 Operating system Design and Implementation
 Operating system structure
 Operating system debugging
 Building and Booting an Operating System

• Hardware refers to the physical and visible components of the system such as a monitor, CPU, keyboard
and mouse.
• Hardware is further divided into four main categories:
 Input Devices
 Output Devices
 Secondary Storage Devices
 Internal Components
Software
• Software is a set of instructions, data or programs used to operate computers and execute specific tasks.
• Computer software is divided into two broad categories:
• System Software
• Application Software
System Software
• System software consists of programs that manage the hardware resources of a computer and perform
required information processing tasks.
• The best example for system software is OS
• Operating system:
• Examples of popular modern operating systems include Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS X and
Microsoft Windows
• Utility programs:
 Virus scanner - to protect your system from trojans and viruses
 Disk defragmenter - to speed up your hard disk
 System monitor - to look at your current system resources
 File managers - to add, delete, rename and move files and folders
• Library programs:
• Library programs contain code and data that provide services to other programs such as interface (look
and feel), printing, network code and even the graphic engines of computer games.
• Translator software:
• Assembler - converts assembly code into machine code
• Interpreter - converts 3rd generation languages such as javascript into machine code one line at a
time

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 • Compiler - converts 3rd generation languages such as C++ into machine code all at once
• Application Software:
• Application software is used by user to perform specific task.
• Some examples of application softwares are word processor, web browser, media player, etc.

Differences between system software and application software

• The system software is designed to manage system resources such as memory management, process
management, security, etc. and also provides a platform to run application software. On the other hand,
application software is designed to meet user requirements to perform specific tasks.
• The system software is written in a low-level language, like assembly language. Whereas, application
software is written in high-level languages like Java, C ++, .net, VB, etc.
• As soon as the system software is started, the system starts and continues until the system is shut down.
Application software starts when the user starts it and the user closes it.
• A system cannot run without system software, while the application software is user-specific. They are
not required to run the system, they are only for the user.
• Where system software is general-purpose software, while application software is a specific purpose
software.
• The best example of system software is the operating system, while examples of application software are
Microsoft office, photo shop, etc.

What is an Operating System?

• An Operating System (OS) is program that manages the computer hardware.
• It also provides a basis for Application Programs and acts as a intermediary between a user of a computer
and the computer hardware.
• An operating system controls the overall activities of a computer.

• An Operating System (OS) is program that manages the computer hardware.

• It also provide a basis for Application Programs and acts as a intermediary between a user of a computer
and the computer hardware

Abstract view of the components of a computer system

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1.1 Operating system functions
• The main functions of an operating system are:
 Device Management (Input / Output):- An operating system controls the working of all input and output
devices.
 Memory Management:- An operating system assigns memory to various programs whenever required. It
also frees the memory when it is not in use.
 Runs Software:- An operating system runs the applications software like Paint, MS Word, and MS Power
Point etc.
 Processor Management:- An operating system manages the working of the processor by allocating various
jobs to it.
 File Management:- An operating system keeps track of information regarding creating, deletion, transfers,
copy and storage of files in an organized way.
 Security:- It provides security by means of passwords to prevent misuse of a computer.
What Operating Systems Do
• To understand more fully the operating system’s role, we next explore operating systems from two
viewpoints:
• user
• System.
• The user’s view
• The user’s view of the computer varies according to the interface being used.
• Personal Computer:
• PC, consisting of a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and system unit.
• Such a system is designed for one user to monopolize its resources.
• In this case, the operating system is designed mostly for ease of use, with some attention paid to
performance and none paid to resource utilization
• Workstations And Servers:
• In still other cases, users sit at workstations connected to networks of other workstations and
servers.
• These users have dedicated resources at their disposal, but they also share resources such as
networking and servers, including file, compute, and print servers. Therefore, their operating
system is designed to compromise between individual usability and resource utilization.
• Mobile Computers:
• Many varieties of mobile computers, such as smart phones and tablets, have come into fashion.
Most mobile computers are standalone units for individual users. Quite often, they are connected
to networks through cellular or other wireless technologies. The user interface for mobile
computers generally features a touch screen, where the user interacts with the system by pressing
and swiping fingers across the screen rather than using a physical keyboard and mouse.
• Mainframe Or A Minicomputer:
• A user sits at a terminal connected to a mainframe or a minicomputer. Other users are accessing
the same computer through other terminals.
• These users share resources and may exchange information. The operating system in such cases
is designed to maximize resource utilization— to assure that all available CPU time, memory, and
I/O are used efficiently and that no individual user takes more than her fair share.
• Some computers have little or no user view.
• For example, embedded computers in home devices and automobiles may have numeric keypads
and may turn indicator lights on or off to show status, but they and their operating systems are
designed primarily to run without user intervention.

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System View
• OS is a resource allocator
– Manages all resources
– Decides between conflicting requests for efficient and fair resource use
• OS is a control program
– Controls execution of programs to prevent errors and improper use of the computer

1.2 Operating system structure

• Operating System vary greatly in their makeup internally.
COMMONALITIES:
– 1.Multiprogramming
– 2.Time Sharing (Multitasking)
1. Multiprogramming
– Single user cannot keep CPU and I/O devices busy at all times
– Multiprogramming increases CPU utilization by organizes jobs (code and data) so that the CPU
always has one to execute
– Multiprogrammed systems provide an environment in which the various system resources(for
example, CPU, memory, and peripheral devices ) are utilized effectively, but they don’t provide for
user interaction with the computer system

• Advantages
– 1)CPU utilization maximum
– 2)Short time jobs get executed faster
– 3)Resources are used efficiently
– 4)Response time is shorter
• Disadvantages
– 1)Difficult to program system because of complicated schedule handling
– 2)Due to high load of tasks ,long time jobs have to wait long
2.Time Sharing (Multitasking)
• Time sharing (or multitasking) is a logical extension of multiprogramming.
• CPU executes multiple jobs by switching among them
• Switches occur so frequently that the users can interact with each program while it is running
• Time sharing requires an interactive (or hands-on) computer system, which provides direct
communication between the user and the system.
• A time-shared operating system allows many users to share the computer simultaneously
• A time-shared operating system allows many users to share the computer
• Uses CPU scheduling and Multiprogramming to provide With a small portion of a time-shared
computer
• Each User has at least one separate program in memory
• A program loaded into memory and executing is called a “PROCESS”

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 Terminology
– 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 don’t fit in memory, swapping moves them in and out to run
– Virtual memory allows execution of processes not completely in memory

1.3 Operating systems operations

• Interrupt driven is modern operating systems.
• Trap (or an exception) is a software-generated interrupt caused either by an error (for example, division
by zero or invalid memory access) or by a specific request from a user program that an operating-system
service be performed.
• The interrupt-driven nature of an operating system defines that system's general structure.
• For each type of interrupt, separate segments of code in the operating system determine what action
should be taken.
• An interrupt service routine is provided that is responsible for dealing with the interrupt.
• Since the operating system and the users share the hardware and software resources of the computer
system, we need to make sure that an error in a user program could cause problems only for the one
program that was running.
Dual-Mode Operation
• Sharing system resources requires operating system to ensure that an incorrect program cannot
cause other programs to execute incorrectly.
• Provide hardware support to differentiate between at least two modes of operations.
1. User mode – execution done on behalf of a user.
2. Monitor mode (also kernel mode or system mode) – execution done on behalf of
operating system.
A bit, called the mode bit, is added to the hardware of the computer to indicate the
current mode: kernel (0) or user (1).
• The dual mode of operation provides us with the means for protecting the operating system from
errant users—and errant users from one another.

Transition from user to Kernel mode

• We accomplish this protection by designating some of the machine instructions that may cause harm
as privileged instructions. The hardware allows privileged instructions to be executed only in kernel
mode.
• If an attempt is made to execute a privileged instruction in user mode, the hardware does not execute the
instruction but rather treats it as illegal and traps it to the operating system.

Timer
• A timer can be set to interrupt the computer after a specified period.

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 • The period may be fixed (for example, 1/60 second) or variable (for example, from 1 millisecond to 1
second).
• Variable timer is generally implemented by a fixed-rate clock and a counter. The operating system sets
the counter.
• Every time the clock ticks, the counter is decremented.
• We can use the timer to prevent a user program from running too long. A simple technique is to initialize
a counter with the amount of time that a program is allowed to run.

1.4 Computing environments

• Traditional Computing:
 Stand-alone general purpose machines
 But blurred as most systems interconnect with others (i.e., the Internet)
 Portals provide web access to internal systems
 Network computers (thin clients) are like Web terminals
 Mobile computers interconnect via wireless networks
 Networking becoming ubiquitous
 even home systems use firewalls to protect home computers from Internet attacks
 Mobile Computing
 Handheld smartphones, tablets, etc
 What is the functional difference between them and a “traditional” laptop?
 These devices share the distinguishing physical features of being portable and lightweight.
 Allows new types of apps like augmented reality
 Use IEEE 802.11 wireless, or cellular data networks for connectivity
 Two operating systems currently dominate mobile computing:
o Apple iOS
o Google Android
• Distributed Systems
 Distributed computing is a field of computer science that studies distributed systems.
 A distributed system is a model in which components located on networked computers communicate
and coordinate their actions by passing messages.
• Two modes:
• FTP – File transfer protocol – is a standard network protocol used for the transfer of
computer files between a client and server on a computer network.
• FileZilla Client, FTP Voyager, WinSCP, CoffeeCup Free FTP, and Core FTP
• NFS – Network File System - is a distributed file system protocol originally developed by Sun
Microsystems in 1984, allowing a user on a client computer to access files over a computer
network much like local storage is accessed
Network- is a communication path between two or more systems.
TCP/IP is the most common network protocol, and it provides the fundamental architecture of the
Internet. Most operating systems support TCP/IP, including all general-purpose ones. Some systems
support proprietary protocols to suit their needs.
• Types of Network
• Local-Area Network (LAN) connects computers within a room, a building, or a campus.
• Wide-Area Network (WAN) usually links buildings, cities, or countries. A global company may
have a WAN to connect its offices worldwide.
• Metropolitan-Area Network (MAN) – links buildings within the city.
• Personal-Area Network (PAN) between a phone and a headset or a smartphone and a desktop
computer.

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 • Network Operating System is an operating system that provides features such as file sharing across
the network, along with a communication scheme that allows different processes on different
computers to exchange messages.
Client-Server Computing
 Compute-server system provides an interface to which a client can send a request to perform an action
(for example, read data).
 File-server system provides a file-system interface where clients can create, update, read, and delete files.

Peer – to – Peer Computing

• Clients and servers are not distinguished from one another. Instead, all nodes within the system are
considered peers, and each may act as either a client or a server, depending on whether it is requesting or
providing a service.

• Skype is another example of peer-to-peer computing. It allows clients to make voice calls
and video calls and to send text messages over the Internet using a technology known as
voice over IP (VoIP).
Virtualization
• Virtualization is a technology that allows operating systems to run as applications within other
operating systems.
• Emulation is used when the source CPU type is different from the target CPU type.
• which allowed applications compiled for the IBM CPU to run on the Intel CPU.
Cloud Computing
• Cloud Computing is a type of computing that delivers computing, storage, and even applications as a
service across a network.
• Types of Cloud Computing
• Software as a service (SaaS)—one or more applications (such as word processors or
spreadsheets) available via the Internet.
• Example
• Google Slides
• Google Docs
• Google Sheets
• Calendar

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 • Platform as a service (PaaS)—often simply referred to as PaaS, is a category of cloud computing
that provides a platform and environment to allow developers to build applications and services
over the internet.
• Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)—servers or storage available over the Internet (for example,
storage available for making backup copies of production data).
• Examples:Dropbox,google drive

Real-Time Embedded Systems

• An embedded system is a computer system with a dedicated function within a larger mechanical or
electrical system, often with real-time computing constraints. It is embedded as part of a complete device
often including hardware and mechanical parts.
• Embedded systems control many devices in common use today.
• Examples of Real-Time Embedded System
– Alarm Systems
– Washing machine
– Vendo Machine
• Devices in Embedded System
– Arduino
– Raspberry PI

1.5 Open-Source Operating Systems.

• Open source is a term that originally referred to open source software (OSS).
• Open source software is code that is designed to be publicly accessible—anyone can see, modify, and
distribute the code as they see fit.
• Some widely used programs, platforms, and languages which are considered open source are:
– Linux operating system
– Android by Google
1.6 Operating System Services

A view of operating system services

• OS provide environments in which programs run, and services for the users of the system, including:
– User Interfaces
– Program Execution
– I/O Operations
– File-System Manipulation
– Communications
– Error Detection
• User Interfaces –

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 – Means by which users can issue commands to the system. Depending on the system these may be
a
• Command-Line Interface
– ( e.g. sh, csh, ksh, tcsh, etc. ),
• GUI interface
– ( e.g. Windows, X-Windows, KDE, Gnome, etc. ),
• The latter are generally older systems using punch cards of job-control language, JCL, but may still be
used today for specialty systems designed for a single purpose.
• Batch operating system
• “The operating system is termed as “batch operating” because the input data (job) are collected into
batches or sets of records with similar needs and each batch is processed as a unit(group). The output is
another batch that can be reused for computation.”

• Program Execution - The OS must be able to load a program into RAM, run the program, and terminate the
program, either normally or abnormally.
• I/O Operations - The OS is responsible for transferring data to and from I/O devices, including keyboards,
terminals, printers, and storage devices.
• Communications - Inter-process communications, IPC, either between processes running on the same
processor, or between processes running on separate processors or separate machines. May be
implemented as either shared memory or message passing, ( or some systems may offer both)
• File-System Manipulation - the OS is also responsible for maintaining directory and subdirectory
structures, mapping file names to specific blocks of data storage, and providing tools for navigating and
utilizing the file system.
• Error Detection - Both hardware and software errors must be detected and handled appropriately, with a
minimum of harmful repercussions.
• Some systems may include complex error avoidance or recovery systems, including backups, RAID
drives, and other redundant systems. Debugging and diagnostic tools aid users and administrators in
tracing down the cause of problems.
• Other systems aid in the efficient operation of the OS itself:
• Resource Allocation - E.g. CPU cycles, main memory, storage space, and peripheral devices. Some
resources are managed with generic systems and others with very carefully designed and specially tuned
systems, customized for a particular resource and operating environment.
• Accounting - Keeping track of system activity and resource usage, either for billing purposes or for
statistical record keeping that can be used to optimize future performance.
• Protection and Security - Preventing harm to the system and to resources, either through wayward
internal processes or malicious outsiders. Authentication, ownership, and restricted access are obvious
parts of this system. Highly secure systems may log all process activity down to excruciating detail, and
security regulation dictate the storage of those records on permanent non-erasable medium for extended
times in secure ( off-site ) facilities.

1.7 User and Operating-System Interface

• The user interface (UI) is the point of human-computer interaction and communication in a device.
(OR)

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 • A user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of
this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine from the human end
• There are several ways for users to interface with the operating system.
• Two fundamental approaches.
• 1.command-line interface, or command interpreter,
• 2. Graphical User Interface

Command Interpreters
 Command Interpreter that allows users to directly enter commands to be performed by the
operating system.
 Some operating systems include the command interpreter in the kernel.
 Others such as Windows and UNIX, treat the command interpreter as a special program that is
running when a job is initiated or when a user first logs on (on interactive systems).
 On systems with multiple command interpreters to choose from, the interpreters are known as
shells.
• For example, on UNIX and Linux systems, a user may choose among several different
shells, including the Bourne shell, C shell, Bourne-Again shell, Korn shell, and others

Advantages of using a command-line interface are:

 It is faster than the other types of user interfaces.
 Fast data transfer in CLI.
 Memory (RAM) is used lesser than GUI.
 It is cheaper to use as a lesser resolution screen can be used.
 Lesser CPU processing time is needed.
 It does not need Windows to run.

Disadvantages of using a command-line interface are

 Without the known commands, you cannot work on the CLI
 A lot of commands have to be learned to use this interface.
 One needs to be very specific and careful when typing the commands. Even a single spelling mistake may
lead to instruction failure.
 There are no images and graphics on the screen.

Graphical User Interfaces

• A GUI (Graphic User Interface) is a graphical representation in which the users can interact with software
or devices through graphical icons.
• A second strategy for interfacing with the operating system is through a user friendly graphical user
interface, or GUI.
• Here, rather than entering commands directly via a command-line interface, users employ a mouse-based
window and- menu system characterized by a desktop metaphor.
• The user moves the mouse to position its pointer on images, or icons, on the screen (the desktop) that
represent programs, files, directories, and system functions.
History of GUI
• The first GUI appeared on the Xerox Alto computer in 1973. However, graphical interfaces became more
widespread with the advent of Apple Macintosh computers in the 1980s.
• The user interface for the Macintosh operating system (Mac OS) has undergone various changes over the
years, the most significant being the adoption of the Aqua interface that appeared with Mac OS X.
• Microsoft’s first version of Windows—Version 1.0—was based on the addition of a GUI interface to the
MS-DOS operating system.
Advantages of a graphic user interface are:
 This type of user interface is easy to use.
 It is easy to explore and find your way around the system using a GUI interface
 You do not have to learn complicated commands.
 It is based on a graphical representation
 Users do not need to know any programming languages.
 It is also known as a multi-user operating system.

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Disadvantages of a graphic user interface are:
 GUIs take up a much larger amount of hard disk space than other interfaces.
 They use more processing power than other types of interface.
 They need significantly more memory (RAM) to run than other interface types.
They let you exchange data between different software applications

Choice of Interface
• One of personal preference.
– System administrators who manage computers and power users who have deep knowledge of a
system frequently use the command-line interface.
• For them, it is more efficient, giving them faster access to the activities they need to perform.
• Most Windows users are happy to use the Windows GUI environment and almost never use the MS-DOS
shell interface.
• The various changes undergone by the Macintosh operating systems provide a nice study in contrast.

1.8 Systems calls

• “System calls provide the interface between a process (User program or application software) and the
operating system.
• In other word System call is how a program requests a service from an operating system's kernel.
• These calls are generally available as routines written in C or C++

User
mode

Kernal mode
Privileged mode

Example of a System call sequence for writing a simple program to read data from one file and copy them to
another file

illustrates the sequence of system calls required to copy a file:

• Most programmers do not use the low-level system calls directly, but instead use an "Application
Programming Interface", API. The following sidebar shows the read( ) call available in the API on UNIX
based systems::

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 • The use of APIs instead of direct system calls provides for greater program portability between different
systems. The API then makes the appropriate system calls through the system call interface, using a table
lookup to access specific numbered system calls,

The handling of a user application invoking the open( ) system call

• Parameters are generally passed to system calls via registers, or less commonly, by values pushed onto
the stack. Large blocks of data are generally accessed indirectly, through a memory address passed in a
register or on the stack

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 Passing of parameters as a table

1.9 Types of System Calls

• Six major categories,
– Process Control
– File Management
– Device Management
– Information Maintenance
– Communication
– Protection
• Process Control
– A running program needs to be able to stop execution either normally or abnormally. When
execution is stopped abnormally, often a dump of memory is taken and can be examined with a
debugger.

• File Management
 File management system calls include create file, delete file, open, close, read, write, reposition, get
file attributes, and set file attributes.
 These operations may also be supported for directories as well as ordinary files.

• Device Management
 Device management system calls include request device, release device, read, write, reposition, get/set
device attributes, and logically attach or detach devices.
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  Devices may be physical ( e.g. disk drives ), or virtual / abstract ( e.g. files, partitions, and RAM disks ).
 Some systems represent devices as special files in the file system, so that accessing the "file" calls
upon the appropriate device drivers in the OS.

• Information Maintenance
 Information maintenance system calls include calls to get/set the time, date, system data, and process,
file, or device attributes.
 Systems may also provide the ability to dump memory at any time, single step programs pausing
execution after each instruction, and tracing the operation of programs, all of which can help to debug
programs.

• Communication
 Communication system calls create/delete communication connection, send/receive messages, transfer
status information, and attach/detach remote devices.
 The message passing model must support calls to:
o Identify a remote process and/or host with which to communicate.
o Establish a connection between the two processes.
o Open and close the connection as needed.
o Transmit messages along the connection.
o Wait for incoming messages, in either a blocking or non-blocking state.
o Delete the connection when no longer needed.
 The shared memory model must support calls to:
o Create and access memory that is shared amongst processes ( and threads. )
o Provide locking mechanisms restricting simultaneous access.
o Free up shared memory and/or dynamically allocate it as needed.
 Message passing is simpler and easier, ( particularly for inter-computer communications ), and is
generally appropriate for small amounts of data.
 Shared memory is faster, and is generally the better approach where large amounts of data are to be
shared, ( particularly when most processes are reading the data rather than writing it, or at least when
only one or a small number of processes need to change any given data item. )

• Protection
 Protection provides mechanisms for controlling which users / processes have access to which system
resources.
 System calls allow the access mechanisms to be adjusted as needed, and for non-privileged users to be
granted elevated access permissions under carefully controlled temporary circumstances.

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 1.10 System programs
 An important aspect of a modern system is the collection of system programs
 System programs provide a convenient environment for program development and execution
• File management -
• programs to create,
• delete,
• copy,
• rename,
• print,
• list, and generally manipulate files and directories.
• Status information -
• Utilities to check on the date,
• time,
• number of users,
• processes running,
• data logging, etc.
• System registries are used to store and recall configuration information for particular
applications.
• File modification -
• e.g. text editors and other tools which can change file contents.
• Programming-language support -
• E.g. Compilers,
• linkers,
• debuggers,
• profilers,
• assemblers,
• library archive management,
• interpreters for common languages, and support for make.
• Background services - System daemons are commonly started when the system is booted, and run for as
long as the system is running, handling necessary services.
• Examples include network daemons, print servers, process schedulers, and system error
monitoring services.

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1.11 Operating system Design and Implementation
Design Goals
The first problem in designing a system is to define goals and specifications. At the highest level, the design of the
system will be affected by the choice of hardware and the type of system: batch, time sharing, single user,
multiuser, distributed, real time, or general purpose.
Beyond this highest design level, the requirements may be much harder to specify. The requirements can,
however, be divided into two basic groups: user goals and system goals.
 User goals – operating system should be convenient to use, easy to learn, reliable, safe, and fast
 System goals – operating system should be easy to design, implement, and maintain, as well as
flexible, reliable, error-free, and efficient
 Specifying and designing an OS is highly creative task of software engineering

Mechanisms and Policies

One important principle is the separation of policy from mechanism. Mechanisms determine how to do
something; policies determine what will be done.
For example, the timer construct is a mechanism for ensuring CPU protection, but deciding how long
the timer is to be set for a particular user is a policy decision.

 Policy: What needs to be done?

• Example: Interrupt after every 100 seconds
 Mechanism: How to do something?
• Example: timer
 Important principle: separate policy from mechanism
 The separation of policy from mechanism is a very important principle, it allows maximum flexibility if
policy decisions are to be changed later.
• Example: change 100 to 200
Implementation
 Much variation
 Early OSes in assembly language
 Then system programming languages like Algol, PL/1
 Now C, C++
 Actually usually a mix of languages
 Lowest levels in assembly
 Main body in C
 Systems programs in C, C++, scripting languages like PERL, Python, shell scripts
 More high-level language easier to port to other hardware
 But slower
 Emulation can allow an OS to run on non-native hardware

1.12 Operating system structure

• An operating system structure ( Also referred as OS Architecture ) is a term that specifies the overall
internal structure of the operating system.
• It includes the logical components and the logical interrelationships of various components and the
functions of these structural components that constitute an operating system
• Depending upon the internal structure , the Operating Systems can be grouped into of four major types :
o Simple Structure OS
o Layered Approach OS
o Microkernel Approach OS
o Module based OS

Simple Structure OS
• The simple structure OS has only four layers although it is not a layered OS .
• The MS DOS ( Disk Operating System ) was based on the simple structure .

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 • However , the simple structure OS had some major limitations
• The Simple Structure OS did not have a well defined structure which made these OS vulnerable
for system crash.

•
Monolithic Kernel Operating Systems

Kernel:
• The OS consist of number of components and the core software components of an operating
system are collectively called as the kernel.
• The kernel components include system software components that manages file system , Inter process
communication , Input and output , Device Management and process Management.
• The kernel has unrestricted access and also responsible to manage all of
the resources of the computer system.
• In monolithic architecture operating systems , each layer of the operating system communicates only
with the layer immediately placed above and below it .
• In this architecture , the lower-level layers provide services to higher-level ones using an interface that
hides their implementation.

• And therefore , the Applications had access and could communicate directly with any internal component
of the operating system which gave unrestricted system access .
• This kind of layered design was perceived to be very efficient but at the same time more
vulnerable for system crash due to unrestricted system access.

Layered Approach OS
• The lack of well defined layers and the modules was problem area for simple structure OS . To overcome
these limitations, the next generation of operating systems adopted a layered Architecture approach of
operating system developed in 1960’s.
• In layered approach based OS , the operating system components are grouped in layers based on the
functionality of these components . The bottom layer ( layer 0 ) is the hardware layer and the topmost
layer ( layer n ).
• In layered approach OS architecture , each top layer can use immediate bottom layer . And therefore , the
functionality of the each layer needs to carefully designed and implemented in each layer

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 • In case of layered OS structure , the OS is divided into number of layers depending upon the functionality
of layers .
• It is relatively much easier to implement the layered architecture and that is the main advantage.
• On the other hand , the layered structure OS are relatively less efficient .
• The MS Windows NT which is a network OS and OS2 were based on the layered approach OS .

Microkernel Approach OS
• In case of micro-kernel architecture , the kernel components includes only a very small number of bare
minimum essential services within the kernel space in order to keep the kernel design small and
scalable.
• The services within the micro-kernel area typically include low-level memory management, inter-
process communication and basic process synchronization to enable processes to cooperate.
• This kind of micro-kernel design was observed to be more stable and at the same time less
vulnerable for system crash caused due to unrestricted system access.

• In micro-kernel architecture design based operating systems , only critical components are placed inside
kernel area .
• And other operating system components such as process management and device management are
placed outside kernel area which execute outside the kernel within a user area with lower level
of system access.
Module based OS
• The best current methodology for operating-system design involves using loadable kernel modules.
• Here, the kernel has a set of core components and links in additional services via modules, either at boot
time or during run time.
• This type of design is common in modern implementations of UNIX, such as Solaris, Linux, and Mac OS X,
as well as Windows.

• A layered system in that each kernel section has defined, protected interfaces; but it is more flexible than
a layered system, because any module can call any other module.
• The approach is also similar to the microkernel approach in that the primary module has only core
functions and knowledge of how to load and communicate with other modules; but it is more efficient,
because modules do not need to invoke message passing in order to communicate

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Hybrid Systems
• Most OSes today do not strictly adhere to one architecture, but are hybrids of several.
• Mac OS X
• iOS
• Android
Mac OS X
• The Max OSX architecture relies on the Mach microkernel for basic system management services, and the
BSD kernel for additional services. Application services and dynamically loadable modules ( kernel
extensions ) provide the rest of the OS functionality:

iOS
• The iOS operating system was developed by Apple for iPhones and iPads. It runs with less memory and
computing power needs than Max OS X, and supports touchscreen interface and graphics for small
screens:

Architecture of Apple's iOS

Android
• The Android OS was developed for Android smart phones and tablets by the Open Handset Alliance,
primarily Google.
• Android is an open-source OS, as opposed to iOS, which has lead to its popularity.
• Android includes versions of Linux and a Java virtual machine both optimized for small platforms.
• Android apps are developed using a special Java-for-Android development environment.

Architecture of Google's Android

1.13 Operating system debugging

 Debugging here includes both error discovery and elimination and performance tuning.
 Kernighan's Law
o "Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code
as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it."
Failure Analysis
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 • Debugging is the activity of finding and fixing errors in a system, both in hardware and in software.
• Performance problems are considered bugs, so debugging can also include performance tuning.
• If a process fails, most operating systems write the error information to a log file to alert system
operators or users that the problem occurred.
• The operating system can also take a core dump—a capture of the memory of the process— and store it
in a file for later analysis. (Memory was referred to as the “core” in the early days of computing.)
• Running programs and core dumps can be used by a debugger, which allows a programmer to explore the
code and memory of a process.
• A failure in the kernel is called a crash. When a crash occurs, error information is saved to a log file, and
the memory state is saved to a crash dump.
Performance Tuning
• Performance tuning seeks to improve performance by removing processing bottlenecks.
• To identify bottlenecks, we must be able to monitor system performance.
• In a number of systems, all interesting events are logged with their time and important parameters and
are written to a file. Later, an analysis program can process the log file to determine system performance
and to identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies.
• Another approach to performance tuning uses single-purpose, interactive tools that allow users and
administrators to question the state of various system components to look for bottlenecks.
o The Windows Task Manager includes information for current applications as well as processes,
CPU and memory usage, and networking statistics Improve performance by removing
bottlenecks OS must provide means of computing and displaying measures of system behavior
For example, “top” program or Windows Task Manager
Dtrace- Dynamic Tracing
• DTrace (DTrace.exe) is a command-line tool that displays system information and events.
• DTrace is an open source tracing platform ported to windows.
• DTrace was originally developed for the Solaris operating system.
• It provides dynamic instrumentation of both user/kernel functions, the ability to script using the D-
language, speculative tracing.
•
1.14 System Boot
• The procedure of starting a computer by loading the kernel is known as booting the system.
• On most computer systems, a small piece of code known as the bootstrap program or bootstrap loader
locates the kernel.
• This program is in the form of read-only-memory(ROM),because the RAM is in an unknown state at
system startup.ROM is convenient because it needs no initialization and cannot be infected by a computer
virus
• When the full bootstrap program has been loaded, it can traverse the file system to find the os kernel,
load it into memory and start its execution. It is only at this point that the system is said to be Running

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