CS3451 INTRODUCTION TO OPERATING SYSTEMS

UNIT I INTRODUCTION

PART – A
1. List and briefly define the four main elements of a computer? [R]
 Processor – Controls the operation of the computer & performs its data
processing functions
 Main memory – Stores data & programs.it is volatile.
 I/O modules – Move data between the computer & its external environment
such as disks, communication equipment & terminals.
 System Bus – Provides for communication among processors, main memory &
I/O modules.

2. Define the two main categories of processor register? [R]

Two categories are
User- visible registers: - It Enable the machine or assembly language
programmer to minimize main memory references by optimizing register use.
Control & Status registers: - Registers used by the processor to control the
operation of the processor.
3. In general terms, what are the four distinct actions that machine
instruction can specify? [An]
 Processor – Memory
 Processor –I/O
 Data Processing
 Control
4. What is an Interrupt? [R]
 Interrupt are provided primarily as way to improve processor utilization.
 It is a mechanism by which other modules( I/O, Memory) may interrupt the
normal sequencing of the processor.
Classes of interrupts:-
 Program
 Timer
 I/O
 Hardware failure
5. How are multiple interrupt dealt with? [An]
Two approaches can be taken to dealing with interrupts
 Disabled Interrupt – Processor ignores any new interrupt request signal.
 Define Priority for interrupt – It allows an interrupt of higher priority.

6. What characteristics distinguish the various elements of a memory

hierarchy?
[R]
Characteristics are
1.Cost Per bit
2.Capacity
3. Access Time
4. Frequency of access to the memory by the processo
7. What is Cache Memory? [R]
1. Cache memory is invisible to the OS
2. It interacts with other memory management hardware
3. Cache contains a copy of a portion of main memory .

8. List and briefly define 3 Techniques of I/O operation? [R]

 Programmed I/O
 Interrupt Driven I/O
 Direct memory access

9. What is the distinction b/w spatial locality & temporal locality? [An]
Temporal locality refers to the reuse of specific data and/or resources within
relatively small time durations.
Spatial locality refers to the use of data elements within relatively close storage
locations.
Sequential locality, a special case of spatial locality, occurs when data elements
are arranged and accessed linearly, e.g., traversing the elements in a one-
dimensional array.

10. Define Locality of Reference [R]

Locality of reference, also known as the principle of locality, is the phenomenon
of the same value or related storage locations being frequently accessed.
There are two basic types of reference locality.
 Temporal locality refers to the reuse of specific data and/or resources
within relatively small time durations.
 Spatial locality refers to the use of data elements within relatively close
storage locations.
 Sequential locality, a special case of spatial locality, occurs when data
elements are arranged and accessed linearly, e.g., traversing the elements
in a one-dimensional array.

11. What is an operating system? (NOV/DEC 2013) [R]

An operating system is a program that manages the computer hardware. it act as
an intermediate between a user‘s of a computer and the computer hardware. It
controls and coordinates the use of the hardware among the various application
programs for the various users.
12. What are the 3 objective of an OS Design? [R]
 Convenience – An OS makes a computer more convenient to use

 Efficiency -- An OS allows the system resources to be used in efficient

manner

 Ability to Evolve – An OS Constructed in such a way as to permit the

effective development, testing & introducing new function.

13. List the Services of operating system function. (NOV/DEC 2013) [R]
1. Program development
2. Program execution
3. User Interface
4. I/O Operations
5. File system Manipulation
6. Communication
7. Error Detection
8. Resource allocation
9. Accounting
10. Security

14. Define Kernel[R]

The kernel is a software code that resides in the central core of a operating
system. It has complete control over the system.

15. Define system call. (MAY/JUNE 2009, APRIL/MAY 2019) [R]

System Call provides the interface between running program and the OS
User can request any services from OS through System Call.
Categories of system call:-
 File management
 Process Management
 Inter process Communication
 I/O Device Management
 Information Processing & Maintenance

16. What is System Programs? (APRIL/MAY 2011) [R]

System programs provides an convenient environment to the user for developing
and executing the programs.
Categories:-
1. File management
2. Status Information
3. File Modification
4. Programming language support
5. Program loading & execution
6. Communication
17. What is Boot strapping? [R]
The boot program is stored on disk with predetermined address called boot
sector.
The boot program then loads the operating system into memory to startup the
computer this arrangement is known as bootstrapping.

 Inter process Communication

 I/O Device Management
 Information Processing & Maintenance

16. What is System Programs? (APRIL/MAY 2011) [R]

System programs provides an convenient environment to the user for developing
and executing the programs.
Categories:-
1. File management
2. Status Information
3. File Modification
4. Programming language support
5. Program loading & execution
6. Communication

17. What is Boot strapping? [R]

The boot program is stored on disk with predetermined address called boot
sector.
The boot program then loads the operating system into memory to startup the
computer this arrangement is known as bootstrapping.

18. Difference b/w Monolithic Micro lithic

Monolithic Micro lithic

Kernel size is large Kernel size is small
OS is Complex to design OS is easy to Design Implement &
Install
Request may be serviced faster Request may be serviced slower
All OS services are included in the Kernel Provides only IPC and low
Kernel level Device management services

19. What is Multiprogramming? (MAY/JUNE 2013) [R]

Multi Programming increases CPU Utilization by organizing jobs so that the CPU
always has one to execute.
Advantage:-
 It increase CPU utilization
 It makes efficient use of the CPU overlapping the demands for the CPU &
I/O devices
 Increased throughput.
 Lower response time.
20. Define Real Time System [R]
Real time system is one that must react to input & responds to them quickly. A
real time system has well defined, fixed time constants.

21. What does the CPU do when there are no user programs to run?
(NOV/DEC 2011) [R]
The CPU will always do processing. Even though there are no application
programs running, the operating system is still running and the CPU will still
have to process.
22. Describe the actions taken by a kernel to context-switch between
processes. [An] (NOV/DEC 2013)
In general, the operating system must save the state of the currently running
process and restore the state of the process scheduled to be run next. Saving the
state of a process typically includes the values of all the CPU registers in addition
to memory allocation. Context switches must also perform many architecture-
specific operations, including flushing data and instruction caches.

23. What is multicore processor? [R]

Hardware has been to place multiple processor cores on the same physical chip,
resulting in a multicore processor. Each core maintains its architectural state and
thus appears to the operating system to be a separate physical processor.

24. What is memory stall? [R]

Researchers have discovered that when a processor accesses memory, it spends a
significant amount of time waiting for the data to become available. This
situation, known as a memory stall , may occur for various reasons, such as a
cache miss.

25. What is Boot strapping? [R]

 The boot program is stored on disk with predetermined address called
boot sector.

 The boot program then loads the operating system into memory to
startup the computer. This arrangement is known as bootstrapping.

26. Can multiple user level threads achieve better performance on a

multiprocessor system than a single processor system? Justify your answer.
(MAY/JUNE 2014 ) [An]
We assume that user-level threads are not known to the kernel. In that case, the
answer is because the scheduling is done at the process level. On the other hand,
some OS allows user-level threads to be assigned to different kernel-level
processes for the purposes of scheduling. In this case the multithreaded solution
could be faster
27. Mention the circumstances that would a user be better off using a time-
sharing system rather than a PC or a single user workstation? (MAY/JUNE
2014) [An]
A user is better off fewer than three situations: when it is cheaper, faster, or
easier.
For example:
1. When the user is paying for management costs and the costs are cheaper for a
time-sharing system than for a single-user computer.
2. When running a simulation or calculation that takes too long to run on a single
PC or workstation.
3. When a user is travelling and doesn't have laptop to carry around, they can
connect remotely to a time-shared system and do their work.
28. Do timesharing differ from Multiprogramming? If so, How?(APR/MAY
2015) [An]
Time Sharing: here, OS assigns some time slots to each job. Here, each job is
executed according to the allotted time slots. Job1: 0 to 5 Job2: 5 to 10 Job3: 10 to
15
Multi-Tasking: in this operating system, jobs are executed in parallel by the
operating system. But, we can achieve this multi-tasking through multiple
processors (or) multicore CPU only. CPU1: Job1 CPU2: Job2 CPU3: Job3

29. Why API s need to be used rather than system calls?(APR/MAY 2015)
[An]
System calls are much slower than APIs (library calls) since for each system call, a
context switch has to occur to load the OS (which then serves the system
call).Most details of OS interface hidden from programmer by API Managed by
run-time support library (Set of functions built into libraries included with
compiler.)

30. Describe the actions taken by a thread library to context switch between
user-level threads. [An]
The user-level threads are known only within a given process. To context switch,
we only need to save the thread-specific context: the program counter, CPU
registers, and the thread-specific stack pointer

31. What is the purpose of system programs? (May/Jun 2016) [R]

System programs can be thought of as bundles of useful system calls. They
provide basic functionality to users so that users do not need to write their own
programs to solve common problems.
32. What are the advantages of peer-to-peer systems over client-server
systems? (May/Jun 2016) [R]
 It is easy to install and so is the configuration of computers on this
network, all the resources and contents are shared by all the peers,
unlike server-client architecture where Server shares all the contents
and resources.

 P2P is more reliable as central dependency is eliminated. Failure of one

peer doesn‘t affect the functioning of other peers. In case of Client –
Server network, if server goes down whole network gets affected.

 There is no need for full-time System Administrator. Every user is the

administrator of his machine. User can control their shared resources.

 The over-all cost of building and maintaining this type of network is

comparatively very less.
33. Compare and contrast DMA and cache memory. (Nov/Dec 2015) [An]

 DMA is a hardware device that can move to/from memory without using
CPU instructions.
 For instance, a hardware device (lets say, your PCI sound device) wants
audio to play back. You can either:

 Write a word at a time via a CPU mov instructions.

 Configure the DMA device. You give it a start address, a destination, and
the number of bytes to copy. The transfer now occurs while the CPU
does something else instead of spoon feeding the audio device.

 DMA can be very complex (scatter gather, etc), and varies by bus type
and system.
34. Write the difference between Batch systems and Time sharing systems.
(Nov/Dec 2015) [An]

 A batch is a sequence of jobs. This batch is submitted to batch processing

operating systems, and output would appear some later time in the form
of a program or as program error. To speed up processing similar jobs
are batched together.
 The major task of batch operating systems is to transfer control
automatically from one job to next. Here the operating is always in the
memory.

 Time sharing or multi-tasking is a logical execution of

multiprogramming. Multiple jobs are executed by the CPU switching
between them. Here the computer system provides on line
communication between the user and the system.

 Here the CPU is never idle. Time shared operating system allows many
users to share the computer simultaneously.
  Time sharing systems requires some sort of memory management and
protection.
35. How does an interrupt differ from a trap or what is the difference
between trap and interrupt? (NOV/DEC 2016) [An] (APR/MAY 2018)
An interrupt handler is called to deal with the cause of the interrupt; control is
then returned to the interrupted context and instruction. A trap is a software-
generated interrupt. An interrupt can be used to signal the completion of an I/O
to obviate the need for device polling.

36. What are the disadvantages of multiprocessor systems? (NOV/DEC

2016) [R]

 If one processor fails then it will affect in the speed

 Multiprocessor systems are expensive.
 Complex OS is required.
 It's more complex.
 It requires context switching which slightly impacts
37. Consider memory systems with a cache access time of 10 ns and a
memory access time of 110 ns-assume the memory access time includes the
time to check the cache. if the effective access time is 10 % greater than the
cache access time, What is the hit ration H? (APR/MAY 2017) [E]
38. What are the objectives of operating systems? (APR/MAY 2017) [R]
(NOV/DEC 2017) [R]
An OS is a program that controls the execution of application programs and acts
as an interface between applications and the computer hardware. Objectives of
OS: Convenience: An OS makes a computer more convenient to use. Efficiency: An
OS allows the computer system resources to be used in an efficient manner.
39. What is SYS GEN and system boot ?[R] (NOV/DEC 2017) (NOV/DEC 2021)
SYS GEN :It is the Short for SYStem GENeration, sysgen is a utility that enables an
operating system to configure hardware and software setups properly.
System Boot:
Booting the system is done by loading the kernel into main memory, and starting
its execution.
The CPU is given a reset event, and the instruction register is loaded with a
predefined memory location, where execution starts.

40. Mention the purpose of system calls.[R] (APR/MAY 2018)

 System calls allow user-level processes to request services of the operating
system.
 If a file system requires the creation or deletion of files.
 Reading and writing from files also require a system call.
 Creation and management of new processes.
 Network connections also require system calls. This includes sending and
receiving packets.
 Access to a hardware devices such as a printer, scanner etc. requires a
system call.
41. What is dual mode operation and what is the need of it?(APRIL/MAY
2019)
In monitor mode, the CPU can use all instructions and access all areas of
memory.
In user mode, the CPU is restricted to unprivileged instructions and a specified
area of memory. User code should always be executed in user mode and the OS
design ensures that it is.

42. Distinguish between Multicore and Multiprocessor. (NOV/DEC 2021)

Multicore systems have a single processor with multiple processing units. These
processing units are termed cores. On the other hand, multiprocessor systems
have two or more processors. A multiprocessor system is much more reliable
than a multicore system but a multiprocessor system has a complex configuration
compared to a multicore system. Both multicore processors and multiprocessors
are used to speeding up the computing process of the system.
UNIT II PROCESS MANAGEMENT

PART – A
1. Define Process?[R]
A Process can be thought of as a program in execution. A process will need
certain resources such as CPU time, memory, files & I/O devices to accomplish its
task.

Draw & briefly explain the process states?[U] or Name and draw five
different process states with proper definition. (NOV/DEC 2017)
New- The process is being created.
Running – Instructions are being executed
Waiting – The process is waiting for some event to occur
Ready – The process is waiting to be assigned a processor
Terminated - the process has finished execution

2. What is process control block? List out the data field associated with PCB.
(APR/MAY2015)[R]
Each process is represented in the operating system by a process control block
also called a task control block. (PCB) also called a task control block.
3. What is meant by context switching?[R]
Switching the CPU to another process requires saving the state of the old process
and loading the savetthe state for the new process. This task is known as context
switch.
4. Define co- operating process and independent process.[R]
Independent process:
 A process is independent if it cannot affect or be affected by the other
processes executing in the system.
 A process that does not share data with any other process is independent.
Cooperating process:
 A process is co-operating if it can affect or be affected by other processes
executing in the system.
 Any process that shares data with any other process is cooperating.

5. What are the benefits of multithreaded programming? [R]

The benefits of multithreaded programming can be broken down into four major
categories
 Responsiveness
 Resource sharing
 Economy scalability
 Utilization of multiprocessor architectures.

6. What is a thread?[R]

A thread otherwise called a lightweight process (LWP) is a basic unit of CPU

utilization, it comprises of a thread id, a program counter, a register set and a
stack. It shares with otherthreads belonging to the same process its code section,
data section, and operating system resources such as open files and signals.

7. Under What circumstances CPU scheduling decision takes place.[An]

(1) When a process switches from running state to waiting state

(2) When a process switches from running state to ready state.
(3) When a process switches from running state to waiting state to ready state
(4) When a process terminates.
8. What are the various scheduling criteria for CPU scheduling?[R]
The various scheduling criteria are
 CPU utilization
 Throughput
 Turnaround time
 Waiting time
 Response time

9. Write down the definition of TestAndSet() Instruction.[R]

boolean TestAndSet (boolean &target)
{
boolean rv = *target;
*target = true;
return rv;
}

10. Define busy waiting and spinlock. [R]

Busy waiting:-
When a process is in its critical section, any other process that tries to enter its
critical section must loop continuously in the entry code. This is called as busy
waiting.
Spinlock:-
Busy waiting waster CPU cycles that some other process might be able to use
productively. This type of semaphore is also called a spinlock because the process
―spin‖ while waiting for the lock.

11. What is mean by monitors?[R]

A high level synchronization construct. A monitor type is an ADT which presents
set of programmer define operations that are provided mutual exclusion within
the monitor.
12. What are the characterizations of deadlock?[R]
1. Mutual exclusion: only one process at a time can use a resource.
2. Hold and wait: a process holding at least one resource is waiting to acquire
additional resources held by other processes.
3. No preemption: a resource can be released only voluntarily by the process
holding it, after that process has completed its task.
4. Circular wait: there exists a set {P0, P1, …, P0} of waiting processes such that
P0 is waiting for a resource that is held by P1, P1 is waiting for a resource that is
held by P2, …, Pn–1 is waiting for a resource that is held by Pn, and P0 is waiting
for a resource that is held by P0.Deadlock can arise if four conditions hold
simultaneously.

13. Differentiate a Thread form a Process. (NOV/DEC 2012)[An]

Threads
 Will by default share memory

 Will share file descriptors

 Will share file system context

 Will share signal handling

Processes
 Will by default not share memory
 Most file descriptors not shared
 Don't share file system context
 Don't share signal handling

14. What are the difference b/w user level threads and kernel level
threads? (MAY /JUNE 2012) (MAY/ JUNE 2016) (NOV/DEC 2015)[An]
User threads
User threads are supported above the kernel and are implemented by a thread
library at the user level. Thread creation & scheduling are done in the user space,
without kernel intervention. Therefore they are fast to create and manage
blocking system call will cause the entire process to block
Kernel threads
Kernel threads are supported directly by the operating system .Thread creation,
scheduling and management are done by the operating system. Therefore they
are slower to create & manage compared to user threads. If the thread performs a
blocking system call, the kernel can schedule another thread in the application for
execution

15. What is the use of fork and exec system calls?[R]

Fork is a system call by which a new process is created. Exec is also a system call,
which is used after a fork by one of the two processes to place the process
memory space with a new program.

16. Define thread cancellation & target thread.[R]

The thread cancellation is the task of terminating a thread before it has
completed. A thread that is to be cancelled is often referred to as the target
thread. For example, if multiple threads are concurrently searching through a
database and one thread returns the result, the remaining threads might be
cancelled.

17. What are the different ways in which a thread can be cancelled?[An]
Cancellation of a target thread may occur in two different scenarios:
• Asynchronous cancellation: One thread immediately terminates the target
thread
is called asynchronous cancellation.
• Deferred cancellation: The target thread can periodically check if it should
terminate, allowing the target thread an opportunity to terminate itself in an
orderly fashion.

18. Define PThreads[R]

PThreads refers to the POSIX standard defining an API for thread creation and
synchronization. This is a specification for thread behavior, not an
implementation.

19. What is critical section problem?[R]

Consider a system consists of 'n' processes. Each process has segment of code
called a critical section, in which the process may be changing common variables,
updating a table, writing a file. When one process is executing in its critical
section, no other process can be allowed to execute in its critical section.

20. What are the requirements that a solution to the critical section
problem must satisfy?[R]

The three requirements are

 Mutual exclusion
 Progress & Bounded waiting

21. Define mutual exclusion. (MAY/JUNE 2013)[R]

Mutual exclusion refers to the requirement of ensuring that no two process or
threads are in their critical section at the same time.
i.e. If process Pi is executing in its critical section, then no other processes can be
executing in their critical sections.

22. Define entry section and exit section.[R]

The critical section problem is to design a protocol that the processes can use to
cooperate. Each process must request permission to enter its critical section.
Entry Section: The section of the code implementing this request is the entry
section.
Exit Section: The section of the code following the critical section is an exit
section.
The general structure:
do {
entry section
critical section
exit section
remainder section
} while(1);

24. Give two hardware instructions and their definitions which can be used
for implementing mutual exclusion.[An]
TestAndSet
boolean TestAndSet (boolean &target)
{
boolean rv = target;
target = true;
return rv;
}
Swap
void Swap (boolean &a, boolean &b)
{
boolean temp = a;
a = b;
b = temp;
}

25. What is semaphore? Mention its importance in operating system.

(APRIL/MAY 2010, NOV/DEC 2012)[R]
A semaphore 'S' is a synchronization tool which is an integer value that, apart
from initialization, is accessed only through two standard atomic operations; wait
and
signal. Semaphores can be used to deal with the n-process critical section
problem. It can be also used to solve various Synchronization problems.

26. How the mutual exclusion may be violated if the signal and wait
operations are not executed automatically (MAY/JUNE 2014)[An]
A wait operation atomically decrements the value associated with a semaphore. If
two wait operations are executed on a semaphore when its value is1, if the two
operations are not performed atomically, then it is possible that both operations
might proceed to decrement the semaphore value, thereby violating mutual
exclusion
27. Define CPU scheduling.[R]
CPU scheduling is the process of switching the CPU among various processes. CPU
scheduling is the basis of multi programmed operating systems. By switching the
CPU among processes, the operating system can make the computer more
productive.

28. What is preemptive and non-preemptive scheduling? [An] (NOV/DEC

2008 ,APRIL/MAY2010, MAY /JUNE 2012)
Under non preemptive scheduling once the CPU has been allocated to a process,
the process keeps the CPU until it releases the CPU either by terminating or
switching to the waiting state.
Preemptive scheduling can preempt a process which is utilizing the CPU in
between its execution and give the CPU to another process.

29. What is a Dispatcher?[R]

The dispatcher is the module that gives control of the CPU to the process selected
by the short-term scheduler. This function involves:
 Switching context.
 Switching to user mode.
 Jumping to the proper location in the user program to restart that program.

30. Define the term „dispatch latency‟ (APR/MAY 2015)[R]

The time taken by the dispatcher to stop one process and start another running
is known as dispatch latency.

31. Define throughput?[R]

Throughput in CPU scheduling is the number of processes that are completed per
unit time. For long processes, this rate may be one process per hour; for short
transactions, throughput might be 10 processes per second.

32. What is turnaround time? (NOV/DEC 2013)[R]

Turnaround time is the interval from the time of submission to the time of
completion of a process. It is the sum of the periods spent waiting to get into
memory, waiting in the ready queue, executing on the CPU, and doing I/O.

33. Define race condition.[R]

When several process access and manipulate same data concurrently, then the
outcome of the execution depends on particular order in which the access takes
place is called race condition. To avoid race condition, only one process at a time
can manipulate the shared variable.

34. Write the four situations under which CPU scheduling decisions take
place
(MAY/JUNE 2014) [R]
CPU scheduling decisions take place under one of four conditions:
 When a process switches from the running state to the waiting state, such
as for an I/O request or invocation of the wait ( ) system call.
 When a process switches from the running state to the ready state, for
example in response to an interrupt.
 When a process switches from the waiting state to the ready state, say at
completion of I/O or a return from wait ( ).
 When a process terminates.

35. Define deadlock. (APRIL/MAY 2010)[R]

A process requests resources; if the resources are not available at that time, the
process enters a wait state. Waiting processes may never again change state,
because the
resources they have requested are held by other waiting processes. This situation
is called a deadlock.

36. What is the sequence in which resources may be utilized?[R]

Under normal mode of operation, a process may utilize a resource in the
following sequence:
 Request: If the request cannot be granted immediately, then the requesting
process must wait until it can acquire the resource.
 Use: The process can operate on the resource.
 Release: The process releases the resource.

37. What are conditions under which a deadlock situation may arise?
(MAY/JUNE 2009 , MAY/JUNE 2012, MAY/JUNE 2013) (NOV/DEC 2013) [R]
A deadlock situation can arise if the following four conditions hold
simultaneously in a system:
a. Mutual exclusion
b. Hold and wait
c. No pre-emption
d. Circular wait

38. What is a resource-allocation graph? [R]

Resource allocation graph is directed graph which is used to describe deadlocks.
This graph consists of a set of vertices V and a set of edges E. The set of vertices V
is partitioned into two different types of nodes; P the set consisting of all active
processes in the system and R the set consisting of all resource types in the
system.

39. Define request edge and assignment edge. [R]

A directed edge from process Pi to resource type Rj (denoted by Pi → Rj) is called
as request edge; it signifies that process Pi requested an instance of resource type
Rj and is currently waiting for that resource. A directed edge from resource type
Rj to process Pi (denoted by Rj → Pi) is called an assignment edge; it signifies that
an instance of resource type has been allocated to a process Pi.

40. What are the methods for handling deadlocks? (APRIL/MAY 2011)[R]
The deadlock problem can be dealt with in one of the three ways:
1. Use a protocol to prevent or avoid deadlocks, ensuring that the system will
never enter a deadlock state.
2. Allow the system to enter the deadlock state, detect it and then recover.
3. Ignore the problem all together, and pretend that deadlocks never occur in the
system.
41. How real-time Scheduling does differs from normal scheduling?
(NOV/DEC 2012) [R]
In a normal Scheduling, we have two types of processes. User process & kernel
Process. Kernel processes have time constraints. However, user processes do not
have time constraints.
In a RTOS, all process are Kernel process & hence time constraints should be
strictly followed. All process/task (can be used interchangeably) are based on
priority and time constraints are important for the system to run correctly.

42. What do you meant by short-term scheduler (NOV/DEC 2010) [R]

The selection process is carried out by the short-term scheduler or CPU
scheduler. The scheduler selects the process form the process in memory that is
ready to execute and allocates the CPU to the process.

43. What is the concept behind strong semaphore and spinlock? (NOV/DEC
2015) [R]
A spinlock is one possible implementation of a lock, namely one that is
implemented by busy waiting ("spinning"). A semaphore is a generalization of a
lock (or, the other way around, a lock is a special case of a semaphore). Usually,
but not necessarily, spinlocks are only valid within one process whereas
semaphores can be used to synchronize between different processes, too.
A semaphore has a counter and will allow itself being acquired by one or several
threads, depending on what value you post to it, and (in some implementations)
depending on what its maximum allowable value is.

43. What is the meaning of the term busy waiting? (May/Jun 2016) [R]
Busy waiting means that a process is waiting for a condition to be satisfied in a
tight loop without relinquish the processor. Alternatively, a process could wait by
relinquishing the processor, and block on a condition and wait to be awakened at
some appropriate time in the future.
44. Distinguish between CPU-bounded and I/O bounded processes
(NOV/DEC 2016) [An]
CPU Bound means the rate at which process progresses is limited by the speed of
the CPU. A task that performs calculations on a small set of numbers, for example
multiplying small matrices, is likely to be CPU bound.
I/O Bound means the rate at which a process progresses is limited by the speed
of the I/O subsystem. A task that processes data from disk, for example, counting
the number of lines in a file is likely to be I/O bound.

45. What resources are required to create threads (NOV/DEC 2016) [R]
When a thread is created, the thread does not require any new resources to
execute the thread shares the resources like memory of the process to which they
belong. The benefit of code sharing is that it allows an application to have several
different threads of activity all within the same address space.

46.”Priority inversion is a condition that occurs in real time systems where

a low priority process is starved because higher priority processes have
gained hold of the CPU”-Comment on this statement. (APR/MAY 2017) [An]
Priority inversion is a problematic scenario in scheduling in which a high
priority task is indirectly preempted by a lower priority task effectively
"inverting" the relative priorities of the two tasks. This violates the priority model
that high priority tasks can only be prevented from running by higher priority
tasks and briefly by low priority tasks which will quickly complete their use of a
resource shared by the high and low priority tasks.

47. Differentiate single threaded and multi-threaded processes. (APR/MAY

2017) [An]
S. No. Multithreaded Programming Single Threaded Programming
1 In this type of programming In this type of programming a
multiple threads run at the same single thread runs at a time.
time
2 Multi-threaded model doesn‘t use Single threaded model uses a
event loop with polling process event loop with polling
3 CPU time is never wasted. CPU time is wasted.
4 Idle time is minimum. Idle time is more.
5 It results in more efficient It results in less efficient programs.
programs.
6 When one thread is paused due to When one thread is paused, the
some reason, other threads run as system waits until this thread is
normal. resumed.

48. Elucidate mutex locks with its procedure. (NOV/DEC 2017)

Mutex is a program object that allows multiple program threads to share the
same resource, such as file access, but not simultaneously. When a program is
started a mutex is created with a unique name. After this stage, any thread that
needs the resource must lock the mutex from other threads while it is using the
resource. The mutex is set to unlock when the data is no longer needed or the
routine is finished. In mutex locks approach, in the entry section of code, a LOCK
is acquired over the critical resources modified and used inside critical section,
and in the exit section that LOCK is released. As the resource is locked while a
process executes its critical section hence no other process can access it.

49. What are the benefits of synchronous and asynchronous

communication? (APR/MAY 2018)
Benefits of synchronous communication:
 Synchronous communication enables flexibility and offer higher
availability.
 There‘s less pressure on the system to act on the information or
immediately respond in some way.
 Also, one system being down does not impact the other system. For
example, emails –thousands of emails can be sent without having to revert
back..

 Benefits of Asynchronous communication:

 Asynchronous message passing allows more parallelism.
 Since a process does not block, it can do some computation while the
message is in transit.
 In the case of receive, this means a process can express its interest in
receving messages on multiple ports simultaneously.

50. Give a programming example in which multithreading does not provide

better performance than single-threaded solutions. (APR/MAY 2018)
Multi-threading does not perform well for any sequential program. For example;
program to calculate an individual tax return. Another example where
multithreading does not work good would be shell program like ―Korn‖ shell.

51. Give the queuing diagram representation of process scheduling.

(APR/MAY 2019)
52. List out the benefits and challenge of thread handling. (APR/MAY 2019)
Benefits
 Responsiveness.
 Resource sharing
 Economy
 Scalability.

 Challenges
 Dividing activities
 Balance
 Data splitting
 Data dependency
 Testing and debugging
UNIT III MEMORY MANAGEMENT
1. Why page are sizes always powers of 2? [An]
Recall that paging is implemented by breaking up an address into a page and
offset number. It is most efficient to break the address into X page bits and Y
offset bits, rather than perform arithmetic on the address to calculate the page
number and offset. Because each bit 25 26 position represents a power of 2,
splitting an address between bits results in a page size that is a power of 2.

2. Consider a logical address space of eight pages of 1024 words each,

mapped onto a physical memory of 32 frames.[E]
a. How many bits are there in the logical address?
b. How many bits are there in the physical address?
Each page/frame holds 1K; we will need 10 bits to uniquely address each of those
1024 addresses. Physical memory has 32 frames and we need 25 bits to address
each frame, requiring in total 5+10=15 bits. A logical address space of 64 pages
requires 6 bits to address each page uniquely, requiring 16bits in total.
a. Logical address: 13 bits
b. Physical address: 15 bits

3. In the IBM/370, memory protection is provided through the use of keys.

A key is a 4-bit quantity. Each 2K block of memory has a key (the storage
key) associated with it. The CPU also has a key (the protection key)
associated with it. A store operation is allowed only if both keys are equal,
or if either is zero. Which of the following memory-management schemes
could be used successfully with this hardware? [E]
a. Bare machine
b. Single-user system
c. Multiprogramming with a fixed number of processes
d. Multiprogramming with a variable number of processes
e. Paging
f. Segmentation
Answer:
a. Protection not necessary set system key to 0.
b. Set system key to 0 when in supervisor mode.
c. Region sizes must be fixed in increments of 2k bytes, allocate key with memory
blocks.
d. Same as above.
e. Frame sizes must be in increments of 2k bytes, allocate key with pages.
f. Segment sizes must be in increments of 2k bytes, allocate key with segments

4. What is address binding? [R]

The process of associating program instructions and data to physical memory
addresses is called address binding, or relocation.

5. Difference between internal and external fragmentation (NOV/DEC 2013)

[An]
Internal fragmentation is the area occupied by a process but cannot be used by
the process. This space is unusable by the system until the process release the
space.
External fragmentation exists when total free memory is enough for the new
process but it's not contiguous and can't satisfy the request. Storage is
fragmented into small holes.

6. Consider the following page reference string: 1, 2, 3, 4, 2, 1, 5, 6, 2, 1, 2, 3,

7, 6, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 6. How many page faults would occur for the following
replacement algorithms, assuming one, two, three, four, five, six, or seven
frames? Remember all frames are initially empty, so your first unique pages
will all cost one fault each. • LRU replacement • FIFO replacement •Optimal
replacement Answer:
Number of frames LRU FIFO Optimal
1 20 20 20
2 18 18 15
3 15 16 11
4 10 14 8
5 8 10 7
6 7 10 7
7777

7. Define dynamic loading. [R]

To obtain better memory-space utilization dynamic loading is used. With
dynamic loading, a routine is not loaded until it is called. All routines are kept on
disk in are locatable load format. The main program is loaded into memory and
executed. The calling routine checks whether the routine has been loaded. If not,
there locatable linking loader is called to load the desired program into memory.

8. Define dynamic linking. [R]

Dynamic linking is similar to dynamic loading, rather that loading being
postponed until execution time, linking is postponed. This feature is usually used
with system libraries, such as language subroutine libraries

9. What are overlays? Compare swapping and overlays [An]

To enable a process to be larger than the amount of memory allocated to it,
overlays are used. The idea of overlays is to keep in memory only those
instructions and data that are needed at a given time. When other instructions
are needed, they are loaded into space occupied previously by instructions that
are no longer needed.

10. List the strategies for managing free memory in kernel? [R]
1. Buddy System
2. Slab Allocation
Buddy System: - The buddy system allocates memory from a fixed size segment
consists of physical contiguous pages. Memory is allocated using power-of-2. This
allocation satisfy request in units sized as a power of 2.
Slab Allocation:- A Slab is made up of one or more physically contiguous pages. A
cache consists of one or more slabs. The slab allocation uses caches to store
kernel Objects.

11. What is virtual memory? Mention its advantages. (NOV/DEC 2012)

(MAY/JUNE 2014) [R]
Virtual memory is a technique that allows the execution of processes that may
not be completely in memory. It is the separation of user logical memory from
physical memory. This separation provides an extremely large virtual memory,
when only a smaller physical memory is available.
The main visible advantage of this scheme is that programs can be larger than
physical memory.

12. Define Demand paging and write advantages. [R]

Virtual memory is commonly implemented by demand paging. In demand paging,
the pager brings only those necessary pages into memory instead of swapping in
a whole process. Thus it avoids reading into memory pages that will not be used
anyway, decreasing the swap time and the amount of physical memory needed.

13. What is the purpose of paging the page tables? [R]

In certain situations the page tables could become large enough that by paging
the page tables, one could simplify the memory allocation problem (by ensuring
that everything is allocated as fixed-size pages as opposed to variable-sized
chunks) and also enable the swapping of portions of page table that are not
currently used.

14. Compare paging with segmentation with respect to the amount of

memory required by the address translation structures in order to convert
virtual addresses to physical addresses. [An]
 Paging requires more memory overhead to maintain the translation
structures. Segmentation requires just two registers per segment: one to
maintain the base of the segment and the other to maintain the extent of
the segment.
 Paging on the other hand requires one entry per page, and this entry
provides the physical address in which the page is located

15. What do you mean by thrashing? (APR/MAY 2015) [R] (APR/MAY 2019)
Thrashing is the coincidence of high page traffic and low CPU utilization.

16. How do you limit the effects of thrashing? [An]

To limit the effect of thrashing we can use local replacement algorithm. With
Local replacement algorithm, if the process starts thrashing, it cannot steal
frames from another process and cause the latter to thrash as well. The problem
is not entirely solved. Thus the effective access time will increase even for the
process that is not thrashing.
17. What do mean by page fault? [R]
Page fault is the situation in which the page is not available whenever a processor
needs to execute it.

18. Differentiate between Global and Local page replacement algorithms.

[An]
Global Page Replacement Local Page Replacement
Algorithm Algorithm
Allows a process to select a Each process select form only its
replacement frame from the set of own set of allocated frames
all frames, even if that frame is
currently allocated to some other
process
The number of frames allocated to a The number of frames allocated to a
process can change since a process process does not change
may happen to select only frames
allocated to other processes, thus
increasing the number of frames
allocated to it.
A process cannot control its own A process can control its own page-
page-fault rate fault rate

19. Define TLB. [R]

 Translation Look-Aside Buffer, a table in the processors memory that
contains information about the pages in memory the processor has
accessed recently
 The TLB enables faster computing because it allows the address processing
to take place independent of the normal address-translation pipeline

20. Define Pre paging. [R]

It is an attempt to prevent the high level of initial paging. This strategy is to bring
into memory at one time all the pages the will be needed.
Example: - Solaris uses pre paging.

21. Define logical address and physical address. [R]

An address generated by the CPU is referred as logical address. An address seen
by the memory unit that is the one loaded into the memory address register of
the memory is commonly referred as physical address

22. What is the main function of the memory-management unit?[R]

The runtime mapping from virtual to physical addresses is done by a hardware
device called a memory management unit (MMU).

23. What is difference between demands paging n pure demand paging? [R]
In demand paging, a page is not loaded into main memory until it is needed. In
pure demand paging, even a single page is not loaded into memory initially.
Hence pure demand paging causes a page fault.

24. Define Copy-on-write. [R]

Copy-on-write finds its main use in virtual memory operating systems; when a
process creates a copy of itself, the pages in memory that might be modified by
either the process or its copy are marked copy-on-write.

25. Define swapping. (NOV/DEC 2013) [R]

A process needs to be in memory to be executed. However a process can be
swapped temporarily out of memory to a backing store and then brought back
into memory for continued execution. This process is called swapping.

26. What are the common strategies to select a free hole from a set of
available holes? [R]
The most common strategies are
A. First fit B. Best fit C. Worst fit

27. Define lazy swapper. [R]

Rather than swapping the entire process into main memory, a lazy swapper is
used. A lazy swapper never swaps a page into memory unless that page will be
needed.

28. Define effective access time. [R]

Let p be the probability of a page fault (0£p£1). The value of p is expected to be
close to 0; that is, there will be only a few page faults. The effective access time is
Effective access time = (1-p) * ma + p* page fault time. ma: memory-access time

29. What is the basic approach of page replacement? [R]

If no frame is free is available, find one that is not currently being used and free it.
A frame can be freed by writing its contents to swap space, and changing the page
table to indicate that the page is no longer in memory. Now the freed frame can
be used to hold the page for which the process faulted.

30. What is the various page replacement algorithms used for page
replacement?[R]

 FIFO page replacement

 Optimal page replacement

 LRU page replacement

 LRU approximation page replacement

 Counting based page replacement

 Page buffering algorithm.

Global Page Replacement Algorithm Local Page Replacement Algorithm
Allows a process to select a Each process select form only its own
replacement frame from the set of all set of allocated frames
frames, even if that frame is currently
allocated to some other process
The number of frames allocated to a The number of frames allocated to a
process can change since a process process does not change
may happen to select only frames
allocated to other processes, thus
increasing the number of frames
allocated to it.
A process cannot control its own page- A process can control its own page-
fault rate fault rate
31.Differentiate between Global and Local page replacement algorithms.

32. What are the major problems to implement demand paging? [R]
The two major problems to implement demand paging is developing
 Frame allocation algorithm

 Page replacement algorithm

33. What is a reference string? [R]

An algorithm is evaluated by running it on a particular string of memory
references and computing the number of page faults. The string of memory
reference is called a reference string.

34. Differentiate a page from a segment. (APRIL/MAY 2010) [An]

In segmentation, the address space is typically divided into a preset number of
segments like data segment (read/write), code segment (read-only), stack
(read/write) etc. And the programs are divided into these segments accordingly.
Logical addresses are represented as tuple <segment, offset>. While with paging,
the address space is divided into a sequence of fixed size units called "pages". And
logical addresses take the form of a tuple <page, offset>.
35. What is address binding? (NOV/DEC 2010) [R]
The process of associating program instructions and data to physical memory
addresses is called address binding, or relocation.
36. How do you limit the effects of thrashing? (APRIL/MAY 2011)[An]

To limit the effect of thrashing we can use local replacement algorithm. With
Local replacement algorithm, if the process starts thrashing, it cannot steel
frames from another process and cause the latter to thrash as well. The problem
is not entirely solved. Thus the effective access time will increase even for the
process that is not thrashing.

37. Mention the significance of LDT and SDT. (APR/MAY 2015)[R]

The Global Descriptor Table or GDT is a data structure used by Intel x86-family
processors starting with the 80286 in order to define the characteristics of the
various memory areas used during program execution, including the base
address, the size and access privileges like executability and writability. These
memory areas are called segments.
The Local Descriptor Table (LDT) is a memory table used in the x86
architecture in protected mode and contains memory segment descriptors: start
in linear memory, size, executability, writability, access privilege, actual presence
in memory, etc.
 The LDT is supposed to contain memory segments which are private to a
specific program, while the GDT is supposed to contain global segments.

 The x86 processors contain facilities for automatically switching the

current LDT on specific machine events, but no facilities for automatically
switching the GDT.

 The LDT is the sibling of the Global Descriptor Table (GDT) and defines up
to 8192 memory segments accessible to programs –
 Unlike the GDT, the zeroth entry is a valid entry, and can be used like any
other LDT entry.

 Unlike the GDT, the LDT cannot be used to store certain system entries:
TSSs or LDTs.

38. Define demand paging in memory management. What are the steps
required to handle a page fault in demand paging. (Nov/Dec 2015) [R]
A demand paging system is quite similar to a paging system with swapping
where processes reside in secondary memory and pages are loaded only on
 demand, not in advance. When a context switch occurs, the operating
system does not copy any of the old program‘s pages out to the disk or any
of the new program‘s pages into the main memory Instead, it just begins
executing the new program after loading the first page and fetches that
program‘s pages as they are referenced. While executing a program, if the
program references a page which is not available in the main memory
because it was swapped out a little ago, the processor treats this invalid
memory reference as a page fault and transfers control from the program
to the operating system to demand the page back into the memory.
39. How does the system detect thrashing? (May/Jun 2016) [An]

Thrashing is caused by under allocation of the minimum number of pages

required by a process, forcing it to continuously page fault. The system can detect
thrashing by evaluating the level of CPU utilization as compared to the level of
multiprogramming. It can be eliminated by reducing the level of
multiprogramming.

40. Name two differences between logical and physical addresses. (May/Jun
2016) [R]
A logical address does not refer to an actual existing address; rather, it refers to
an abstract address in an abstract address space. Contrast this with a physical
address that refers to an actual physical address in memory. A logical address is
generated by the CPU and is translated into a physical address by the memory
management unit(MMU). Therefore, physical addresses are generated by the
MMU.

41. Why page are sizes always powers of 2? (NOV/DEC 2016)[An]

Paging is implemented by breaking up an address into a page and offset
number. It is most efficient to break the address into X page bits and Y
offset bits, rather than perform arithmetic on the address to calculate the
page number and offset. Because each bit 25 26
position represents a power of 2, splitting an address between bits results in a
page size that is a power of 2.

42. What is the purpose of paging the page tables (NOV/DEC 2016)[R]

A page table is the data structure used by a virtual memory system in a computer
operating system to store the mapping between virtual addresses and physical
addresses. Virtual addresses are used by the accessing process, while physical
addresses are used by the hardware, or more specifically, by the RAM subsystem.
\
43. What is the difference between a user-level instruction and a privilege
instruction? Which of the following instruction should be privileged and
only allowed to execute in kernel mode?[An]
(a) Load a value from a memory address to a general-purpose register
(b) Set a new value in the program counter (PC) register
(c)Turn off interrupts (APR/MAY 2017)
Privileged instruction

 A privileged instruction is a processor op-code (assembler instruction) which

can only be executed in "supervisor" (or Ring-0) mode. These types of
instructions tend to be used to access I/O devices and protected data structures
from the windows kernel.

User Level instruction

 User-level is generic and can run on any operating system.
 Load a value from a memory address to a general-purpose register (User Level
Instruction)

Set a new value in the program counter (PC) register (User Level Instruction)

Turn off interrupts (privilege Instruction)

44. Will optimal page replacement algorithm suffer from Belady‟s anamaly?
Justify your answer (APR/MAY 2017)[An]
In computer storage, Belady‘s anomaly is the phenomenon in which increasing
the number of page frames results in an increase in the number of page faults for
certain memory access patterns. This phenomenon is commonly experienced
when using the first-in first-out (FIFO) page replacement algorithm.

45. Write about swapping. Let us assume the user process is of size 1MB and the
backing store is a standard hard disk with a transfer rate of 5MBPS. Calculate the
transfer rate. [E] (NOV/DEC 2017)
Swapping: A process can be swapped temporarily out of memory to a backing
store(SWAP OUT)and then brought back into memory for continued
execution(SWAP IN).
Let us assume the user process is of size 1MB & the backing store is a standard
hard disk with a transfer rate of 5MBPS.
Transfer time = 1000KB/5000KB per second
= 1/5 sec = 200ms
46. Consider the following page-reference string : [E] (NOV/DEC 2017)
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.
How many page faults and page fault ratio would occur for the FIFO page
replacement
algorithm ? Assuming there is four frames.
The number of page faults =12
The page fault ratio is 1:1

47. Define external fragmentation. [U] (APR/MAY 2018)

External fragmentation occurs when there is a sufficient amount of space in the
memory to satisfy the memory request of a process. But the process‘s memory
request cannot be satisfied as the memory available is in a non-contiguous
manner. Either first-fit or best-fit memory allocation strategy will cause external
fragmentation.

48. What is the counting based page replacement algorithm? [U] (APR/MAY
2018)
In this algorithm, we keep the counter of the number of reference that have been
made to each page. In this 2 schemes are used :- i) Least Frequency Used (LFU)
Page Replacement Algorithm It requires that the page with smallest count to be
replaced. ii) Most Frequency (MFU) Used Page Replacement Algorithm: It is
based on the argument that the page with the smallest count was probably just
brought in and has yet to be used.

49. Consider the following segmentation table

Segment Base Length
0 219 600
1 2300 14
2 90 100
3 1327 580
4 1952 96

What are the physical addresses for the logical addresses 3400 and 0110?
(APR/MAY 2019)
a. illegal reference; traps to operating system
b.2300+0110 = 2410

50. What is thrashing? and how to resolve this problem? (APR/MAY 2019)
In a virtual storage system (an operating system that manages its logical storage
or memory in units called pages), thrashing is a condition in which excessive
paging

operations are taking place. A system that is thrashing can be perceived as either
a very slow system or one that has come to a halt.
One of the recommended ways to eliminate thrashing is to add more memory to
main memory. Another way of resolving the issue of thrashing is by adjusting the
size of the swap file.

51. When trashing is used? (NOV/DEC 2021)

Refer pervious

52. What is demand paging? (NOV/DEC 2021)

Refer pervious

UNIT IV STORAGE MANAGEMENT

1) What is a file? [R]

A file is a named collection of related information that is recorded on secondary
storage. A file contains either programs or data. A file has certain "structure"
based on its type.

2) List the various file attributes. (APRIL/MAY 2011, NOV/DEC

2012)(MAY/JUNE 2014)(APRIL/MAY 2015) [R]
A file has certain other attributes, which vary from one operating system to
another, but typically consist of these:
 Identifier

 Name
 Type

 Location
 Size

 Protection

 Time

 Date

 User identification
3) What are the various file operations? (NOV/DEC 2012, APRIL/MAY 2015)
[R]
The six basic file operations are:
Creating a file

Writing a file

 Reading a file
 Repositioning within a file
 Deleting a file
 Truncating a file
4) What are all the information‟s associated with an open file? [R]
Several pieces of information are associated with an open file which may be:
 File pointer
 File open count
 Disk location of the file
 Access rights

5) What are the different accessing methods of a file? (APRIL/MAY 2010)

[R]
The different types of accessing a file are:
Sequential access: Information in the file is accessed sequentially
Direct access: Information in the file can be accessed without any particular
order.
Other access methods: Creating index for the file, indexed sequential access
method (ISAM),etc.
6) What is Directory? [R]
The device directory or simply known as directory records information-such as
name, location, size, and type for all files on that particular partition. The
directory can be viewed as a symbol table that translates file names into their
directory entries.

7) What are the operations that can be performed on a directory? [R]

The operations that can be performed on a directory are
 Search for a file
 Create a file
 Delete a file
 Rename a file
 List directory
 Traverse the file system

8) What are the most common schemes for defining the logical structure of
a directory? [R] (MAY/JUNE 2012)
The most common schemes for defining the logical structure of directory
 Single-Level Directory
 Two-level Directory
 Tree-Structured Directories
 Acyclic-Graph Directories
 General Graph Directory

9) Define UFD and MFD. [R]

In the two-level directory structure, each user has her own user file directory
(UFD). Each UFD has a similar structure, but lists only the files of a single user.
When a job starts the system's master file directory (MFD) is searched. The MFD
is indexed by the user name or account number, and each entry points to the UFD
for that user.

10) What is a path name? [R]

A pathname is the path from the root through all subdirectories to a specified file.
In a two-level directory structure a user name and a file name define a path name.

11) What are the various layers of a file system? [R]

The file system is composed of many different levels. Each level in the design uses
the feature of the lower levels to create new features for use by higher levels.
i. Application programs
ii. Logical file system
iii. File-organization module
iv. Basic file system
v. I/O control vi Devices

12) What are the structures used in file-system implementation?

(APRIL/MAY 2011) [R]
Several on-disk and in-memory structures are used to implement a file system
On-disk structure include
Boot control block
Partition block
Directory structure used to organize the files
File control block (FCB)
In-memory structure include
In-memory partition table
In-memory directory structure
System-wide open file table
Per-process open table
13) What are the functions of virtual file system (VFS)? [R]
It separates file-system-generic operations from their implementation defining
a clean VFS interface. It allows transparent access to different types of file
systems mounted locally.
 VFS is based on a file representation structure, called a vnode. It contains a
numerical value for a network-wide unique file .The kernel maintains one vnode
structure for each active file or directory.
14) Define seek time and latency time. [R]

The time taken by the head to move to the appropriate cylinder or track is called
seek time. Once the head is at right track, it must wait until the desired block
rotates under the read-write head. This delay is latency time.

15) What are the allocation methods of a disk space? [R]

Methods of allocating disk space which are widely in use are
 Contiguous allocation
 Linked allocation

 Indexed allocation
16) What are the advantages of Contiguous allocation? [R]
The advantages are
 Supports direct access

 Supports sequential access

 Number of disk seeks is minimal.

17) What are the drawbacks of contiguous allocation of disk space? [R]
The disadvantages are
 Suffers from external fragmentation.
  Suffers from internal fragmentation.
 Difficulty in finding space for a new file.
 File cannot be extended.
 Size of the file is to be declared in advance.

18) What are the disadvantages of linked allocation? [R]

The disadvantages are
 Used only for sequential access of files.

 Direct access is not supported.

 Memory space required for the pointers.

 Reliability is compromised if the pointers are lost or damaged

19) What are the advantages of Indexed allocation? [R]

The advantages are
 No external-fragmentation problems.

 Solves the size-declaration problems.

 Supports direct access.

20) How can the index blocks be implemented in the indexed allocation
scheme? [R]
The index block can be implemented as follows
 Linked scheme

 Multilevel scheme

 Combined scheme

21) What is garbage collection? (MAY /JUNE 2012 ) [R]

Garbage Collection (GC) is a form of automatic memory management. The
garbage collector, or just collector, attempts to reclaim garbage, or memory
occupied by objects that are no longer in use by the program.

22) Mention the objectives of File Management System. (APR/MAY 2010)

[R]
The system that an operating system or program uses to organize and keep track
of files. For example, a hierarchical file system is one that uses directories to
organize files into a tree structure.
23) What is the content of a typical file control block? (APR/MAY 2011,
APR/MAY 2010) [R]

File permissions
File dates (create,
access, write)
File owner, group,
ACL
File size
File data blocks
File permissions

24.What is the content of a typical file control block? (APR/MAY 2011,

APR/MAY 2010) [R]
Device directory, describing physical properties of files.
File directory, giving logical properties of the files.

25) What is meant by polling?(MAY/JUNE 2014) [R]

Polling is the process where the computer waits for an external device to check
for its readiness. The computer does not do anything else than checking the
status of the device .Polling is often used with low-level hardware. Example:
when a printer connected via a parallel port the computer waits until the next
character has been received by the printer. These processes can be as minute as
only reading 1 Byte. Polling is the continuous (or frequent) checking by a
controlling device or process of other devices, processes, queues, etc.

26) State any three disadvantages of placing functionality in a device

controller, rather than in the kernel. (MAY/JUNE 2014) [R]
Three advantages:-
a. Bugs are less likely to cause an operating system crash.
b. Performance can be improved by utilizing dedicated hardware and hard-coded
algorithms.
The kernel is simplified by moving algorithms out of it.
Three disadvantages:
a. Bugs are harder to fix - a new firmware version or new hardware is needed
b. Improving algorithms likewise require a hardware update rather than just
kernel or device driver update
c. Embedded algorithms could conflict with application‘s use of the device,
causing decreased performance.

27) How free-space is managed using bit vector implementation?[An]

The free-space list is implemented as a bit map or bit vector. Each block is
represented by 1 bit. If the block is free, the bit is 1; if the block is allocated, the
bit is 0.

28) List the attributes of a file(MAY/JUNE 2014)[R]

Name, Identifier, Type, Location, Size, Protection, Time, Date and User
authentication.

29) What are the information contained in a boot control block and
partition control block? (MAY/JUNE 2014) [R]
Boot control block:
Contain information needed by the system to boot an operating from that
partition. If the disk does not contain an operating system, this block can be
empty. It is typically the first block of a partition. In UFS, this is called the boot
block.
Partition Control block:
Contains partition details, such as number of blocks in the partition, size of the
blocks, free block count and free block pointers, and free FCB count and FCB
pointers.

30) Define buffering. [R]

A buffer is a memory area that stores data while they are transferred between
two devices or between a device and an application. Buffering is done for three
reasons
a. To cope with a speed mismatch between the producer and consumer of a data
stream
b. To adapt between devices that have different data transfer sizes
c. To support copy semantics for application I/O

31) Define caching. [R]

A cache is a region of fast memory that holds copies of data. Access to the cached
copy is more efficient than access to the original. Caching and buffering are
distinct functions, but sometimes a region of memory can be used for both
purposes.

32) Define spooling. [R]

A spool is a buffer that holds output for a device, such as printer, that cannot
accept interleaved data streams. When an application finishes printing, the
spooling system queues the corresponding spool file for output to the printer.
The spooling system copies the queued spool files to the printer one at a time.

33) Define rotational latency and disk bandwidth. (NOV/DEC 2010,

MAY/JUNE 2013) [R]
Rotational latency is the additional time waiting for the disk to rotate the
desired sector to the disk head.
Disk bandwidth is the total number of bytes transferred, divided by the time
between the first request for service and the completion of the last transfer.
34) What are the various disk-scheduling algorithms? [R]

The various disk-scheduling algorithms are

 First Come First Served Scheduling

 Shortest Seek Time First Scheduling

  SCAN Scheduling

 C-SCAN Scheduling

35) What is the need for disk scheduling? (NOV/DEC 2012) [R]
In operating systems, seek time is very important. Since all device requests are
linked in queues, the seek time is increased causing the system to slow down.
Disk Scheduling Algorithms are used to reduce the total seek time of any
request.

36) What is low-level formatting? [R]

Before a disk can store data, it must be divided into sectors that the disk
controller can read and write. This process is called low-level formatting or
physical formatting. Low-level formatting fills the disk with a special data
structure for each sector. The data structure for a sector consists of a header, a
data area, and a trailer.

37) What is the use of boot block? [R]

For a computer to start running when powered up or rebooted it needs to have
an initial program to run. This bootstrap program tends to be simple. It finds the
operating system on the disk loads that kernel into memory and jumps to an
initial address to begin the operating system execution. The full bootstrap
program is stored in a partition called the boot blocks, at fixed location on the
disk. A disk that has boot partition is called boot disk or system disk.

38) What is sector sparing? [R]

Low-level formatting also sets aside spare sectors not visible to the operating
system. The controller can be told to replace each bad sector logically with one of
the
spare sectors. This scheme is known as sector sparing or forwarding.

39) What is seek time? (MAY /JUNE 2012) [R]

Seek time: the time to position heads over a cylinder (~8 msec on average).

40) What are storage area networks? (April/May 2011) [R]

A storage area network (SAN) is a dedicated network that provides access to
consolidated, block level data storage. SANs are primarily used to make storage
devices, such as disk arrays, tape libraries, and optical jukeboxes, accessible to
servers so that the devices appear like locally attached devices to the operating
system.

41) Write a brief note on RAID. (MAY/JUNE 2013) [R]

RAID (redundant array of independent disks; originally redundant array of
inexpensive disks) is a way of storing the same data in different places (thus,
redundantly) on multiple hard disks. By placing data on multiple disks, I/O
(input/output) operations can overlap in a balanced way, improving
performance. Since multiple disks increase the mean time between failures
(MTBF), storing data redundantly also increases fault tolerance.

42) What Characteristics determine the disk access speed? (MAY /JUNE
2012) [R]
 Seek time
 Rotational latency
 Command processing time
 Settle time

43) Give the importance of Swap space Management. [R] (NOV/DEC 2012,
APR/MAY2010, NOV/DEC 2010)
Swap-space management: Swap-space management is low- level task of the
operating system. The main goal for the design and implementation of swap
space is to provide the best throughput for the virtual memory system.
Swap-space use: The operating system needs to release sufficient main memory
to bring in a process that is ready to execute. Operating system uses this swap
space in various ways. Paging systems may simply store pages that have been
pushed out of main memory. UNIX operating system allows the use of multiple
swap spaces. These swap space are usually put on separate disks, so the load
placed on the I/O system by paging and swapping can be spread over the systems
I/O devices.
Swap-space location: Swap space can reside in two places:

1. Separate disk partition

2. Normal file system

44) Write three basic functions which are provided by the hardware clocks
and timers. (APRIL/MAY 2011) [R]
 OSTickInit()
 OSTimeSet()
 OSTimeGet()

45) What are the advantages of Linked allocation? [R]

The advantages are
No external fragmentation.
Size of the file does not need to be declared.

46) Define FAT(NOV/DEC 2014) [R]

FAT is a much older file-system format that is understood by many systems
besides Windows, such as the software running on cameras. A disadvantage is
that the FAT file system does not restrict file access to authorized users. The only
solution for securing data with FAT is to run an application to encrypt the data
before storing it on the file system.

47) What is Relative block number? (NOV/DEC 2014) [R]

Relative block number is an index relative to the beginning of a file. Thus the 1st
relative block of the file is 0, the next is 1, and so on.
48) What is double buffering? (NOV/DEC 2014) [R]

OS can use various kinds of buffering:

1. Single buffering — OS assigns a system buffer to the user request
2. Double buffering — process consumes from one buffer while system fills the
next
3. Circular buffers — most useful for burst I/O

49) Draw the diagram for interrupt driven I/O cycle? (NOV/DEC 2014) [Ap]

50) What is HSM? Where it is used? [R]

Hierarchical storage management (HSM) is a data storage technique, which
automatically moves data between high-cost and low-cost storage media. HSM
systems exist because high-speed storage devices, such as hard disk drive arrays,
are more expensive (per byte stored) than slower devices, such as optical discs
and magnetic tape drives.

51) Identify the two important functions of Virtual File System (VFS) layer
in the concept of file system implementation. (Nov/Dec 2015) [R]
Linux VFS provides a set of common functionalities for each files system, using
function pointers accessed through a table. The same functionality is accessed
through the same table position for all file system types, though the actual
functions pointed to by the pointers may be files system-specific. Common
operations provided include open( ), read( ), write( ), and mmap( ).

52) How does DMA increase system concurrency? (May/Jun 2016)[An]

DMA increases system concurrency by allowing the CPU to perform tasks while
the DMA system transfers data via the system and memory buses. Hardware
design is complicated because the DMA controller must be integrated into the
system and the system must allow the DMA controller to be a bus master.

53) Why rotational latency is usually not considered in disk scheduling?

(May/Jun 2016)[An]
Most disks do not export their rotational position information to the host. Even if
they did, the time for this information to reach the scheduler would be subject to
imprecision and the time consumed by the scheduler is variable, so the rotational
position information would become incorrect. Further, the disk requests are
usually given in terms of logical block numbers, and the mapping between logical
blocks and physical locations is very complex.

54) Define C-SCAN scheduling (NOV/DEC 2016)[R]

In the C-Scan all the Processes are Arranged by using Some Circular List. Circular
List is that in which there is no start and end point of the list means the End of the
List is the Starting Point of the list. In the C-Scan Scheduling the CPU will search
for the Process from Start to end and if an End has Found then this again start
from the Starting Process.
55) Why it is important to scale up system –bus and device speeds as CPU
speed increases? (NOV/DEC 2016)[An]
Consider a system which performs 50% I/O and 50% computers. Doubling the
CPU
Performance on this system would increase the total system performance by only
50%.
Doubling both system aspects would increase performance by 100%.Generally,it
is important to remove the current system bottleneck and to increase overall
system performance rather than blindly increasing the performance of individual
system components.
56) Suppose that the disk rotates at 7200 rpm. What is the average
rotational latency of the disk drive? (APR/MAY 2017) [E]
Average disk access time=average seek time+ average rotational delay +
transfer time + controller overhead.
57) Differentiate between file and directory (NOV/DEC 2016) [An]
Directory is a collection of files and folders. difference between directory and File
: A file is any kind of computer document and a directory is a computer document
folder or filing cabinet. Directory is a collection of a the folders and files.
58) Suppose that the disk rotates at 7200 rpm[E](NOV/DEC 2017)
a) What is the average rotational latency of the disk drive ?
b) Identify seek distance can be covered in the time ?
a)7200 rpm gives 120 rotations per second.
Therefore Full rotation takes 8.33 ms and Average rotational latency takes
4.167ms.
b)t=4.167ms
t=0.7561+0.24L
4.167=0.756+0.2439L
L=195.58

Therefore We can seek over 195 tracks(about 4% of the disk) during an average
rotational latency
59) Enlist different types of directory structure. [R](NOV/DEC 2017)
There are many types of directory structure in Operating System. They are as
follows :- 1) Single Level Directory
2) Two Level Directory
3) Tree Structured Directory
4) Acyclic Graph Directory
5) General Graph Directory
60) State the typical bad-sector transactions. [R] (APR/MAY 2018)
Typical bad sector transactions might be as follows :
The OS tries to read logical block.
The controller calculates the ECC and finds that the sector is bad. It reports this
finding to the OS.
The next time that the system is rebooted ,a special command is run to tell the
SCSI controller to replace the bad sector with a spare.
After that, whenever the system requests logical block, the request is translated
into the replacement sector‘s address by the controller.
61) What is the advantage of bit vector approach in free space management
? [R] (APR/MAY 2018)
Advantages of bit vector approach:
Relatively simple
Efficient to find the first free blocks or n consecutive free blocks on the disk

62. Write short notes on file system mounting. (APR/MAY 2019)

The mount procedure is straightforward. The operating system is given the name
of the device and the mount point—the location within the file structure where
the file system is to be attached. Some operating systems require that a file
system type be
provided, while others inspect the structures of the device and determine the
type of file system. Typically, a mount point is an empty directory.
63. What is SSD? (APR/MAY 2019)
The highest level, the operating system may maintain a cache of file-system data
in main memory. In addition, electronic RAM disks (also known as solid-state
disks) may be used for high-speed storage that is accessed through the file-
system interface.
64. Enlist different types of file directory structure. (NOV/DEC 2021)
65. Is FAT file system advantageous? Justify. (NOV/DEC 2021)
UNIT V VIRTUAL MACHINES AND MOBILE OS

1) What is Linux distribution?[R]

A Linux distribution includes all the standard components of the Linux system,
plus a set of administrative tools to simplify the initial installation and
subsequent upgrading of Linux and manage installation and removal of other
packages on the system.

2) What is the use of User mode? [R]

Under Linux, no user code is built into the kernel. Any operating-system-support
code that does not need to run in kernel mode is placed into the system libraries
and runs in user mode.

3) What are the components of kernel mode[R]

The module support under Linux has four components:
1. The module-management system allows modules to be loaded into memory
and to communicate with the rest of the kernel.
2. The module loader and unloader, which are user-mode utilities, work with
the module-management system to load a module into memory.
3. The driver-registration system allows modules to tell the rest of the kernel
that a new driver has become available.
4. A conflict-resolution mechanism allows different device drivers to reserve
hardware resources and to protect those resources from accidental use by
another driver.

4) What is process Identity? [R]

Each process has a unique identifier. The PID is used to specify the process to the
operating system when an application makes a system call to signal, modify, or
wait for the process. Additional identifiers associate the process with a process
group (typically, a tree of processes forked by a single user command and login
session.

5) Define DNS[R]
The Domain Name System (DNS) provides host-name-to-network-address
translations for the entire Internet. Before DNS became widespread, files
containing the same information were sent via e-mail or ftp between all
networked hosts.
6) What is virtualization? [R]
Virtualization, in computing, refers to the act of creating a virtual (rather than
actual) version of something, including but not limited to a virtual computer
hardware platform, operating system (OS), storage device, or computer network
resources.
7) What is pluggable authentication modules [R]
The pluggable authentication modules (PAM) system is based on a shared library
that can be used by any system component that needs to authenticate users. An
implementation of this system is available under Linux. PAM allows
authentication modules to be loaded on demand as specified in a system-wide
configuration file. If a new authentication mechanism is added at a later date, it
can be added to the configuration file, and all system components will
immediately be able to take advantage of it. PAM modules can specify
authentication methods, account restrictions, session setup functions, and
password-changing functions (so that, when users change their passwords, all the
necessary authentication mechanisms can be updated at once).

8) What is the use of firewall manager[R]

The firewall manager maintains a number of separate firewall chains and allows
a skbuff to be matched against any chain. Chains are reserved for separate
purposes: one is used for forwarded packets, one for packets being input to this
host, and one for data generated at this host. Each chain is held as an ordered list
of rules, where a rule specifies one of a number of possible firewall-decision
functions plus some arbitrary data for matching purposes.

9) Do FAT file system is advantageous? Why?[An]

FAT File System is best for cross-compatibility with other platforms. There are
NTFS file system drivers for Linux, but not really for Windows. FAT, however, can
be read more or less transparently by both operating systems. There is also a
slight speed gain in FAT.

10) What is the responsibility of kernel in Linux operating system?[R]

Kernel is the core part of Linux. It is responsible for all major activities of this
operating system. It is consists of various modules and it interacts directly with
the underlying hardware. Kernel provides the required abstraction to hide low
level hardware details to system or application programs.

11) Why Virtualization is required? (Nov/Dec 2015) [An]

Virtualization reduces the number of physical servers, reducing the energy
required to power and cool them. Save time. With fewer servers, you can spend
less time on the manual tasks required for server maintenance. It's also much
faster to deploy a virtual machine than it is to deploy a new physical server.

12) Enumerate the requirements for Linux system administrator. Brief any
one.
(Nov/Dec 2015) [An]
1. While specific knowledge is a boon, most hiring managers require that you
possess basic knowledge about all aspects of Linux. For example, a little
knowledge about Solaris, BSD or various flavors of Linux never hurt anyone!
2. Knowledge in at least one of the upper tier scripting language is a must. You
have options before you, for instance, Python, Perl, Ruby or more, but you need to
make yourself proficient in at least one of them.
3. Experience is welcome, but you at least need to have some hands-on
experience of system management, system setup and managing Linux or Solaris
based servers as well as configuring them.

4. Knowledge in shell programming and architecture is valued very much in the

job market. If you know Buorne or Korn well, you can even score a high-paying
salary with minimal experience.
5. Storage technologies like FC, NFS or iSCSI is great, while knowledge regarding
backup technologies is a must for a system administrator.
13) State the components of a Linux System? (May/Jun 2016)[R]
 Kernel: The kernel is responsible for maintaining all the important
abstractions of the operating system, including such things as virtual memory
and processes.
 System libraries: The system libraries define a standard set of functions
through which applications can interact with the kernel. These functions
implement much of the operating-system functionality that does not need the full
privileges of kernel code.
 System utilities: The system utilities are programs that perform individual,
specialized management tasks. Some system utilities are invoked just once to
initialize and configure some aspect of the system.
14) Define the function of Caching-only servers. (May/Jun 2016)[R]
All DNS servers cache answers to queries they receive from outside their own
zone of authority. A cache-only DNS server is not authoritative for any zone.
Related Topics: DNS root servers: Root servers are critical to the function of a
DNS server that is directly connected to the Internet.

15) What is virtualization? (NOV/DEC 2016)[R]

In computing, virtualization refers to the act of creating a virtual (rather than
actual) version of something, including virtual computer hardware platforms,
storage devices, and computer network resources.

16) What scheduling algorithm is used in linux operating system to

schedule jobs? (NOV/DEC 2016)[R]
The Completely Fair Scheduler (CFS) Algorithm is used in Linux operating system
to schedule jobs.

17) Mention any two features of Linux file systems. (APR/MAY 2017)[U]
Portable
Open Source
Multi user
Multi Programming
18) Enlist the advantages of using kernel modules in Linux (APR/MAY
2017)[U]
 Loading and unloading a module is much more flexible and faster than
recompiling a kernel and rebooting.
 You can try different options each time you load a module. Most drivers
that handle hardware will take options for I/O addresses, IRQ or DMA
numbers, plus more esoteric options like full or half duplex. When you have
problems getting a card to run correctly, the ability to try different options
can save hours.
 Makes it easier to maintain multiple machines on a single kernel base.

17) List the advantages of Linux OS.[U] (NOV/DEC 2017)

Advantages of Linux OS:
Low cost
Stability
Performance
Security, Flexibility, Compatibility

18) Write the purpose of using virtualization.[R] (NOV/DEC 2017)

Operating system virtualization provides application-transparent virtualization
to users by decoupling applications from the OS. The OS virtualization technique
offers granular control at the application level by facilitating the transparent
migration of individual applications. OS virtualization can also be used to migrate
critical applications to another running operating system instance.

19) List the advantages and disadvantage of writing an operating system in

high level language such as C.[R] (APR/MAY 2018)
The code can be written faster, is more compact, and is easier to understand and
debug. In addition, improvements in compiler technology will improve the
generated code for the entire operating system by simple recompilation. Finally,
an operating system is far easier to port to move to some other hardware if it is
written in a higher-level language

20) What is handle? How does a process obtain a handle? [U] (APR/MAY
2018)
The handle is an integer value in the operating system assigned to the associated
process when the process was started. The system uses this handle to keep track
of process attributes. An application can obtain a handle to a process that can be
used as a parameter to many process-information and control functions.

21. Write short notes on driver registration in Linux. (APR/MAY 2019)

The driver registration allows modules to tell the rest of the kernel that a new
driver has become available.
22. List out the methods used to recover from the deadlock. (APR/MAY
2019)
We can use a protocol to prevent or avoid deadlocks, ensuring that the system
will never enter a deadlocked state.
• We can allow the system to enter a deadlocked state, detect it, and recover.
• We can ignore the problem altogether and pretend that deadlocks never occur
in the system.

23. What are the Components of a Linux System?

Every OS has component parts, and the Linux OS also has the following
components parts:
 Boot loader
 OS Kernel
 Background services
 OS Shell
 Graphics server
 Desktop environment
 Applications.

24. Which layer of iOS contains fundamental system services for apps?
The Core Services layer contains the fundamental system services that all
applications use, The Core Services layer provides an abstraction over the
services provided in the Core OS layer. It provides fundamental access to iOS
services and consists of the following components:
Collections
Address Book
Networking
File Access
SQLite
Core Location
Net Services
Threading
Preferences
URL Utilities