Chapter 1: Introduction

Shatabdi Roy Moon

Lecturer
East West University
 Introduction

What Operating Systems Do:

Computer-System Organization
Computer-System Architecture
Operating-System Structure
Operating-System Operations
Process Management
Memory Management
Storage Management
Protection and Security
Kernel Data Structures
Computing Environments

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 Objectives

 To describe the basic organization of computer

systems
 To provide a grand tour of the major components
of operating systems
 To give an overview of the many types of
computing environments

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 What is an Operating System?

 A program that acts as an intermediary between

a user of a computer and the computer
hardware.
 Operating system goals:
 Execute user programs and make solving
user problems easier.
 Make the computer system convenient to
use.
 Use the computer hardware in an efficient
manner.

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 Software
The two most common types of software are :
•System software
•Application software.

What is System Software?

System Software refers to the operating system and all

utility programs that manage computer resources at a low
level. Systems software includes compilers, loaders,
linkers, and debuggers.

What is Application Software?

Applications software comprises programs designed for an

end user, such as word processors, database systems,
and spreadsheet programs.

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 Computer System Structure

 Computer system can be divided into four components

 Hardware – provides basic computing resources
 CPU, memory, I/O devices
 Operating system
 Controls and coordinates use of hardware among various
applications and users
 Application programs – define the ways in which the system
resources are used to solve the computing problems of the
users
 Word processors, compilers, web browsers, database
systems, video games
 Users
 People, machines, other computers

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 Four Components of a Computer System

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 Operating System Definition

 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

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 Operating System Definition (Cont.)

 No universally accepted definition

 “Everything a vendor ships when you order an

operating system” is good approximation
 But varies wildly

 “The one program running at all times on the

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

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 Computer Startup

 bootstrap program is loaded at power-up or

reboot
 Typically stored in ROM or EPROM, generally
known as firmware
 Initializes all aspects of system
 Loads operating system kernel and starts
execution

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 Computer System Organization
 Computer-system operation
 One or more CPUs, Memory, device controllers connect
through a common bus which is called system bus.

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 Computer-System Operation

 I/O devices and the CPU can execute concurrently.

 Each device controller is in charge of a particular device
type.
 Each device controller has a local buffer.
 CPU moves data from/to main memory to/from local buffers
 Device controller informs CPU that it has finished its
operation by causing an interrupt.

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 Common Functions of Interrupts

 Interrupt transfers control to the interrupt service

routine generally, through the interrupt vector, which
contains the addresses of all the service routines
 Interrupt architecture must save the address of the
interrupted instruction
 A trap or exception is a software-generated interrupt
caused either by an error or a user request
 An operating system is interrupt driven

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 Interrupt Handling

 The operating system preserves the state of the

CPU by storing registers and the program counter
 Determines which type of interrupt has occurred:
 polling
 vectored interrupt system
 Separate segments of code determine what action
should be taken for each type of interrupt

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 Storage Structure
 Main memory – only large storage media that the CPU can access
directly.
 Secondary storage – extension of main memory that provides
large nonvolatile storage capacity.
 Magnetic disks – rigid metal or glass platters covered with magnetic recording
material
 Disk surface is logically divided into tracks, which are subdivided into
sectors.
 The disk controller determines the logical interaction between the device and
the computer.

 Magnetic Tapes

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 Storage Hierarchy

 Storage systems organized in hierarchy.

 Speed
 Cost
 Volatility
 Size
 Caching – Information in use copied from slower to faster
storage temporarily

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 Storage-Device Hierarchy

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 Performance of Various Levels of Storage

 Movement between levels of storage hierarchy can be explicit or

implicit

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 Direct Memory Access Structure

 Used for high-speed I/O devices able to transmit

information at close to memory speeds
 Device controller transfers blocks of data from buffer
storage directly to main memory without CPU
intervention
 Only one interrupt is generated per block, rather than
the one interrupt per byte

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 How a Modern Computer Works

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 Computer-System Architecture
 Most systems use a single general-purpose processor
 Most systems have special-purpose processors as well
 Multiprocessors systems growing in use and importance
 Also known as parallel systems, tightly-coupled systems
 Advantages include:
1. Increased throughput
2. Economy of scale
3. Increased reliability – graceful degradation or fault tolerance
 Two types:
1. Asymmetric Multiprocessing – each processor is assigned a
specific task.
2. Symmetric Multiprocessing – each processor performs all
tasks

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 Symmetric Multiprocessing Architecture

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 A Dual-Core Design
 Multi-chip and multicore
 Systems containing all chips
 Chassis containing multiple separate systems

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 Clustered Systems

 Like multiprocessor systems, but multiple systems working

together
 Usually sharing storage via a storage-area network (SAN)
 Provides a high-availability service which survives failures
 Asymmetric clustering has one machine in hot-standby
mode
 Symmetric clustering has multiple nodes running
applications, monitoring each other
 Some clusters are for high-performance computing (HPC)
 Applications must be written to use parallelization
 Some have distributed lock manager (DLM) to avoid
conflicting operations

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 Clustered Systems

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 Operating System Structure

 Multiprogramming needed for efficiency

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

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 Operating System Structure (cont)

 Timesharing (multitasking) is logical extension in which CPU

switches jobs so frequently that users can interact with each
job while it is running, creating interactive computing
 Response time should be < 1 second
 Each user has at least one program executing in memory
process
 If several jobs ready to run at the same time  CPU
scheduling
 If processes don’t fit in memory, swapping moves them in
and out to run
 Virtual memory allows execution of processes not
completely in memory

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 Memory Layout for Multiprogrammed System

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 Operating-System Operations
 With sharing many processes could be adversely
affected by a bug in one program. So, a properly
designed OS must ensure that an incorrect program
can not run and also can not cause other programs to
execute incorrectly.
 Many errors detected by hardware can be handled by
OS.
 Hardware generates interrupt.
 Software error handled by exception or trap.

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 Operating-System Operations

 Dual-mode operation allows OS to protect itself and

other system components
 User mode (1) and Monitor/System mode/
Kernel mode (0)
 Mode bit provided by hardware
 Provides ability to distinguish when system is
running user code or system code
 Some instructions designated as privileged, only
executable in system mode

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 Transition from User to Kernel Mode

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 Process Management

The operating system is responsible for the following

activities in connection with process management:
Creating and deleting both user and system processes
Suspending and resuming processes
Providing mechanisms for process synchronization
Providing mechanisms for process communication
Providing mechanisms for deadlock handling

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 Memory Management
 To execute a program all (or part) of the instructions must be in
memory
 All (or part) of the data that is needed by the program must be in
memory.
 Memory management determines what is in memory and when
 Optimizing CPU utilization and computer response to users
 Memory management activities
 Keeping track of which parts of memory are currently being used
and by whom
 Deciding which processes (or parts thereof) and data to move into
and out of memory
 Allocating and de-allocating memory space as needed

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 Storage Management

 File-System management
 Files usually organized into directories
 Access control on most systems to determine who
can access what
 OS activities include
 Creating and deleting files and directories
 Primitives to manipulate files and directories
 Mapping files onto secondary storage
 Backup files onto stable (non-volatile) storage
media

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 Protection and Security
 Protection – any mechanism for controlling access of processes or
users to resources defined by the OS
 Security – defense of the system against internal and external attacks
 Huge range, including denial-of-service, worms, viruses, identity
theft, theft of service
 Systems generally first distinguish among users, to determine who can
do what
 User identities (user IDs, security IDs) include name and associated
number, one per user
 User ID then associated with all files, processes of that user to
determine access control
 Group identifier (group ID) allows set of users to be defined and
controls managed, then also associated with each process, file
 Privilege escalation allows user to change to effective ID with more
rights

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