CPU Scheduling

Mechanisms and
Performance Evaluation
CPU Scheduling

• Basic Concepts
• Scheduling Criteria
• Scheduling Algorithms
• Thread Scheduling
• Multiple-Processor Scheduling
• Real-Time CPU Scheduling
• Operating Systems Examples
• Algorithm Evaluation/Performance Evaluation
Objectives

• To introduce CPU scheduling, which is the basis for

multiprogrammed operating systems
• To describe various CPU-scheduling algorithms
• To discuss evaluation criteria for selecting a CPU-scheduling
algorithm for a particular system
• To examine the scheduling algorithms of several operating
systems
Basic Concepts

• Maximum CPU utilization

obtained with multiprogramming
• CPU–I/O Burst Cycle – Process
execution consists of a cycle of
CPU execution and I/O wait
• CPU burst followed by I/O burst
• CPU burst distribution is of main
concern
CPU Scheduler
 Short-term scheduler selects from among the processes in
ready queue, and allocates the CPU to one of them
 Queue may be ordered in various ways
 CPU scheduling decisions may take place when a process:
1. Switches from running to waiting state
2. Switches from running to ready state
3. Switches from waiting to ready
4. Terminates
 Scheduling under 1 and 4 is nonpreemptive
 All other scheduling is preemptive(if one task is running , if
second task comes, it will stop)
 Consider access to shared data
 Consider preemption while in kernel mode
 Consider interrupts occurring during crucial OS activities
Dispatcher

• Dispatcher module gives control of the CPU to the process

selected by the short-term scheduler; this involves:
• switching context
• switching to user mode
• jumping to the proper location in the user program to restart
that program
• Dispatch latency – time it takes for the dispatcher to stop
one process and start another running
Scheduling Criteria

• CPU utilization – keep the CPU as busy as possible

• Throughput – # of processes that complete their execution
per time unit
• Turnaround time – amount of time to execute a particular
process
• Waiting time – amount of time a process has been waiting in
the ready queue
• Response time – amount of time it takes from when a request
was submitted until the first response is produced, not output
(for time-sharing environment)
 Scheduling Algorithm Optimization
Criteria
• Max CPU utilization
• Max throughput
• Min turnaround time
• Min waiting time
• Min response time
 First- Come, First-Served (FCFS) Scheduling

Process Burst Time

P1 24
P2 3
P3 3
• Suppose that the processes arrive in the order: P1 , P2 , P3
The Gantt Chart for the schedule is:

P1 P2 P3
0 24 27 30

• Waiting time for P1 = 0; P2 = 24; P3 = 27

• Average waiting time: (0 + 24 + 27)/3 = 17
FCFS Scheduling (Cont.)
Suppose that the processes arrive in the order:
P2 , P3 , P1
• The Gantt chart for the schedule is:

P2 P3 P1
0 3 6 30

• Waiting time for P1 = 6; P2 = 0; P3 = 3

• Average waiting time: (6 + 0 + 3)/3 = 3
• Much better than previous case
• Convoy effect - short process behind long process
• Consider one CPU-bound and many I/O-bound processes
 Shortest-Job-First (SJF) Scheduling

• Associate with each process the length of its next CPU burst
• Use these lengths to schedule the process with the shortest time
• SJF is optimal – gives minimum average waiting time for a
given set of processes
• The difficulty is knowing the length of the next CPU request
• Could ask the user
Example of SJF

ProcessArriva l Time Burst Time

P1 0.0 6
P2 2.0 8
P3 4.0 7
P4 5.0 3

• SJF scheduling chart

P4 P1 P3 P2
0 3 9 16 24

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

 Example of Shortest-remaining-time-first
• Now we add the concepts of varying arrival times and preemption to the
analysis
ProcessA arri Arrival TimeT Burst Time
P1 0 8
P2 1 4
P3 2 9
P4 3 5
• Preemptive SJF Gantt Chart

P1 P2 P4 P1 P3
0 1 5 10 17 26

• Average waiting time = [(10-1)+(1-1)+(17-2)+(5-3)]/4 = 26/4 = 6.5 msec

Priority Scheduling

• A priority number (integer) is associated with each process

• The CPU is allocated to the process with the highest priority

(smallest integer  highest priority)
• Preemptive
• Nonpreemptive

• SJF is priority scheduling where priority is the inverse of

predicted next CPU burst time

• Problem  Starvation – low priority processes may never

execute

• Solution  Aging – as time progresses increase the priority of

the process
 Example of Priority Scheduling

ProcessAarri Burst TimeT Priority

P1 10 3
P2 1 1
P3 2 4
P4 1 5
P5 5 2

• Priority scheduling Gantt Chart

• Average waiting time = (6+0+16+18+1)/5=8.2 msec

Round Robin (RR)

• Each process gets a small unit of CPU time (time quantum q),
usually 10-100 milliseconds. After this time has elapsed, the
process is preempted and added to the end of the ready
queue.
• If there are n processes in the ready queue and the time
quantum is q, then each process gets 1/n of the CPU time in
chunks of at most q time units at once. No process waits
more than (n-1)q time units.
• Timer interrupts every quantum to schedule next process
• Performance
• q large  FIFO
• q small  q must be large with respect to context switch, otherwise
overhead is too high
 Example of RR with Time Quantum
=4
Process Burst Time
P1 24
P2 3
P3 3
• The Gantt chart is:

P1 P2 P3 P1 P1 P1 P1 P1
0 4 7 10 14 18 22 26 30

• Typically, higher average turnaround than SJF, but better response

• q should be large compared to context switch time
• q usually 10ms to 100ms, context switch < 10 usec
 Multilevel Queue
• Ready queue is partitioned into separate queues, eg:
• foreground (interactive)
• background (batch)
• Process permanently in a given queue
• Each queue has its own scheduling algorithm:
• foreground – RR
• background – FCFS
• Scheduling must be done between the queues:
• Fixed priority scheduling; (i.e., serve all from foreground then from
background). Possibility of starvation.
• Time slice – each queue gets a certain amount of CPU time which it can
schedule amongst its processes; i.e., 80% to foreground in RR
• 20% to background in FCFS
Multilevel Queue Scheduling
Multilevel Feedback Queue

• A process can move between the various queues; aging can be

implemented this way
• Multilevel-feedback-queue scheduler defined by the following
parameters:
• number of queues
• scheduling algorithms for each queue
• method used to determine when to upgrade a process
• method used to determine when to demote a process
• method used to determine which queue a process will enter when that
process needs service
 Example of Multilevel Feedback
Queue
• Three queues:
• Q0 – RR with time quantum 8 milliseconds
• Q1 – RR time quantum 16 milliseconds
• Q2 – FCFS

• Scheduling
• A new job enters queue Q0 which is served
FCFS
• When it gains CPU, job receives 8
milliseconds
• If it does not finish in 8 milliseconds, job
is moved to queue Q1
• At Q1 job is again served FCFS and receives 16
additional milliseconds
• If it still does not complete, it is
preempted and moved to queue Q2
Multiple-Processor Scheduling
• CPU scheduling more complex when multiple CPUs are
available
• Homogeneous processors within a multiprocessor
• Asymmetric multiprocessing – only one processor accesses
the system data structures, alleviating the need for data
sharing
• Symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) – each processor is self-
scheduling, all processes in common ready queue, or each
has its own private queue of ready processes
• Currently, most common
• Processor affinity – process has affinity for processor on
which it is currently running
• soft affinity
• hard affinity
• Variations including processor sets
 Algorithm Evaluation
• How to select CPU-scheduling algorithm for an OS?
• Determine criteria, then evaluate algorithms
• Deterministic modeling
• Type of analytic evaluation
• Takes a particular predetermined workload and defines the performance
of each algorithm for that workload
• Consider 5 processes arriving at time 0:
 Deterministic Evaluation

 For each algorithm, calculate minimum average waiting time

 Simple and fast, but requires exact numbers for input, applies
only to those inputs
 FCS is 28ms:

 Non-preemptive SFJ is 13ms:

 RR is 23ms:
Queueing Models
• Describes the arrival of processes, and CPU and I/O bursts
probabilistically
• Commonly exponential, and described by mean
• Computes average throughput, utilization, waiting time, etc
• Computer system described as network of servers, each with
queue of waiting processes
• Knowing arrival rates and service rates
• Computes utilization, average queue length, average wait time, etc
Little’s Formula
• n = average queue length
• W = average waiting time in queue
• λ = average arrival rate into queue
• Little’s law – in steady state, processes leaving queue must
equal processes arriving, thus:
n=λxW
• Valid for any scheduling algorithm and arrival distribution
• For example, if on average 7 processes arrive per second, and
normally 14 processes in queue, then average wait time per
process = 2 seconds
Simulations

• Queueing models limited

• Simulations more accurate
• Programmed model of computer system
• Clock is a variable
• Gather statistics indicating algorithm performance
• Data to drive simulation gathered via
• Random number generator according to probabilities
• Distributions defined mathematically or empirically
• Trace tapes record sequences of real events in real systems
Evaluation of CPU Schedulers by
Simulation
 Implementation
 Even simulations have limited accuracy
 Just implement new scheduler and test in real systems
 High cost, high risk
 Environments vary
 Most flexible schedulers can be modified per-site or per-system
 Or APIs to modify priorities
 But again environments vary
End