Operating Systems

Prof. Yongkun Li
中科大-计算机学院 特任教授
http:staff.ustc.edu.cn/~ykli

Chapter 1
Overview of an Operating System

1
Objectives
• Overview of OS
– Overview of Computer System: Organization & Architecture
– What is an OS
– OS Operation: Interrupt-driven via system call

• Major OS Components
– Process Management
– Memory Management
– Storage Management

• Kernel Data Structures

• Misc: Computing Environments & Open-Sourced OS
What is an Operating System?
• According to your experience…

– Networking;
– Storage;
– Multimedia;
– Gaming;
– What else?

None of the above were about the OS!

3
Before we talk about OS…

Overview of Computer System

-System Organization
-Storage Structure
-System Architecture

4
Computer System Organization
• Computer-system organization
– One or more CPUs, device controllers connect through
common bus providing access to shared memory
– Concurrent execution of CPUs and devices competing for
memory cycles
Computer-System Organization
• 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
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 into memory and starts
execution
• System processes or system daemons
– Run the entire time the kernel is running
– On UNIX, the first system process is “init”
• After fully booted, waits for events to occur
– Signaled by interrupt
Interrupt Handling
• Interrupt can be triggered by hardware or software
– Hardware sends signal to CPU
– Software executes a special operation: system call
• Interrupt procedure
– CPU stops what is doing
– Execute the service routine for the interrupt
– CPU resumes
• Operating system is interrupt driven
Interrupt Timeline
Common Functions of Interrupts
• Each computer design has its own interrupt mechanism

• Interrupt transfers control to the interrupt service routine

– A table of pointers to interrupt routines, the interrupt vector, can
be used to provide necessary speed
– The table of pointers is stored in low memory

• Interrupt architecture must save the address of the

interrupted instruction
– Modern architectures store the return address on system stack
Overview of Computer System
-System Organization
-Storage Structure
-System Architecture

11
Storage Structure
• Storage systems organized in hierarchy
– Speed
– Cost
– Volatility
Storage Structure
• Main memory
– CPU can load instructions only from memory (only large
storage media that the CPU can access directly)
– Random access, typically small size and volatile
– All forms of memory provide an array of bytes
• Each byte has its own address
• Interaction: load & store (memory <-> register)
• Instruction-execution cycle
– Fetch an instruction from memory and store in register
– Decode instruction (fetch operands if necessary)
– Store result back to memory
Storage Structure
• Secondary storage – extension of main memory that
provides large nonvolatile storage capacity
– Hard 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
– Solid-state disks – faster than hard disks, nonvolatile
• Various technologies
• Becoming more popular
Caching
• Caching – copying information into faster storage
system; main memory can be viewed as a cache for
secondary storage
• Faster storage (cache) checked first to determine if
information is there
– If it is, information used directly from the cache (fast)
– If not, data copied to cache and used there
• Cache smaller than storage being cached
– Cache management important design problem
– Cache size and replacement policy
• Important principle, performed at many levels in a
computer (in hardware, operating system, software)
I/O Structure
• Storage is only one of many types of I/O devices
• Device controller
– More than one device may be attached
– Local buffer storage & a set of registers
• Device driver: for each device controller to manage I/O,
provides uniform interface between controller and kernel
• Interrupt-driven I/O
– Device driver loads registers within the controller
– Controller examines the registers to decide what action to take
– Device controller starts data transfer to its local buffer
– Informs driver via an interrupt and returns control to OS
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
How a Modern Computer Works
Overview of Computer System
-System Organization
-Storage Structure
-System Architecture

19
Computer-System Architecture
• Most systems use a single general-purpose
processor
– One main CPU capable of executing general-purpose
instruction set
• May have special-purpose processors as well
– Device-specific processors: disk, keyboard, etc…
– Run a limited instruction set
– Do not run user processes
– Managed by OS or built into the hardware
Computer-System Architecture
• Multiprocessors systems grow in use and importance
– Also known as parallel systems, multicore systems
• Advantages include:
– Increased throughput
– Economy of scale: share peripherals, mass storage and
power supply
– Increased reliability – graceful degradation or fault tolerance
• Two types
– Asymmetric Multiprocessing – each processor is assigned a
specie task: boss-worker relationship
– Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP) – each processor
performs all tasks: all processors are peers
Symmetric Multiprocessing Architecture
• Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP)
– Result from hardware or software
– Adds CPUs to increase computing power
– Causes non-uniform memory access (NUMA)
Multicore
• Multicore: include multiple cores on a single chip
• More efficient
– On-chip communication is faster than between-chip
communication
– Less power
• Dual-core design
Clustered Systems
• Like multiprocessor systems, but multiple systems
working together
– Usually sharing storage via a storage-area network (SAN)
– Provides a high-availability service which survives failures
• Asymmetric clustering has one machine in hot-standby mode
• Symmetric clustering has multiple nodes running applications,
monitoring each other
– 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
Clustered Systems
What is an Operating System?

26
Where is the OS?
• Let’s start understanding an OS from this question:
Where is it?

27
Where is the OS?
• Four components of a computer system
– Users: People, machines, other computers
– Hardware – provides basic computing resources (CPU,
memory, I/O devices)
– App. programs – define the ways in which the sys.
resources are used to solve the computing problems
• Word processors, compilers, web browsers, database systems,
video games, etc.
– Operating system
• Controls and coordinates use of hardware among various
applications and users
What is an Operating System?
• It stands between the hardware and the user.
– A program that acts as an intermediary between a user of a
computer and the computer hardware

Operating
System
User Hardware

• Operating system goals:

– Execute user programs & make solving user problems easier
– Make the computer system convenient to use
– Use the computer hardware in an efficient manner
– Design tradeoff between convenient and efficiency
What is an Operating System?
• How good is this design?
– The user does not have to program the hardware
directly.
• It hides all the troublesome operations of the hardware.

Example. The OS, on one hand, hides the physical system memory away from
you. On the other hand, it tells you that there is system memory available
when you run your applications.

Process requests Operating Complex work…

System
User Hardware

30
What is an Operating System?
• Processes as the starting point!
– Whatever programs you run, you create processes.
• i.e., you need processes to open files, utilize system memory,
listen to music, etc.

– So, process lifecycle, process management, and other

related issues are essential topics of this course.

Operating
System
Process
User Hardware

31
What is an Operating System?
• Example (step 1)
$ ls

Most commands you type in the shell

are the same as starting a new process.

ls ls Operating
System
Process
User Hardware

32
What is an Operating System?
• Example (step 2)
$ ls

The operating system contains the codes

that are needed to work with the file
system.

The codes are called the kernel.

ls Operating
System
Process File System
User Hardware

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What is an Operating System?
• Example (step 3)
$ ls

The file system module inside the

operating system knows how to work
with devices, using device drivers.

ls Operating
System
Process File System
User Hardware

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What is an Operating System?
• Example (step 4)
$ ls

Of course, the operating system will

allocate memory for the results.

Memory
ls Operating
System
Process File System
User Hardware

35
What is an Operating System?
• Example (final step)
$ ls
. .. index.html
$ _

The memory management sub-system

will copy the result to the memory of the
process.

At last, the result returns.

Memory
Return ls Operating
System
Process File System
User Hardware

36
What Operating Systems Do
• System View
– OS is a control program
• Controls execution of programs to prevent errors and improper
use of the computer

– OS is a resource allocator
• Manages all resources
• Decides between conflicting requests for efficient and fair
resource use
What Operating Systems Do
• Depends on the point of view
• User View
– PC users want convenience, ease of use and good
performance, don’t care about resource utilization
– But shared computer such as mainframe or minicomputer
must keep all users happy: maximize resource utilization
– Users of dedicate systems such as workstations have
dedicated resources but frequently use shared resources
from servers: tradeoff
– Mobile computers are resource poor, optimized for usability
and battery life
– Some computers have little or no user interface, such as
embedded computers in devices and automobiles
Operating System Definition
• No universally accepted definition of what is part of
the operating system
– Operating systems grew increasingly sophisticated
– Microsoft case
• Current Mobile OS
– Once again the number of features constituting the OS is
increasing
– Core kernel + Middleware
• Databases, multimedia, graphics, etc…
Operating System Definition
• No universally accepted definition
• Simple viewpoint
– “Everything a vendor ships when you order an operating
system” is a good approximation
– But varies wildly
• Common definition
– “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.
Operating System Operations

41
Multiprogramming
• Operating system provides the environments within which
programs are executed
– Single user cannot keep CPU and I/O devices busy at all times
• Multiprogramming needed for efficiency: most important
aspect of OS
– Multiprogramming organizes jobs (code and data) so CPU always
has one to execute
– All jobs are initially kept on disk in the job pool, 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
Memory Layout for Multi-programmed System
Multitasking
• Time sharing (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
• Allow many users to share the computer
– Each user has at least one program executing in memory
process
• Issues
– 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
Interrupt Driven Mechanism
• Interrupt driven (hardware and software)
– Hardware interrupt by one of the devices
– Software interrupt (exception or trap):
• Software error (e.g., division by zero)
• Request for operating system service
• Other process problems include infinite loop, processes
modifying each other or the operating system
– An interrupt service routine is provided to deal with the
interrupt
Dual-mode Operation
• Dual-mode operation allows OS to protect itself and
other system components
– User mode and kernel mode
– Mode bit provided by hardware
• Provides ability to distinguish when system is running user
code or kernel code
• Some instructions designated as privileged, only executable in
kernel mode
• System call changes mode to kernel, return from call resets it
to user
Transition from User to Kernel Mode
• At system boot time, the hardware starts in kernel mode
• OS is loaded and starts user application in user mode
• Interrupt occurs, the hardware switches from user mode to
kernel mode
• Whenever the OS gains control, it is in kernel mode
System Calls
• Informally, a system call is similar to a function call,
but…
– The function implementation is inside the OS.
– We name it the OS kernel.
Function
int add_function(int a, int b) { implementation.
return (a + b);
}
This is a
int main(void) { function call.
int result;
result = add_function(a,b);
return 0;
}

// this is a dummy example…

48
System Calls
• System calls are the programming interface between
processes and the OS kernel
– System calls provide the means for a user program to ask the
operating system to perform tasks
• A system call usually takes the form of a trap to a specific
location in the interrupt vector, treated by the hardware as
a software interrupt
• The system call service routine is a part of the OS
Interacting with the OS

int main(void) { //somewhere in the kernel.

time(NULL); Invoke & return int time ( time_t * t ) {
return 0; ......
} }

./program Here contains codes that

access the hardware clock!

Process OS Kernel

Process

50
System calls
• The system calls are usually
– primitive,
– important, and
– fundamental.
– e.g., the time() system call.

• Roughly speaking, we can categorize system calls as

follows:
Process File System Memory
Security Device

51
System calls VS Library function calls
• If a call is not system calls, then they are library calls
(or function calls)!

• Take fopen() as an example.

– fopen() invokes the system call open().
– So, why people invented fopen()?
– Because open() is too primitive and is not programmer-
friendly!

Library call fopen(“hello.txt”, “w”);

System call open(“hello.txt”, O_WRONLY | O_CREAT | O_TRUNC, 0666);

52
System calls VS Library function calls
• Library functions are usually compiled and packed
inside an object called the library file.
– In windows: DLL – dynamically linked library.
– In Linux: SO – shared objects.

Big picture

int open(......)
Application A library file containing
code invoking the implementation of OS Kernel
fopen() fopen().

53
OS Standards
• Who defines the system calls? Functionalities?
Arguments? Return values?

• There are standards!

Standards Full Name Example OS

POSIX Portable Operating Linux

System Interface

BSD Berkeley Software Mac OS Darwin

Distribution

SVR4 System V (five) Release 4 Solaris Unix

54
Introduction to Operating System
Components

Process

55
Process OR Program?
• A process is not a program!

Let’s consider the following two commands

Recursively print the directory entries,

Command A ls -R /
starting from the directory ‘/’
Recursively print the directory entries,
Command B ls -R /home
starting from the directory ‘/home’

Similarity Difference
Both use the program file “/bin/ls”. The program arguments are different.
The processes’ internal status are different,
---
such as running time.

56
Program != Process
• A process is an execution instance of a program.
– More than one process can execute the same program code
– Later, you’ll find that a process is not bounded to execute just
one program!

• A process is active.
– A process has its local states concerning the execution. E.g.,
• which line of codes it is running;
• which CPU core (if there are many) it is running on.
– The local states change over time.

• Commands about processes (and hopefully you’ve

tried them before) – e.g., ps & top.
57
Process-Related Tools
• The tool “ps” can report a vast amount of
information about every process in the system
– Try “ps -ef”.

This column shows the unique

identification number of a process,
called Process ID, or PID for short.

Hint: you can treat ps as the short- $ ps

form of “process status” PID TTY TIME CMD
1200 ... 00:00:00 bash
1234 ... 00:00:00 ps
$ _

By the way, this is called shell.

58
Shell – a process launching pad
• So, what is going on inside that shell?
– The shell creates a new process, and is called a child
process of the shell.
• The child process then executes the command “ps”.

Shell – the
$ ps
parent process
PID TTY TIME CMD
1200 ... 00:00:00 bash
Parent-child 1234 ... 00:00:00 ps
relationship $ _

ps – the child
process

59
Process Hierarchy
• Process relationship:
– A parent process will have its child process.
– Also, a child process will have its child processes.
– This form a tree hierarchy.

Process A
Process B
Process C

Process D

Process E Process F

E.g., “Process E” is the shell and “Process F” is “ps”.

60
Process Summary
• A process is an execution instance of a program. It is a unit
of work within the system.
– Program is a passive entity, process is an active entity.
• Process needs resources to accomplish its task, process
termination requires reclaim of any reusable resources
– CPU, memory, I/O, files, Initialization data
• Single-threaded process has one program counter
specifying location of next instruction to execute, multi-
threaded process has one program counter per thread
– Process executes instructions sequentially, one at a time, until
completion
• Typically, system has many processes, some user, some
operating system running concurrently
Process Management Activities

• The operating system is responsible for the

following activities in connection with process
management:
– Creating and deleting both user and system processes
– Suspending and resuming processes
– Providing mechanisms for process synchronization
– Providing mechanisms for process communication
– Providing mechanisms for deadlock handling
Introduction to Operating System
Components

Memory

63
Process’ Memory
• What are the things that a process has to store?

Global Variables

Process Local Variables

Dynamically
Allocated Memory

Every process should has its own Program Code

set of global variables, local and Constants
variables, and allocated memory.

64
Process’ Memory
• OMG…C is too low-level…
BTW, this arrangement is called segmentation!

Local variables Stack

Dynamically
Allocated Heap
Memory Loading
Global variables
program Data segment
Execute

Constants Constants
Text segment
Program code

C program layout System memory layout

65
Process’ Memory
• “Hey, you’re wrong! Some languages, e.g., Java, do
not have the above layout…”, you asked.
......
String str = new String(“hello”); This statement creates an object!
...... C doesn’t have objects!

Reality
The object only exists inside the
JVM, and this JVM is just a process
“hello” inside the OS!
Java Virtual Machine

The “hello” String object is just a piece of

dynamically-allocated memory in the JVM
process.
JVM process
OS Kernel
It is created by “malloc()” and will be
“free()”-ed later.

66
Sidetrack: Pros and Cons in using C
• Cons:
– Some people argued that C is a bad beginner’s
programming language. Now, you can understand why…
Because C requires a programmer to take care of the process-level memory
management.

Every programmer needs to know about the low-level memory layout in

order for him/her to understand what segmentation fault means!
Every aspect on memory management can be manipulated using C.

Learning malloc() exposes you to the heap manipulation. This makes a

high-level programming language becoming low-level. Plus, this exposes
you to unpredictable dangers!
* Disclaimer: choosing which programming language is really a personal choice.

67
Sidetrack: Pros and Cons in using C
• Pros:
– Some people argued that C is an efficient programming
language. Now, you can understand why…

Because C allows a programmer to manipulate the process-level memory

management “directly”.
That’s why many user libraries are implemented using C because of
efficiency consideration.

E.g., the Java Virtual Machine is implemented using C!

Most importantly, C is the only language to interact with the OS directly!
In other words, the system call interface is written in C.

* Disclaimer: choosing which programming language is really a personal choice.

68
Memory Hierarchy
• In case that someone doesn’t know about the
hierarchy below…
– A program is fetched from hard disk to main memory.
– When executed, instructions in the program are fetched
from the main memory to CPU.

CPU

Registers Main Memory Hard Disk

Cache

69
Memory Hierarchy
• However, did you ever need to program those three
things when you want to run the program “ls”?
– Never! Then, who have the jobs done?
– Of course, OS!

CPU

Registers Main Memory Hard Disk

Cache

70
Memory Hierarchy
• Typically, there are more than 100 processes running
“at the same time”.
– There is only a finite number of CPU cores, depending on how
much money you spent.
– Then, only a finite number of processes can be executed “really
at the same time”.
– So, other (non-running) processes are stored at different
devices controlled by the OS before they get a chance to run.

CPU
Process B
Process C Process E
Registers
Process A Main Memory Hard Disk
Process F
(running)
Process D Process G
Cache

71
Memory Management Summary
• 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
– 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 deallocating memory space as needed
Introduction to Operating System
Components

Storage Management

73
What is a File System?
• A file system, FS, means the way that a storage
device is used.

• Have you heard of…

– FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, Ext3, Ext4, BtrFS?
– They are all file systems.
– It is about how a storage device is utilized.

Index
Files / Data
Metadata

74
What is a File System?
• A file system must record the following things:
– directories;
– files;
– allocated space;
– free space.

• Think about the consequences if any one of the

above is missing…

75
Two faces of a file system
• The storage design of the file system.
– A file spends most of its time on the disk.
– So, a file system is about how they are stored.
– Apart from files, many others things are stored in the
disk.

• The operations of the file system.

– A file can be manipulated by processes.
– So, a file system is also about the operations which
manipulate the content stored.

76
FS VS OS
• A FS is independent of an OS!
– If an OS supports a FS, then the OS can do whatever
operations over that storage device.
– Else, the OS doesn’t know how to read or update the
device’s content.

Windows XP supports Linux supports

NTFS, FAT32, FAT16, ISO9660, NTFS, FAT32, FAT16, ISO9660,

Juliet, CIFS Juliet, CIFS, Ext2, Ext3, etc…

Linux supports far more FS-es than any versions of Windows

77
File Operations?
• Pop quiz!
– Guess, what are the fundamental file (not dir) operations?

Open Read Write Close Rename Delete

• Well…creating is not...
– It is just a special case of opening a file.

• Sorry…copying is not…
– Do you know how it is implemented through the above
operations?

• Sorry…moving is the same as renaming…

– Except that a file is moving from one disk to another.

78
Storage Management
• OS provides uniform, logical view of information storage
– Abstracts physical properties to logical storage unit - file
– Various devices (i.e., disk drive, tape drive)
• Varying properties include access speed, capacity, data-transfer rate, access
method (sequential or random)

• File-System management
– Files usually organized into directories
– Access control 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
Mass-Storage Management
• Usually disks used to store data that does not fit in main
memory or data that must be kept for a long period of time
• Proper management is of central importance
– Entire speed of computer operation hinges on disk subsystem and
its algorithms
• OS activities
– Free-space management
– Storage allocation
– Disk scheduling
• Some storage need not be fast
– Tertiary storage includes optical storage, magnetic tape
– Still must be managed – by OS or applications
Performance of Various Levels of Storage
Kernel Data Structures

82
 Kernel Data Structures

Lists, Trees, Hash Map and Bitmaps

83
Kernel Data Structures
• Many similar to standard programming data structures
• Lists
– Singly linked list

– Doubly linked list

– Circularly linked list

Kernel Data Structures

• Stack
– Last in first out (LIFO)
– Widely used when invoking function calls
• Queue
– First in first out (FIFO)
– Widely used in job scheduling
Kernel Data Structures
• Trees
– Binary tree
– Binary search tree: left <= right
• Worse-case search performance is O(n)
– Balanced binary search tree
• Worse-case search performance is O(lg n)
Kernel Data Structures
• Hash function
– Takes data as input, performs numeric operation on
the data, and returns a numeric value
– Retrieve data: O(1)
– Hash collision
• Hash function can create a hash map
Kernel Data Structures
• Bitmap – string of n binary digits representing
the status of n items
• Pros:
– Space efficiency
• Example: used to indicate the availability of disk
blocks
• Linux data structures defined in include files
<linux/list.h>, <linux/kfifo.h>,
<linux/rbtree.h>
 MISC

Protection and Security, Computing Environments and

Open-sourced OS

89
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, determine access control
– Group identifier (group ID) allows set of users to be defined and
controls managed, then also associated with each process, file
– Privilege escalation allows user to change to effective ID with
more rights
Computing Environments - Traditional
• Stand-alone general purpose machines
• Blurred as most systems interconnect with others
(i.e., the Internet)
– Portals provide web access to internal systems
– Network computers (thin clients) are like Web terminals
– Mobile computers interconnect via wireless networks
• Networking becoming ubiquitous – even home
systems use firewalls to protect home computers
from Internet attacks
Computing Environments - Mobile
• Handheld smartphones, tablets, etc
• What is the functional difference between them
and a “traditional” laptop?
– Extra feature – more OS features (GPS, gyroscope)
– Allows new types of apps like augmented reality
– Use IEEE 802.11 wireless, or cellular data networks for
connectivity
• Leaders are Apple iOS and Google Android
Computing Environments – Distributed
• Distributed computing
– Collection of separate, possibly heterogeneous, systems
networked together
– Network is a communication path, TCP/IP most common
• Local Area Network (LAN)
• Wide Area Network (WAN)
• Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)
• Personal Area Network (PAN)
– Network Operating System provides features between
systems across network
• Communication scheme allows systems to exchange messages
• Illusion of a single system
Computing Environments – Client-Server
Client-Server Computing
Dumb terminals supplanted by smart PCs
Many systems act as servers, responding to requests
generated by clients
Compute-server system provides an interface to client to
request services (i.e., database)
File-server system provides interface for clients to store
and retrieve files
Computing Environments - Peer-to-Peer
• Another model of distributed system, does not
distinguish clients and servers
– Instead all nodes are considered peers
– May each act as client, server or both
– Node must join P2P network
• Registers its service with central lookup service on network, or
• Broadcast request for service and respond to requests for
service via discovery protocol
– Examples include BitTorrent
Computing Environments - Virtualization
• Allows OSes to run applications within other OSes
• Emulation used when source CPU type is different from
target type (i.e. PowerPC to Intel x86)
– Generally slowest method
– Every machine-level instruction must be translated
• Virtualization – OS natively compiled for CPU, running
guest OSes also natively compiled
– Running multiple VMs allows many users to run tasks on a system
designed for a single user
– VMM (Virtual Machine Manager) provides virtualization services
Computing Environments - Virtualization
Computing Environments – Cloud Computing
• Delivers computing, storage, even apps as a service across a network
• Logical extension of virtualization because it uses virtualization as the
base for it functionality.
– Amazon EC2 has thousands of servers, millions of virtual machines, petabytes
of storage available across the Internet, pay based on usage
• Many types
– Public cloud – available via Internet to anyone willing to pay
– Private cloud – run by a company for the company’s own use
– Hybrid cloud – includes both public and private cloud components
– Software as a Service (SaaS) – one or more applications available via the
Internet (i.e., word processor)
– Platform as a Service (PaaS) – software stack ready for application use via the
Internet (i.e., a database server)
– Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) – servers or storage available over Internet
(i.e., storage available for backup use)
Computing Environments – Cloud Computing
• Cloud computing environments composed of traditional
OSes, plus VMMs, plus cloud management tools
– Internet connectivity requires security like firewalls
– Load balancers spread traffic across multiple applications
Computing Environments – Real-Time Embedded Systems
• Real-time embedded systems: most prevalent form of
computers
– Car engines, robots, DVDs, etc.
• Real-time OS has well-defined fixed time constraints
– Processing must be done within constraint
– Correct operation only if constraints met
• Many other special computing environments as well
– Some have OSes, some perform tasks without an OS
Open-Source Operating Systems
• Operating systems made available in source-code format
rather than just binary closed-source
• Started by Free Software Foundation (FSF), which has
“copyleft” GNU Public License (GPL)
• Examples include GNU/Linux and BSD UNIX (including core
of Mac OS X)
• Can use VMM like VMware Player (Free on Windows),
Virtualbox (open source and free on many platforms -
http://www.virtualbox.com)
– Use to run guest operating systems for exploration
Summary
• OS Overview
– OS Concept
– Multiprogramming & Multitasking
– Dual Mode & System Call
• OS Components
– Process Management
– Memory Management
– Storage Management
• Computer System Organization & Architecture
– Interrupt
End of Chapter 1

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