Operating System Handout

Unit III – Process Management

Section 3.1 Process

Definition:
A process is basically a program in
execution or instance of the program
execution. The execution of a process must
progress in a sequential fashion.
 Process is not as same as program code
but a lot more than it.
 A process is an 'active' entity as
opposed to program which is
considered to be a 'passive' entity.
 Attributes held by process include
hardware state, memory, CPU etc.

Process memory is divided into four

sections for efficient working :
 The Text section is made up of the

compiled program code, read in from

non- volatile storage when the program
is launched.
 The Data section is made up the
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global and static variables, allocated

and initialized prior to executing the
main.
 The Heap is used for the dynamic
memory allocation, and is managed via
calls to new, delete, malloc, free, etc.
 The Stack is used for local variables.
Space on the stack is reserved for local
variables when they are declared.

Process States:
When a process executes, it passes through
different states. These stages may differ in
different operating systems.

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In general, a process can have one of the

following five states at a time.

S. State & Description

N
.
1 Start: This is the initial state when a
process is first started/created.
Ready: The process is waiting to be
2 assigned to a processor. Ready
processes are waiting to have the
processor allocated to them by the
operating system so that they can run.
Process may come into this state after
Start state or while running it by but
interrupted by the scheduler to assign
CPU to some other process.
3 Running: Once the process has been
assigned to a processor by the OS
scheduler, the process state is set to
running and the processor executes its
instructions.
4 Waiting: Process moves into the
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waiting state if it needs to wait for a

resource, such as waiting for user input,
or waiting for a file to become
available.
Terminated or Exit: Once the process
5 finishes its execution, or it is terminated
by the operating system, it is moved to
the terminated state where it waits to be
removed from main memory.

Process State
Diagram Process Control
Block (PCB):
 A Process Control Block is a data

structure maintained by the Operating

System for every process.
 The PCB is identified by an integer
process ID (PID).
 A PCB keeps all the information
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needed to keep track of a process as

listed below in the table –

S. Information & Description

N
.
1 Process State: The current state of the
process i.e., whether it is ready,
running, waiting, or whatever.
2 Process privileges: This is required to
allow/disallow access to system
resources.
3 Process ID: Unique identification for
each of the process in the operating
system.
4 Pointer: A pointer to parent process.
5 Program Counter: Program Counter is
a pointer to the address of the next
instruction to be executed for this
process.
6 CPU registers: Various CPU registers
where process need to be stored for
execution for running state.
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7 CPU Scheduling Information: Process

priority and other scheduling
information which is required to
schedule the process.
8 Memory management information:
This includes the information of page
table, memory limits, Segment table
depending on memory used by the
operating system.
9 Accounting information: This
includes the amount of CPU used for
process execution, time limits,
execution ID etc.
1 IO status information: This includes a
0 list of I/O devices allocated to the
process.
The architecture of a PCB is completely
dependent on Operating System and may
contain different information in different
operating systems. Here is a simplified
diagram of a PCB −
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Process Control Block (PCB) Diagram

The PCB is maintained for a process

throughout its lifetime, and is deleted once
the process terminates.

3.2 Process
Scheduling
Definition
 The process scheduling is the activity of
the process manager that handles the
removal of the running process from the
CPU and the selection of another process
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on the basis of a particular strategy.

 Process scheduling is an essential part of a
Multiprogramming operating systems.

 Such operating systems allow more than one

process to be loaded into the executable
memory at a time and the loaded process
shares the CPU using time multiplexing.

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What are Scheduling Queues?

 All processes, upon entering into the system,
are stored in the Job Queue.
 Processes in the Ready state are placed in the
Ready Queue.
 Processes waiting for a device to
become available are placed in Device
Queues. There are unique device
queues available for each I/O device.
A new process is initially put in the Ready
queue. It waits in the ready queue until it
is selected for execution (or dispatched).
Once the process is assigned to the CPU
and is executing, one of the following
several events can occur:
 The process could issue an I/O request,
and then be placed in the I/O queue.
 The process could create a new sub-process
and wait for its termination.

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 The process could be removed forcibly

from the CPU, as a result of an interrupt,
and be put back in the ready queue.

In the first two cases, the process

eventually switches from the waiting state
to the ready state, and is then put back in
the ready que. A process continues this
cycle until itterminates, at which time it is
removed from all queues and has its PCB
and resources deallocated.
Schedulers:
 Schedulers are special system software
which handle process scheduling in
various ways.
 Their main task is to select the jobs to be
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submitted into the system and to decide

which process to run. Schedulers are of
three types −
 Long-Term Scheduler
 Short-Term Scheduler
 Medium-Term Scheduler
Long Term Scheduler
 It is also called a job scheduler.
 A long-term scheduler determines which
programs are admitted to the system for
processing.

 It selects processes from the queue and loads

them into memory for execution.

 Process loads into the memory for CPU

scheduling.

 The primary objective of the job scheduler

is to provide a balanced mix of jobs, such
as I/O bound and processor bound.
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 It also controls the degree of

multiprogramming.
 If the degree of multiprogramming is
stable, then the average rate of process
creation must be equal to the average
departure rate of processes leaving the
system.
 On some systems, the long-term scheduler
may not be available or minimal.
 Time-sharing operating systems have no
long term scheduler.
 When a process changes the state from
new to ready, then there is use of long-
term scheduler.
Short Term Scheduler:
 It is also called as CPU scheduler.
 Its main objective is to increase system
performance in accordance with the
chosen set of criteria.
 It is the change of ready state to running
state of the process.
 CPU scheduler selects a process among
the processes that are ready to execute and
allocates CPU to one of them.
 Short-term schedulers, also known as
dispatchers, make the decision of which
process to execute next. Short-term
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schedulers are faster than long-term

schedulers.
Medium Term Scheduler
 Medium-term scheduling is a part of swapping.
 It removes the processes from the memory.

 It reduces the degree of multiprogramming.

 The medium-term scheduler is in-charge of
handling the swapped out-processes.

 A running process may become suspended if it

makes an I/O request.
 A suspended process cannot make any
progress towards completion.

 In this condition, to remove the process

from memory and make space for other
processes, the suspended process is moved
to the secondary storage.

 This process is called swapping, and the

process is said to be swapped out or rolled
out.
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 Swapping may be necessary to improve the

process mix.
Comparison among Scheduler
S. Long-Term Short-Term Medium-
N Scheduler Scheduler Term
. Scheduler
1 It is a job It is a CPU It is a
scheduler scheduler process
swapping
scheduler.
Speed is Speed is Speed is in
2 lesser than fastest between both
short term among short and
scheduler other two long term
scheduler.
It controls It provides It reduces
3 the degree lesser the degree of
of control over multiprogram
multiprogra degree of ming.
mming multiprogra
mming
It is almost It is also It is a part of
4 absent or
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minimal in minimal in Time sharing

time sharing time sharing systems.
system system
It selects It selects It can re-
5 processes those introduce the
from pool processes process into
and loads which are memory and
them into ready to execution can
memory for execute be continued.
execution

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Context Switch:
 A context switch is the mechanism to
store and restore the state or context of a
CPU in Process Control block so that a
process execution can be resumed from
the same point at a later time.

 Using this technique, a context switcher

enables multiple processes to share a
single CPU.

 Context switching is an essential part of a

multitasking operating system features.
 When the scheduler switches the CPU
from executing one process to execute
another, the state from the current running
process is stored into the process control
block.
 After this, the state for the process to run
next is loaded from its own PCB and used
to set the PC, registers, etc.
 At that point, the second process can start
executing.
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 Context switches are computationally

intensive since register and memory state
must be saved and restored.
 To avoid the amount of context switching
time, some hardware systems employ two
or more sets of processor registers.
 When the process is switched, the following
information is stored for later use.

 Program Counter
 Scheduling information
 Base and limit register value
 Currently used register
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 Changed State
 I/O State information
 Accounting information

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3.3 Inter-process Communication

 Processes executing concurrently in the
operating system might be either
independent processes or cooperating
processes.
 A process is independent if it cannot be
affected by the other processes executing
in the system.
 Inter Process Communication (IPC) is a
mechanism that involves communication
of one process with another process. This
usually occurs only in one system.
 Communication can be of two types −
 Between related processes initiating
from only one process, such as parent
and child processes.
 Between unrelated processes, or two or
more different processes.
 Processes can communicate with each
other using these two ways:
 Shared Memory
 Message passing
Shared Memory
 Shared memory is the memory that can
be simultaneously accessed by multiple
processes.
 This is done so that the processes can
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communicate with each other.

 All POSIX systems, as well as
Windows operating systems use shared
memory.
Message Queue
 Multiple processes can read and write
data to the message queue without
being connected to each other.
 Messages are stored in the queue until
their recipient retrieves them.
 Message queues are quite useful for
inter-process communication and are
used by most operating systems.
 If two processes p1 and p2 want to
communicate with each other, they
proceed as follow:
Establish a communication link (if


a link already exists, no need to

establish it again.)
Start exchanging messages using

basic primitives.

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 We need at least two

primitives:
send(message,
destinaion) or
send(message)
receive(message,
host) or
receive(message)

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3.4 What is Thread?

 A thread is a flow of execution through
the process code, with its own program
counter that keeps track of which
instruction to execute next, system
registers which hold its current working
variables, and a stack which contains the
execution history.
 A thread shares with its peer threads few
information like code segment, data
segment and open files.
 When one thread alters a code segment
memory item, all other threads see that.
 A thread is also called a lightweight
process.
 Threads provide a way to improve
application performance through
parallelism.
 Threads represent a software approach to
improving performance of operating
system by reducing the overhead thread is
equivalent to a classical process.
 Each thread belongs to exactly one
process and no thread can exist outside a
process. Each thread represents a separate
flow of control.
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 Threads have been successfully used in

implementing network servers and web
server.
 They also provide a suitable foundation
for parallel execution of applications on
shared memory multiprocessors.
 The following figure shows the working
of a single-threaded and a multithreaded
process.

Difference between Process and Thread

S. Process Thread
N
.
1 Process is heavy Thread is light
weight or resource weight, taking lesser
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intensive. resources than a

process.
2 Process switching Thread
needs interaction switching does
with operating not need to
system. interact with
operating
system.
In multiple
3 processing All threads can
environments, share same set of
each process open files, child
executes the same processes.
code but has its
own memory and
file resources.

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If one process is While one thread is

4 blocked, then no blocked and
other process can waiting, a second
execute until the thread in the same
first process is task can run.
unblocked.
5 Multiple processes Multiple threaded
without using processes use fewer
threads use more resources.
resources.
6 In multiple One thread can read,
processes each write or change
process operates another thread's
independently of data.
the others.
Advantages of Thread
 Threads minimize the context switching
time.
 Use of threads provides concurrency
within a process.
 Efficient communication.
 It is more economical to create and
context switch threads.
 Threads allow utilization of
multiprocessor architectures to a
greater scale and efficiency.
Types of Thread
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Threads are implemented in following two

ways −
 User Level Threads − User managed
threads.
 Kernel Level Threads − Operating
System managed threads acting on
kernel, an operating system core.
User Level Threads
 In this case, the thread management
kernel is not aware of the existence of
threads.
 The thread library contains code for
creating and destroying threads, for
passing message and data between
threads, for scheduling thread
execution and for saving and restoring
thread contexts.
 The application starts with a single
thread.

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Advantages
 Thread switching does not require
Kernel mode privileges.
 User level thread can run on any
operating system.
 Scheduling can be application specific
in the user level thread.
 User level threads are fast to create and
manage.
Disadvantages
 In a typical operating system, most
system calls are blocking.
 Multithreaded application cannot take
advantage of multiprocessing.
Kernel Level Threads
In this case, thread management is done by
the Kernel. There is no thread management
code in the application area. Kernel
threads are supported directly by the
operating system. Any application can be
programmed to be multithreaded. All of
the threads within an application are
supported within a single process.
The Kernel maintains context information
for the process as a whole and for
individuals threads within the process.
Scheduling by the Kernel is done on a
thread basis. The Kernel performs thread
creation, scheduling and management in
Kernel space. Kernel threads are generally
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slower to create and manage than the user

threads.
Advantages
 Kernel can simultaneously schedule
multiple threads from the same process
on multiple processes.
 If one thread in a process is blocked,
the Kernel can schedule another thread
of the same process.
 Kernel routines themselves can be
multithreaded.
Disadvantages
 Kernel threads are generally slower to
create and manage than the user threads.
 Transfer of control from one thread to another within the same process requires
a mode switch to the Kernel.
Multithreading Models
Some operating system provide a combined user level thread and Kernel level thread
facility. Solaris is a good example of this combined approach. In a combined system,
multiple threads within the same application can run in parallel on multiple processors
and a blocking system call need not block the entire process. Multithreading models
are three types
 Many to many relationship.
 Many to one relationship.
 One to one relationship.
Many to Many Model
 The many-to-many model multiplexes any number of user threads onto an equal or
smaller number of kernel threads.
 The following diagram shows the many-to-many threading model where 6 user level
threads are multiplexing with 6 kernel level threads.
 In this model, developers can create as many user threads as necessary and the
corresponding Kernel threads can run in parallel on a multiprocessor machine.
 This model provides the best accuracy on concurrency and when a thread performs a
blocking system call, the kernel can schedule another thread for execution.

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Many to One Model

Many-to-one model maps many user level threads to one Kernel-level thread. Thread
management is done in user space by the thread library. When thread makes a
blocking system call, the entire process will be blocked. Only one thread can access
the Kernel at a time, so multiple threads are unable to run in parallel on
multiprocessors.
If the user-level thread libraries are implemented in the operating system in such a
way that the system does not support them, then the Kernel threads use the many-to-
one relationship modes.

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One to One Model

There is one-to-one relationship of user-level thread to the kernel-level thread. This
model provides more concurrency than the many-to-one model. It also allows another
thread to run when a thread makes a blocking system call. It supports multiple threads
to execute in parallel on microprocessors.
Disadvantage of this model is that creating user thread requires the corresponding
Kernel thread. OS/2, windows NT and windows 2000 use one to one relationship
model.

Difference between User-Level & Kernel-Level Thread

S.N. User-Level Threads Kernel-Level Thread

User-level threads are faster to create Kernel-level threads are slower to

1
and manage. create and manage.

Implementation is by a thread library at Operating system supports creation of

2
the user level. Kernel threads.

User-level thread is generic and can Kernel-level thread is specific to the

3
run on any operating system. operating system.

Multi-threaded applications cannot take Kernel routines themselves can be

4
advantage of multiprocessing. multithreaded.

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