Subject: Operating System

Unit III: Memory Management

 Memory Management
Memory management is the functionality of an operating system which handles or
manages primary memory and moves processes back and forth between main memory and disk
during execution. Memory management keeps track of each and every memory location, regardless
of either it is allocated to some process or it is free. It checks how much memory is to be allocated to
processes. It decides which process will get memory at what time. It tracks whenever some
memory gets freed or unallocated and correspondingly it updates the status.

 Paging

A computer can address more memory than the amount physically installed on the system.
This extra memory is actually called virtual memory and it is a section of a hard that's set up to
emulate the computer's RAM. Paging technique plays an important role in implementing virtual
memory.
Paging is a memory management technique in which process address space is broken into blocks of
the same size called pages (size is power of 2, between 512 bytes and 8192 bytes). The size of the
process is measured in the number of pages.
Similarly, main memory is divided into small fixed-sized blocks of (physical) memory
called frames and the size of a frame is kept the same as that of a page to have optimum utilization
of the main memory and to avoid external fragmentation.
Address Translation
Page address is called logical address and represented by page number and the offset.
Logical Address = Page number + page offset
Frame address is called physical address and represented by a frame number and the offset.
Physical Address = Frame number + page offset
A data structure called page map table is used to keep track of the relation between a page of a
process to a frame in physical memory.

When the system allocates a frame to any page, it translates this logical address into a
physical address and creates entry into the page table to be used throughout execution of the
program.
When a process is to be executed, its corresponding pages are loaded into any available memory
frames. Suppose you have a program of 8Kb but your memory can accommodate only 5Kb at a
given point in time, then the paging concept will come into picture. When a computer runs out of
RAM, the operating system (OS) will move idle or unwanted pages of memory to secondary
memory to free up RAM for other processes and brings them back when needed by the program.
This process continues during the whole execution of the program where the OS keeps removing
idle pages from the main memory and write them onto the secondary memory and bring them back
when required by the program.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Paging
Here is a list of advantages and disadvantages of paging −
 Paging’s reduces external fragmentation, but still suffer from internal fragmentation.
 Paging is simple to implement and assumed as an efficient memory management technique.
 Due to equal size of the pages and frames, swapping becomes very easy.
 Page table requires extra memory space, so may not be good for a system having small RAM.
  Segmentation

Segmentation is a memory management technique in which each job is divided into

several segments of different sizes, one for each module that contains pieces that perform related
functions. Each segment is actually a different logical address space of the program.
When a process is to be executed, its corresponding segmentation are loaded into non-contiguous
memory though every segment is loaded into a contiguous block of available memory.
Segmentation memory management works very similar to paging but here segments are of
variable-length where as in paging pages are of fixed size.
A program segment contains the program's main function, utility functions, data structures, and so
on. The operating system maintains a segment map table for every process and a list of free
memory blocks along with segment numbers, their size and corresponding memory locations in
main memory. For each segment, the table stores the starting address of the segment and the length
of the segment. A reference to a memory location includes a value that identifies a segment and an
offset.
  Demand Paging

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.
Advantages
Following are the advantages of Demand Paging −

 Large virtual memory.

 More efficient use of memory.
 There is no limit on degree of multiprogramming.
Disadvantages
 Number of tables and the amount of processor overhead for handling page interrupts are
greater than in the case of the simple paged management techniques.
  Page Replacement Algorithm

Page replacement algorithms are the techniques using which an Operating System decides which
memory pages to swap out, write to disk when a page of memory needs to be allocated. Paging
happens whenever a page fault occurs and a free page cannot be used for allocation purpose
accounting to reason that pages are not available or the number of free pages is lower than
required pages.
When the page that was selected for replacement and was paged out, is referenced again, it has to
read in from disk, and this requires for I/O completion. This process determines the quality of the
page replacement algorithm: the lesser the time waiting for page-ins, the better is the algorithm.
A page replacement algorithm looks at the limited information about accessing the pages provided
by hardware, and tries to select which pages should be replaced to minimize the total number of
page misses, while balancing it with the costs of primary storage and processor time of the
algorithm itself. There are many different page replacement algorithms. We evaluate an algorithm
by running it on a particular string of memory reference and computing the number of page faults,

Reference String

The string of memory references is called reference string. Reference strings are generated
artificially or by tracing a given system and recording the address of each memory reference. The
latter choice produces a large number of data, where we note two things.
 For a given page size, we need to consider only the page number, not the entire address.
 If we have a reference to a page p, then any immediately following references to page p will
never cause a page fault. Page p will be in memory after the first reference; the immediately
following references will not fault.
 For example, consider the following sequence of addresses − 123,215,600,1234,76,96
 If page size is 100, then the reference string is 1,2,6,12,0,0

1. First In First Out (FIFO) algorithm

 Oldest page in main memory is the one which will be selected for replacement.
 Easy to implement, keep a list, replace pages from the tail and add new pages at the head.
2. Optimal Page algorithm

 An optimal page-replacement algorithm has the lowest page-fault rate of all algorithms. An
optimal page-replacement algorithm exists, and has been called OPT or MIN.
 Replace the page that will not be used for the longest period of time. Use the time when a
page is to be used.

3. Least Recently Used (LRU) algorithm

 Page which has not been used for the longest time in main memory is the one which will be
selected for replacement.
 Easy to implement, keep a list, replace pages by looking back into time.
 4. Page Buffering algorithm

 To get a process start quickly, keep a pool of free frames.

 On page fault, select a page to be replaced.
 Write the new page in the frame of free pool, mark the page table and restart the process.
 Now write the dirty page out of disk and place the frame holding replaced page in free pool.

5. Least frequently Used(LFU) algorithm

 The page with the smallest count is the one which will be selected for replacement.
 This algorithm suffers from the situation in which a page is used heavily during the initial
phase of a process, but then is never used again.

6. Most frequently Used(MFU) algorithm

 This algorithm is based on the argument that the page with the smallest count was probably
just brought in and has yet to be used.

 Contiguous Allocation
A contiguous memory allocation is a memory management technique where
whenever there is a request by the user process for the memory, a single section of the
contiguous memory block is given to that process according to its requirement.
It is achieved by dividing the memory into fixed-sized partitions or variable-sized
partitions. If the blocks are allocated to the file in such a way that all the logical blocks of the file
get the contiguous physical block in the hard disk then such allocation scheme is known as
contiguous allocation. There are three files in the directory. The starting block and the length of
each file are mentioned in the table. We can check in the table that the contiguous blocks are
assigned to each file as per its need.
Advantages

1. It is simple to implement.
2. We will get Excellent read performance.
3. Supports Random Access into files.

Disadvantages

1. The disk will become fragmented.

2. It may be difficult to have a file grow.

 Difference between Paging and Segmentation.

S.NO Paging Segmentation

In paging, the program is divided into In segmentation, the program is divided into
1. fixed or mounted size pages. variable size sections.

For the paging operating system is

2. accountable. For segmentation compiler is accountable.

3. Page size is determined by hardware. Here, the section size is given by the user.

It is faster in comparison to
4. segmentation. Segmentation is slow.

Paging could result in internal Segmentation could result in external

5. fragmentation. fragmentation.

In paging, the logical address is split into Here, the logical address is split into section
6. a page number and page offset. number and section offset.

While segmentation also comprises the

Paging comprises a page table that segment table which encloses segment
7. encloses the base address of every page. number and segment offset.

The page table is employed to keep up

8. the page data. Section Table maintains the section data.
 S.NO Paging Segmentation

In paging, the operating system must In segmentation, the operating system

9. maintain a free frame list. maintains a list of holes in the main memory.

10. Paging is invisible to the user. Segmentation is visible to the user.

In paging, the processor needs the page In segmentation, the processor uses segment
number, and offset to calculate the number, and offset to calculate the full
11. absolute address. address.

It is hard to allow sharing of procedures Facilitates sharing of procedures between the

12. between processes. processes.

In paging, a programmer cannot

13 efficiently handle data structure. It can efficiently handle data structures.

14. This protection is hard to apply. Easy to apply for protection in segmentation.

The size of the page needs always be There is no constraint on the size of
15. equal to the size of frames. segments.

A page is referred to as a physical unit of A segment is referred to as a logical unit of

16. information. information.

Segmentation results in a more efficient

17. Paging results in a less efficient system. system.

 Segmented Paging/Segmentation with paging

Pure segmentation is not very popular and not being used in many of the operating systems.
However, Segmentation can be combined with Paging to get the best features out of both the
techniques. In Segmented Paging, the main memory is divided into variable size segments which
are further divided into fixed size pages.

1. Pages are smaller than segments.

2. Each Segment has a page table which means every program has multiple page tables.
3. The logical address is represented as Segment Number (base address), Page number and
page offset.
Segment Number → It points to the appropriate Segment Number.

Page Number → It Points to the exact page within the segment

Page Offset → Used as an offset within the page frame

Each Page table contains the various information about every page of the segment. The Segment
Table contains the information about every segment. Each segment table entry points to a page
table entry and every page table entry is mapped to one of the page within a segment.

Translation of logical address to physical address

The CPU generates a logical address which is divided into two parts: Segment Number and
Segment Offset. The Segment Offset must be less than the segment limit. Offset is further divided
into Page number and Page Offset. To map the exact page number in the page table, the page
number is added into the page table base. The actual frame number with the page offset is mapped
to the main memory to get the desired word in the page of the certain segment of the process.
Advantages of Segmented Paging

1. It reduces memory usage.

2. Page table size is limited by the segment size.
3. Segment table has only one entry corresponding to one actual segment.
4. External Fragmentation is not there.
5. It simplifies memory allocation.

Disadvantages of Segmented Paging

1. Internal Fragmentation will be there.

2. The complexity level will be much higher as compare to paging.
3. Page Tables need to be contiguously stored in the memory.

 Page Fault
A page fault occurs when a program attempts to access data or code that is in its address space,
but is not currently located in the system RAM.
 The computer hardware traps to the kernel and program counter (PC) is saved on the stack.
Current instruction state information is saved in CPU registers.
 An assembly program is started to save the general registers and other volatile information to
keep the OS from destroying it.
 Operating system finds that a page fault has occurred and tries to find out which virtual page
is needed. Sometimes hardware register contains this required information. If not, the
operating system must retrieve PC, fetch instruction and find out what it was doing when the
fault occurred.
 Once virtual address caused page fault is known, system checks to see if address is valid and
checks if there is no protection access problem.
 If the virtual address is valid, the system checks to see if a page frame is free. If no frames are
free, the page replacement algorithm is run to remove a page.
 If frame selected is dirty, page is scheduled for transfer to disk, context switch takes place,
fault process is suspended and another process is made to run until disk transfer is
completed.
 As soon as page frame is clean, operating system looks up disk address where needed page is,
schedules disk operation to bring it in.
 When disk interrupt indicates page has arrived, page tables are updated to reflect its position,
and frame marked as being in normal state.
 Faulting instruction is backed up to state it had when it began and PC is reset. Faulting is
scheduled, operating system returns to routine that called it.
 Assembly Routine reloads register and other state information, returns to user space to
continue execution.

 Thrashing in Operating System

In case, if the page fault and swapping happens very frequently at a higher rate, then the
operating system has to spend more time swapping these pages. This state in the operating system
is termed thrashing. Because of thrashing the CPU utilization is going to be reduced.

Example, if any process does not have the number of frames that it needs to support pages in active
use then it will quickly page fault. And at this point, the process must replace some pages. As all the
pages of the process are actively in use, it must replace a page that will be needed again right away.
Consequently, the process will quickly fault again, and again, and again, replacing pages that it must
bring back in immediately. This high paging activity by a process is called thrashing.

During thrashing, the CPU spends less time on some actual productive work spend more time
swapping.

Figure: Thrashing

Causes of Thrashing

Thrashing affects the performance of execution in the Operating system. Also, thrashing results in
severe performance problems in the Operating system.

When the utilization of CPU is low, then the process scheduling mechanism tries to load many
processes into the memory at the same time due to which degree of Multiprogramming can be
increased. Now in this situation, there are more processes in the memory as compared to the
available number of frames in the memory. Allocation of the limited amount of frames to each
process.

Whenever any process with high priority arrives in the memory and if the frame is not freely
available at that time then the other process that has occupied the frame is residing in the frame
will move to secondary storage and after that this free frame will be allocated to higher priority
process.