Chapter 1: Introduction

Operating System Concepts – 9th Edit9on Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne

 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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 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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 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, device controllers connect
through common bus providing access to shared
memory
 Concurrent execution of CPUs and devices
competing for memory cycles

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 Operating System Services
 One set of operating-system services provides
functions that are helpful to the user:
 User interface - Almost all operating systems have a user
interface (UI)
 Varies between Command-Line (CLI), Graphics User
Interface (GUI), Batch
 Program execution - The system must be able to load a
program into memory and to run that program, end
execution, either normally or abnormally (indicating error)
 I/O operations - A running program may require I/O, which
may involve a file or an I/O device.
 File-system manipulation - The file system is of particular
interest. Obviously, programs need to read and write files
and directories, create and delete them, search them, list
file Information, permission management.

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 Operating System Services (Cont.)
 One set of operating-system services provides
functions that are helpful to the user (Cont):
 Communications – Processes may exchange information,
on the same computer or between computers over a
network
 Communications may be via shared memory or through
message passing (packets moved by the OS)
 Error detection – OS needs to be constantly aware of
possible errors
 May occur in the CPU and memory hardware, in I/O
devices, in user program
 For each type of error, OS should take the appropriate
action to ensure correct and consistent computing
 Debugging facilities can greatly enhance the user’s and
programmer’s abilities to efficiently use the system

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 Operating System Services (Cont.)
 Another set of OS functions exists for ensuring the efficient operation of the
system itself via resource sharing
 Resource allocation - When multiple users or multiple jobs running
concurrently, resources must be allocated to each of them
 Many types of resources - Some (such as CPU cycles,mainmemory,
and file storage) may have special allocation code, others (such as
I/O devices) may have general request and release code.
 Accounting - To keep track of which users use how much and what
kinds of computer resources
 Protection and security - The owners of information stored in a multiuser
or networked computer system may want to control use of that
information, concurrent processes should not interfere with each other
 Protection involves ensuring that all access to system resources is
controlled
 Security of the system from outsiders requires user authentication,
extends to defending external I/O devices from invalid access
attempts
 If a system is to be protected and secure, precautions must be
instituted throughout it. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

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 Operating System Design and
Implementation

 Design and Implementation of OS not “solvable”, but some

approaches have proven successful
 Internal structure of different Operating Systems can
vary widely
 Start by defining goals and specifications
 Affected by choice of hardware, type of system
 User goals and System goals
 User goals – operating system should be convenient to
use, easy to learn, reliable, safe, and fast
 System goals – operating system should be easy to
design, implement, and maintain, as well as flexible,
reliable, error-free, and efficient

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 Operating System Design and Implementation
(Cont.)

 Important principle to separate

Policy: What will be done?
Mechanism: How to do it?
 Mechanisms determine how to do something, policies
decide what will be done
 The separation of policy from mechanism is a very
important principle, it allows maximum flexibility if
policy decisions are to be changed later

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 Simple Structure
 MS-DOS – written to provide the most functionality in the
least space
 Not divided into modules
 Although MS-DOS has some structure, its interfaces
and levels of functionality are not well separated

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 MS-DOS Layer Structure

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 Layered Approach
 The operating system is divided into a number of layers
(levels), each built on top of lower layers. The bottom
layer (layer 0), is the hardware; the highest (layer N) is the
user interface.
 With modularity, layers are selected such that each uses
functions (operations) and services of only lower-level
layers

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 Layered Operating System

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 UNIX

 UNIX – limited by hardware functionality, the original

UNIX operating system had limited structuring. The
UNIX OS consists of two separable parts
 Systems programs
 The kernel
 Consists of everything below the system-call
interface and above the physical hardware
 Provides the file system, CPU scheduling, memory
management, and other operating-system
functions; a large number of functions for one level

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 UNIX System Structure

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 Microkernel System Structure
 Moves as much from the kernel into “user” space
 Communication takes place between user modules using
message passing
 Benefits:
 Easier to extend a microkernel
 Easier to port the operating system to new
architectures
 More reliable (less code is running in kernel mode)
 More secure
 Detriments:
 Performance overhead of user space to kernel space
communication

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 Microkernel System Structure

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 Modules
 Most modern operating systems implement kernel
modules
 Uses object-oriented approach
 Each core component is separate
 Each talks to the others over known interfaces
 Each is loadable as needed within the kernel
 Overall, similar to layers but with more flexible

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 Solaris Modular Approach

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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
 I/O is from the device to local buffer of controller
 Device controller informs CPU that it has finished
its operation by causing an interrupt

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 System Boot
 Operating system must be made available to hardware so
hardware can start it
 Small piece of code – bootstrap loader, locates the
kernel, loads it into memory, and starts it
 Sometimes two-step process where boot block at fixed
location loads bootstrap loader
 When power initialized on system, execution starts at a
fixed memory location
 Firmware used to hold initial boot code

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 Types of Operating System
 Single Programming System
 Batch Processing Operating System
 Multi- Programming Operating System
 Multi Tasking Operating System
 Network Operating System
 Real time operating System
 Hard
 Soft

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 Types Of Operating System
 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

 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
 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
 Increasingly CPUs support multi-mode operations
 i.e. virtual machine manager (VMM) mode for
guest VMs

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 Transition from User to Kernel Mode
 Timer to prevent infinite loop / process hogging resources
 Timer is set to interrupt the computer after some time
period
 Keep a counter that is decremented by the physical
clock.
 Operating system set the counter (privileged instruction)
 When counter zero generate an interrupt
 Set up before scheduling process to regain control or
terminate program that exceeds allotted time

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 System Calls

 System calls: The mechanism used by an

application program to request service from the
operating system. System calls often use a
special machine code instruction which causes
the processor to change mode (e.g. to
"supervisor mode" or "protected mode"). This
allows the OS to perform restricted actions such
as accessing hardware devices or the memory
management unit.

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 System Calls
 Programming interface to the services provided by the
OS
 Typically written in a high-level language (C or C++)
 Mostly accessed by programs via a high-level
Application Programming Interface (API) rather than
direct system call use
 Three most common APIs are Win32 API for Windows,
POSIX API for POSIX-based systems (including
virtually all versions of UNIX, Linux, and Mac OS X),
and Java API for the Java virtual machine (JVM)

Note that the system-call names used throughout this

text are generic

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 System Calls
 Programming interface to the services provided by the
OS
 Typically written in a high-level language (C or C++)
 Mostly accessed by programs via a high-level
Application Programming Interface (API) rather than
direct system call use
 Three most common APIs are Win32 API for Windows,
POSIX API for POSIX-based systems (including
virtually all versions of UNIX, Linux, and Mac OS X),
and Java API for the Java virtual machine (JVM)

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 Example of Standard API

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 Steps in Making a System Call

There are 11 steps in making the system call

read (fd, buffer, nbytes)
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 Some System Calls For Process
Management

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 Some System Calls For File
Management

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 Some System Calls For Directory
Management

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 Some System Calls For Miscellaneous
Tasks

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 System Calls (5)

Some Win32 API calls

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 System Call Implementation
 Typically, a number associated with each system call
 System-call interface maintains a table indexed
according to these numbers
 The system call interface invokes the intended
system call in OS kernel and returns status of the
system call and any return values
 The caller need know nothing about how the system
call is implemented
 Just needs to obey API and understand what OS
will do as a result call
 Most details of OS interface hidden from
programmer by API
 Managed by run-time support library (set of
functions built into libraries included with
compiler)

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 API – System Call – OS Relationship

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 System Call Parameter Passing
 Often, more information is required than simply
identity of desired system call
 Exact type and amount of information vary
according to OS and call
 Three general methods used to pass parameters to
the OS
 Simplest: pass the parameters in registers
 In some cases, may be more parameters than
registers
 Parameters stored in a block, or table, in memory,
and address of block passed as a parameter in a
register
 This approach taken by Linux and Solaris
 Block and stack methods do not limit the number
or length of parameters being passed

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 Parameter Passing via Table

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 Standard C Library Example
 C program invoking printf() library call, which calls
write() system call

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 Types of System Calls
 Process control
 create process, terminate process
 end, abort
 load, execute
 get process attributes, set process attributes
 wait for time
 wait event, signal event
 allocate and free memory
 Dump memory if error
 Debugger for determining bugs, single step execution
 Locks for managing access to shared data between
processes

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 Types of System Calls

 File management
 create file, delete file
 open, close file
 read, write, reposition
 get and set file attributes
 Device management
 request device, release device
 read, write, reposition
 get device attributes, set device attributes
 logically attach or detach devices

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 Types of System Calls (Cont.)

 Information maintenance
 get time or date, set time or date
 get system data, set system data
 get and set process, file, or device attributes
 Communications
 create, delete communication connection
 send, receive messages if message passing
model to host name or process name
 From client to server
 Shared-memory model create and gain access to
memory regions
 transfer status information
 attach and detach remote devices

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 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

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 Examples of Windows and Unix System Calls

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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 deallocating memory space as
needed

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