Operating Systems--[CS-604] Lecture No.

Operating Systems
Lecture No. 1
Reading Material
Operating Systems Concepts, Chapter 1
PowerPoint Slides for Lecture 1

Summary
Introduction and purpose of the course
Organization of a computer system
Purpose of a computer system
Requirements for achieving the purpose – Setting the stage for OS concepts and
principles
Outline of topics to be discussed
What is an Operating System?

Organization of a Computer System

As shown in Figure 1.1, the major high-level components of a computer system are:
1. Hardware, which provides basic computing resources (CPU, memory, I/O
devices).
Operating system, which
manages the use of the 2. Operating system, which manages the use of the hardware among the various
hardware among the
various
application programs for the various users and provides the user a relatively
application programs for simple machine to use.
the various users and
provides the user a
3. Applications programs that define the ways in which system resources are used
relatively to solve the computing problems of the users (compilers, database systems, video
simple machine to use
games, business programs).
4. Users, which include people, machines, other computers.

Figure 1.1. High-level components of a computer system

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Purpose of a Computer—Setting the Stage for OS Concepts and Principles
Computer systems consist of software and hardware that are combined to provide a tool
to implement solutions for specific problems in an efficient manner and to execute
programs. Figure 1.2 shows the general organization of a contemporary computer system
and how various system components are interconnected.

Integer Control Keyboard Mouse

Unit Unit
CD
Floating Point
Unit
Cache
Processor
System Bus
Mem HD
Bus

RAM/ROM Printer
Monitor
Figure 1.2. Organization of a Computer System

Viewing things closely will reveal that the primary purpose of a computer system is
to generate executable programs and execute them. The following are some of the main
issues involved in performing these tasks.
1. Storing an executable on a secondary storage device such as hard disk
2. Loading executable from disk into the main memory
3. Setting the CPU state appropriately so that program execution could begin
4. Creating multiple cooperating processes, synchronizing their access to shared
data, and allowing them to communicate with each other
The above issues require the operating system to provide the following services and
much more:
Manage secondary storage devices
Allocate appropriate amount of disk space when files are created
Deallocate space when files are removing
Insure that a new file does not overwrite an existing file
Schedule disk requests
Manage primary storage
Allocate appropriate amount of memory space when programs are to be
loaded into the memory for executing
Deallocate space when processes terminate
Insure that a new process is not loaded on top of an existing process
Insure that a process does not access memory space that does not belong to it
Minimize the amount of unused memory space
Allow execution of programs larger in size than the available main memory
Manage processes

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 Allow simultaneous execution of processes by scheduling the CPU(s)
Prevent deadlocks between processes
Insure integrity of shared data
Synchronize executions of cooperating processes
Allow a user to manage his/her files and directories properly
User view of directory structure
Provide a mechanism that allows users to protect their files and directories
In this course, we will discuss in detail these operating system services (and more),
with a particular emphasis on the UNIX and Linux operating systems. See the course
outline for details of topics and lecture schedule.

What is an Operating System?

There are two views about this. The top-down view is that it is a program that acts as an
intermediary between a user of a computer and the computer hardware, and makes the
computer system convenient to use. It is because of the operating system that users of a
computer system don’t have to deal with computer’s hardware to get their work done.
Users can use simple commands to perform various tasks and let the operating system do
the difficult work of interacting with computer hardware. Thus, you can use a command
like copy file1 file2 to copy ‘file1’ to ‘file2’ and let the operating system
communicate with the controller(s) of the disk that contain(s) the two files.
A computer system has many hardware and software resources that may be required
to solve a problem: CPU time, memory space, file storage space, I/O devices etc. The
operating system acts as the manager of these resources, facing numerous and possibly
conflicting requests for resources, the operating system must decide how (and when) to
allocate (and deallocate) them to specific programs and users so that it can operate the
computer system efficiently, fairly, and securely. So, the bottom-up view is that operating
system is a resource manager who manages the hardware and software resources in the
computer system.
A slightly different view of an operating system emphasizes the need to control the
various I/O devices and programs. An operating system is a control program that
manages the execution of user programs to prevent errors and improper use of a
computer.

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Operating Systems--[CS-604] Lecture No. 2

Operating Systems
Lecture No. 2
Reading Material
Operating Systems Concepts, Chapter 1
PowerPoint Slides for Lecture 2

Summary
Single-user systems
Batch systems
Multi programmed systems
Time-sharing systems
Real time systems
Interrupts, traps and software interrupts (UNIX signals)
Hardware protection

Single-user systems
A computer system that allows only one user to use the computer at a given time is
known as a single-user system. The goals of such systems are maximizing user
convenience and responsiveness, instead of maximizing the utilization of the CPU and
peripheral devices. Single-user systems use I/O devices such as keyboards, mice, display
screens, scanners, and small printers. They can adopt technology developed for larger
operating systems. Often individuals have sole use of computer and do not need advanced
CPU utilization and hardware protection features. They may run different types of
operating systems, including DOS, Windows, and MacOS. Linux and UNIX operating
systems can also be run in single-user mode.

Batch Systems
Early computers were large machines run from a console with card readers and tape
drives as input devices and line printers, tape drives, and card punches as output devices.
The user did not interact directly with the system; instead the user prepared a job, (which
consisted of the program, data, and some control information about the nature of the job
in the form of control cards) and submitted this to the computer operator. The job was in
the form of punch cards, and at some later time the output was generated by the system—
user didn’t get to interact with his/her job. The output consisted of the result of the
program, as well as a dump of the final memory and register contents for debugging.
To speed up processing, operators batched together jobs with similar needs, and ran
them through the computer as a group. For example, all FORTRAN programs were
complied one after the other. The major task of such an operating system was to transfer
control automatically from one job to the next. In this execution environment, the CPU is
often idle because the speeds of the mechanical I/O devices such as a tape drive are
slower than that of electronic devices. Such systems in which the user does not get to

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interact with his/her jobs and jobs with similar needs are executed in a “batch”, one after
the other, are known as batch systems. Digital Equipment Corporation’s VMS is an
example of a batch operating system.
Figure 2.1 shows the memory layout of a typical computer system, with the system
space containing operating system code and data currently in use and the user space
containing user programs (processes). In case of a batch system, the user space contains
one process at a time because only one process is executing at a given time.

Figure 2.1 Memory partitioned into user and system spaces

Multi-programmed Systems
Multi-programming increases CPU utilization by organizing jobs so that the CPU always
has one to execute. The operating system keeps several jobs in memory simultaneously,
as shown in Figure 2.2. This set of jobs is a subset of the jobs on the disk which are ready
to run but cannot be loaded into memory due to lack of space. Since the number of jobs
that can be kept simultaneously in memory is usually much smaller than the number of
jobs that can be in the job pool; the operating system picks and executes one of the jobs
in the memory. Eventually the job has to wait for some task such as an I/O operation to
complete. In a non multi-programmed system, the CPU would sit idle. In a multi-
programmed system, the operating system simply switches to, and executes another job.
When that job needs to wait, the CPU simply switches to another job and so on.

Figure 2.2 Memory layout for a multi-programmed

batch system

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 Figure 2.3 illustrates the concept of multiprogramming by using an example system
with two processes, P1 and P2. The CPU is switched from P1 to P2 when P1 finishes its
CPU burst and needs to wait for an event, and vice versa when P2 finishes it CPU burst
and has to wait for an event. This means that when one process is using the CPU, the
other is waiting for an event (such as I/O to complete). This increases the utilization of
the CPU and I/O devices as well as throughput of the system. In our example below, P1
and P2 would finish their execution in 10 time units if no multiprogramming is used and
in six time units if multiprogramming is used.

I/O Burst
CPU Burst
One unit
One unit

P1

P2

Figure 2.3 Illustration of the multiprogramming concept

All jobs that enter the system are kept in the job pool. This pool consists of all
processes residing on disk awaiting allocation of main memory. If several jobs are ready
to be brought into memory, and there is not enough room for all of them, then the system
must choose among them. This decision is called job scheduling. In addition if several
jobs are ready to run at the same time, the system must choose among them. We will
discuss CPU scheduling in Chapter 6.

Time-sharing systems
A time-sharing system is multi-user, multi-process, and interactive system. This means
that it allows multiple users to use the computer simultaneously. A user can run one or
more processes at the same time and interact with his/her processes. A time-shared
system uses multiprogramming and CPU scheduling to provide each user with a small
portion of a time-shared computer. Each user has at least one separate program in
memory. To obtain a reasonable response time, jobs may have to be swapped in and out
of main memory. UNIX, Linux, Widows NT server, and Windows 2000 server are time-
sharing systems. We will discuss various elements of time-sharing systems throughout
the course.

Real time systems

Real time systems are used when rigid time requirements are placed on the operation of a
processor or the flow of data; thus it is often used as a control device in a dedicated
application. Examples are systems that control scientific experiments, medical imaging
systems, industrial control systems and certain display systems.

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 A real time system has well defined, fixed time constraints, and if the system does
not produce output for an input within the time constraints, the system will fail. For
instance, it would not do for a robot arm to be instructed to halt after it had smashed into
the car it was building.
Real time systems come in two flavors: hard and soft. A hard real time system
guarantees that critical tasks be completed on time. This goal requires that all delays in
the system be completed on time. This goal requires that all delays in the system be
bounded, from the retrieval of stored data to the time it takes the operating system to
finish any request made of it. Secondary storage of any sort is usually limited or missing,
with data instead being stored in short-term memory or in read only memory. Most
advanced operating system features are absent too, since they tend to separate the user
from the hardware, and that separation results in uncertainty about the amount of time an
operation will take.
A less restrictive type of real time system is a soft real time system, where a critical
real-time task gets priority over other tasks, and retains that priority until it completes. As
in hard real time systems, the operating system kernel delays need to be bounded. Soft
real time is an achievable goal that can be mixed with other types of systems, whereas
hard real time systems conflict with the operation of other systems such as time-sharing
systems, and the two cannot be mixed.

Interrupts, traps and software interrupts

An interrupt is a signal generated by a hardware device (usually an I/O device) to get
CPU’s attention. Interrupt transfers control to the interrupt service routine (ISR),
generally through the interrupt vector table, which contains the addresses of all the
service routines. The interrupt service routine executes; on completion the CPU resumes
the interrupted computation. Interrupt architecture must save the address of the
interrupted instruction. Incoming interrupts are disabled while another interrupt is being
processed to prevent a lost interrupt. An operating system is an interrupt driven software.
A trap (or an exception) is a software-generated interrupt caused either by an error
(division by zero or invalid memory access) or by a user request for an operating system
service.
A signal is an event generated to get attention of a process. An example of a signal is
the event that is generated when you run a program and then press <Ctrl-C>. The
signal generated in this case is called SIGINT (Interrupt signal). Three actions are
possible on a signal:
1. Kernel-defined default action—which usually results in process termination and,
in some cases, generation of a ‘core’ file that can be used the programmer/user to
know the state of the process at the time of its termination.
2. Process can intercept the signal and ignore it.
3. Process can intercept the signal and take a programmer-defined action.
We will discuss signals in detail in some of the subsequent lectures.

Hardware Protection
Multi-programming put several programs in memory at the same time; while this
increased system utilization it also increased problems. With sharing, many processes

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could be adversely affected by a bug in one program. One erroneous program could also
modify the program or data of another program or even the resident part of the operating
system. A file may overwrite another file or folder on disk. A process may get the CPU
and never relinquish it. So the issues of hardware protection are: I/O protection, memory
protection, and CPU protection. We will discuss them one by one, but first we talk about
the dual-mode operation of a CPU.

a) Dual Mode Operation

To ensure proper operation, we must protect the operating system and all other programs
and their data from any malfunctioning program. Protection is needed for any shared
resources. Instruction set of a modern CPU has two kinds of instructions, privileged
instructions and non-privileged instructions. Privileged instructions can be used to
perform hardware operations that a normal user process should not be able to perform,
such as communicating with I/O devices. If a user process tries to execute a privileged
instruction, a trap should be generated and process should be terminated prematurely. At
the same time, a piece of operating system code should be allowed to execute privileged
instructions. In order for the CPU to be able to differentiate between a user process and
an operating system code, we need two separate modes of operation: user mode and
monitor mode (also called supervisor mode, system mode, or privileged mode). A bit,
called the mode bit, is added to the hardware of the computer to indicate the current
mode: monitor mode (0) or user mode (1). With the mode bit we are able to distinguish
between a task that is executed on behalf of the operating system and one that is executed
on behalf of the user.
The concept of privileged instructions also provides us with the means for the user to
interact with the operating system by asking it to perform some designated tasks that only
the operating system should do. A user process can request the operating system to
perform such tasks for it by executing a system call. Whenever a system call is made or
an interrupt, trap, or signal is generated, CPU mode is switched to system mode before
the relevant kernel code executes. The CPU mode is switched back to user mode before
the control is transferred back to the user process. This is illustrated by the diagram in
Figure 2.4.

Interrupt/ fault

User Monitor

Set user mode

Figure 2.4 The dual-mode operation of the CPU

b) I/O Protection
A user process may disrupt the normal operation of the system by issuing illegal I/O
instructions, by accessing memory locations within the operating system itself, or by

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refusing to relinquish the CPU. We can use various mechanisms to ensure that such
disruptions cannot take place in the system.
To prevent users from performing illegal I/O, we define all I/O instructions to be
privileged instructions. Thus users cannot issue I/O instructions directly; they must do it
through the operating system. For I/O protection to be complete, we must be sure that a
user program can never gain control of the computer in monitor mode. If it could, I/O
protection could be compromised.
Consider a computer executing in user mode. It will switch to monitor mode
whenever an interrupt or trap occurs, jumping to the address determined from the
interrupt from the interrupt vector. If a user program, as part of its execution, stores a new
address in the interrupt vector, this new address could overwrite the previous address
with an address in the user program. Then, when a corresponding trap or interrupt
occurred, the hardware would switch to monitor mode and transfer control through the
modified interrupt vector table to a user program, causing it to gain control of the
computer in monitor mode. Hence we need all I/O instructions and instructions for
changing the contents of the system space in memory to be protected. A user process
could request a privileged operation by executing a system call such as read (for reading
a file).