Introduction to Operating

System
Absence of operating system

Presence of Operating System

 Abstract view of components of a computer
system
Role of OS from user perspective
• From single user end, OS
 A computer system consist of must max the work
 The hardware • Users connected to servers
 The CPU, Memory, I/O devices or in a network, OS must
max resource utilization
 The operating system
 The application program
 Word Processor, Spreadsheet, compilers, web browsers
 The users
Role of OS from system
 People, Machines, other computers perspective
• Should execute user
program
• Control I/O devices
What is Operating System?
 A large and complex software component for the operation
and control of the computer system.
 It acts as an intermediary between a user and the computer
system.
 A provider of services to user programs
 A huge resource manager
Defining Operating System
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“An Operating system is a program that controls the

execution of application programs and acts as an interface
between the user of a computer and the computer hardware.”
 Kernel – the one program running at all times on the
computer
 Control program – controls the execution of user programs
and operations of I/O devices .
 Resource allocator – manages and allocates resources.
 For multiple users, OS creates an environment wherein users get a
feel of accessing all computing resources “simultaneously”: CPU
time, Memory (RAM, swap, working set, virtual,..), File system
(storage space), I/O devices (Display, Printers, Mouse,..), Clock
Why we need OS?

 Convenience: An OS makes a computer more convenient to use.

 Efficiency: An OS allows the computer system resources to be used

in an efficient manner.

 Ability to Evolve: An OS should be constructed in such a way as to

permit the effective development, testing and introduction of new
system functions without at the same time interfering with service.
Types of Operating system

 Batch Processing operating system

 Time sharing or Multi user operating system
 Multi Tasking operating system
 Real TIME Operating system
 Multi Processor Operating system
 Embedded Operating system
Common Operating System

 Windows family of operating systems developed by Microsoft

 The Macintosh operating systems developed by Apple
 The UNIX family of operating systems (Developed by a whole
history of individuals, corporations and collaborators)
 Other operating systems available for special-purpose applications
 specializations for mainframes
 Robotics
 Manufacturing
 Real-time control systems
 Mobile
Operating System Services

 User Operating System Services

 Operating System Services for System

User Operating System Services
1. Program execution – The OS must be capable to load a program into memory
and to run it.

2. I/O operations – Since user programs cannot execute I/O operations directly, the
OS must provide some means to perform I/O.

3. File-system manipulation – OS must support the programs to read, write,

create, and delete files. Also search files, list file information and include
permission management of files & directories.
4. Communications – OS should perform exchange of information between
processes executing either on the same computer or on different systems tied
together by a network.
5. Error detection – OS needs to be constantly aware of possible errors (memory
error, power failure, I/O error, program error). OS should take appropriate action
and ensure correct & consistent computing.
Operating System Services for System

 Resource allocation

 Accounting

 Protection and security

OS Components

 An Operating system is concerned with the allocation of resources

and services, such as memory, processors, devices and information.
The Operating System correspondingly includes programs to
manage these resources:-
1. Process Management
2. Main Memory Management
3. File Management
4. I/O System Management
5. Secondary Management
6. Distributed System
7. Protection and Security
 1. Process Management

 A program in execution is a Process.

 Eg. Compiler, word-processing program, sending output to printer.
 A process is the unit of work in a system.
 A system = Operating system processes + User processes.
[ Executing concurrently by multiplexing CPU ]
 To accomplish its task, a process needs certain resources, including CPU time, memory,
files, and I/O devices.
 The OS is responsible for following activities in concern with Process Management.
 Process creation and deletion.
 Process Scheduling (priority, time management, . . . )
 Process suspension and resumption.
 Mechanisms for process synchronization and communication.
 Mechanisms for deadlock handling.
 2. Main Memory Management
 Memory is a large array of words or bytes, each with its own address.
 It is a quickly accessible data shared by CPU and I/O devices.
 The OS is responsible for following activities in concern with memory
management:
 Keep track of which parts of memory are currently being used and by whom.
 Decide which processes to load when memory space becomes available.
 Allocate and deallocate memory space as needed.
 Keep track of who's using what memory.
 Movement of process memory to/from secondary storage.
 Memory management is the functionality of an operating system which handles or
manages primary memory. Memory management keeps track of each and every memory
location 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.
 Memory management provides protection by using two registers, a base register and a
limit register. The base register holds the smallest legal physical memory address and the
limit register specifies the size of the range. For example, if the base register holds 300000
and the limit register is 1209000, then the program can legally access all addresses from
300000 through 411999.
3. File Management
 A file is a collection of related information defined by its creator.
 Commonly, files represent programs files (both source and object forms) and data files
(numeric, alphabetic, alphanumeric or binary) .
 Files are normally organized into directories to make them easier to use.
 OS performs file management by managing devices ( Magnetic disk, optical disk,
magnetic tape) that control them.
 The OS is responsible for following activities in concern with file management:
 File creation and deletion.
 Directory creation and deletion to organize files.
 Support of primitives for accessing and manipulating files and directories
 File security
 Mapping files onto secondary storage
 Backing up files on stable (nonvolatile) storage media.
4. I/O System Management

 The I/O system consists of several components:

 Drivers for specific hardware devices
 A general device-driver interface
 Buffering, caching and spooling system
 The OS is responsible for following activities in concern with I/O management:
 Servicing requests to use IO devices
 Sharing devices between users and processes
 Hiding device peculiarities using device drivers
 Optimizing device performance
 IO error handling
 Buffering and caching
5. Secondary Storage Management

 Secondary storage back ups main memory.

 Secondary storage is required since:
 Main memory is too small to accommodate all data & programs
 Also the data in it is lost when power is lost.
 The OS is responsible for following activities in concern with Secondary management:
 Managing Disks, tapes, optical, ...

 Free space management ( paging/swapping )

 Storage allocation ( what data goes where on disk )

 Disk scheduling
Distributed System

 A distributed system is a collection computer systems that are connected through a

communication network.
 Distributed system provide users with the access to various resources that the system
maintains.
 This increases computation speed, functionality, data availability and reliability.
 The OS is responsible for following activities in concern with Distributed System:
 Communication system between distributed processors.
 Getting information about files/processes/etc. on a remote machine.
 Can use either a message passing or a shared memory model.
Protection and Security

 Protection refers to a mechanism for internally controlling access of programs, processes,

and users to system and user resources.
 Protection can improve reliability by detecting latent errors at the interfaces between
component subsystems.
 The OS is responsible for following activities in concern with Protection and Security:
 Distinguish between authorized and unauthorized usage.
 Specify the controls to be imposed.

****
Operating System Structure
 Structuring tells how an OS is put together.
 A proper structure is essential for proper functioning of OS.
 Structuring means partitioning the task into small components.
 Each of these modules will be a well defined portion of the system ,
with carefully defined inputs, outputs & functions.
 The interconnection of OS components are leading to following
structures:
 Simple structure
 Layered Approach
1. Simple Structure
 Example of MS-DOS

• This is an inefficient structuring of OS.

• Application programs have a direct
access to basic I/O routines.
• The interfaces and level of functionality
are not well separated.
• Errant or malicious programs can cause
the entire system to crash.
 2. Layered Structure
 Here OS is divided into pieces that are smaller & appropriate
 The operating system is
divided into a number of
layers (levels), each built on
top of lower layers.
 The bottom layer is the K
e
hardware; the highest is the r
user interface. n
e
l
2. Layered Structure

 Advantages:
 Simplicity of construction of OS and its debugging.
 OS can retain a proper control over the system and over its applications.
 Gives freedom in modifying the OS.
 Difficulties:
 Involves appropriately defining the various layers.
 Each layer adds overhead to the system calls, the net result is that system
takes longer time than a non-layered structure.
System Calls

 System calls provide an interface to the services made available by an OS.

 System calls are generally available as routines written in C and C++.
 Eg.

copy
Source File Destination File

System Calls invoked?

 System Calls Print message to console and terminate
abnormally

Source File Destination File

 System calls invoked are: a. No i/p file of that name exists

b. File access protection

Possible a. O/p file of that name exists

1. Open the input file
b. File access protection
2. Create the output file Errors

3. Loop
Program may abort, or may i. Read from input file Possible a. Hardware failure in read
delete existing file and create b. No more disk space
ii. Write to output file Errors
a new one
4. Write completion message to screen
5. Terminate normally
 System Calls
• A system-call interface that serves as the link to system calls made available by the
OS.

• The User needs to know nothing about how the system call is implemented or what it
does during execution.

• A number is associated with each system call,

and the system-call interface maintains a
table indexed according to these numbers.
The system call interface then
invokes the intended system call
in the operating system kernel
and returns the status of the system
call and any return values.
Types of System Calls
 Process control
 end, abort
 load, execute
 create process, terminate process
 get process attributes, set process attributes
 wait for time
 wait event, signal event
 allocate and free memory
 File management
 create file, delete file
 open, close
 read, write, reposition
 get file attributes, set file attributes
Types of System Calls
 Device management
 request device, release device
 read, write, reposition
 get device attributes, set device attributes
 logically attach or detach devices
 Information maintenance
 get time or date, set time or date
 get system data, set system data
 get process, file, or device attributes
 set process, file, or device attributes
 Communications
 create, delete communication connection
 send, receive messages
 transfer status information
 attach or detach remote devices
Buffering in OS
 What is Buffering?A buffer is a region of memory used to temporarily hold data while it
is being moved between two devices or between a device and an application.
 Buffering is done for three reasons:
 To cope with the speed mismatch between the producer and consumer of a data stream.
 Eg:- Modem --------------------------------------------------------------------------->Hard disk
Data transfer
[Slower Device]-------- [Buffer in main memory]----------------- [Fast device]
Accumulate data Write in one operation
 To cope between devices that have different data-transfer sizes.
 Eg: In Networks, where large data is fragmented in Tx side, the Rx side reassembles these packets

 To support “copy semantics” for I/O application.

 Output Buffering:- Processor stores data in buffer, O/P device then takes from it
 Input Buffering:- Data transferred from I/P channel is buffered, the processor then access
the data from buffer.

Pg.
Types of Buffering in OS
1. Single Buffering When a user process issues an I/O request, the operating system
assigns a buffer in the system portion of main memory to the operation. Input transfers are
made to the system buffer. When the transfer is complete, the process moves the block into
user space and immediately requests another block.

2. Double BufferingAn improvement over single buffering can be done by assigning two
system buffers to operation. A process now transfers data to one buffer while the operating
system empties the other. This technique is known as double buffering or buffer
swapping.
Types of Buffering in OS

3. Circular Buffering Double buffering may be inadequate if the process performs rapid
bursts of I/O. In this case, the problem can be solved by using more than one buffer. When
more than two buffers are used, the collection of buffers is itself referred to as a circular
buffer.
Caching in OS
 A Cache is a region of fast memory that holds copies of data.
 Where is it needed? 
 During a process execution, a memory access may take many CPU clock to complete. The
remedy is to add a fast memory between CPU and main memory.
 Access to cached copy is more efficient than access to the original data.
 Cache are used to store currently running process.
 Cache are large enough to store entire tracks at a time.
Spooling

 SPOOL Simultaneous Peripheral Operation On-Line

 Spool is a buffer that holds output for a device, such as printer, that
cannot accept interleaved data stream.
 High speed device transfers the data to the spool. Low speed device
gets the data from the spool.
 Spooling can keep both the CPU and the I/O devices working at
much higher rates
 Performance of the system is increased.