CPU Scheduling
Basic Concepts
• Maximum CPU utilization
obtained with
multiprogramming
• CPU–I/O Burst Cycle – Process
execution consists of a cycle of
CPU execution and I/O wait
• CPU burst followed by I/O
burst
• CPU burst distribution is of
main concern
CPU Scheduler
Short-term scheduler selects from among the processes in ready
queue, and allocates the CPU to one of them
Queue may be ordered in various ways
CPU scheduling decisions may take place when a process:
1. Switches from running to waiting state
2. Switches from running to ready state
3. Switches from waiting to ready
4. Terminates
Scheduling under 1 and 4 is nonpreemptive
All other scheduling is preemptive
Consider access to shared data
Consider preemption while in kernel mode
Consider interrupts occurring during crucial OS activities
Scheduling Criteria
• CPU utilization – keep the CPU as busy as possible
• Throughput – # of processes that complete their execution per
time unit
• Turnaround time – amount of time to execute a particular
process
• Waiting time – amount of time a process has been waiting in the
ready queue
• Response time – amount of time it takes from when a request
was submitted until the first response is produced, not output
(for time-sharing environment)
Scheduling Algorithm Optimization Criteria
• Max CPU utilization
• Max throughput
• Min turnaround time
• Min waiting time
• Min response time
First-Come, First-Served (FCFS) Scheduling
Process Burst Time
P1 24
P2 3
P3 3
• Suppose that the processes arrive in the order: P1 , P2 , P3
The Gantt Chart for the schedule is:
P1 P2 P3
• Waiting time for P1 = 0; P2 = 24; P3 = 27
• 0
Average waiting time: (0 + 24 + 27)/3 = 17 24 27 30
FCFS Scheduling (Cont.)
Suppose that the processes arrive in the order:
P2 , P3 , P1
• The Gantt chart for the schedule is:
P2 P3 P1
0 3 6 30
• Waiting time for P1 = 6; P2 = 0; P3 = 3
• Average waiting time: (6 + 0 + 3)/3 = 3
• Much better than previous case
• Convoy effect - short process behind long process
– Consider one CPU-bound and many I/O-bound processes
Shortest-Job-First (SJF) Scheduling
• Associate with each process the length of its
next CPU burst
– Use these lengths to schedule the process with the
shortest time
• SJF is optimal – gives minimum average waiting
time for a given set of processes
– The difficulty is knowing the length of the next CPU
request
– Could ask the user
Example of SJF
ProcessArriva l Time Burst Time
P1 0.0 6
P2 2.0 8
P3 4.0 7
P4 5.0 3
• SJF scheduling chart
P4 P1 P3 P2
0 3 9 16 24
• Average waiting time = (3 + 16 + 9 + 0) / 4 = 7
Example of Shortest-remaining-time-first
• Now we add the concepts of varying arrival times and preemption to the analysis
ProcessA arri Arrival TimeT Burst Time
P1 0 8
P2 1 4
P3 2 9
P4 3 5
• Preemptive SJF Gantt Chart
P1 P2 P4 P1 P3
0 1 5 10 17 26
• Average waiting time = [(10-1)+(1-1)+(17-2)+5-3)]/4 = 26/4 = 6.5 msec
Priority Scheduling
• A priority number (integer) is associated with each process
• The CPU is allocated to the process with the highest priority
(smallest integer highest priority)
– Preemptive
– Nonpreemptive
• SJF is priority scheduling where priority is the inverse of
predicted next CPU burst time
• Problem Starvation – low priority processes may never execute
• Solution Aging – as time progresses increase the priority of the
process
Example of Priority Scheduling
ProcessA arri Burst TimeT Priority
P1 10 3
P2 1 1
P3 2 4
P4 1 5
P5 5 2
• Priority scheduling Gantt Chart
P2 P5 P1 P3 P4
0 1 6 16 18 19
• Average waiting time = 8.2 msec
Round Robin (RR)
• Each process gets a small unit of CPU time (time quantum q),
usually 10-100 milliseconds. After this time has elapsed, the
process is preempted and added to the end of the ready queue.
• If there are n processes in the ready queue and the time
quantum is q, then each process gets 1/n of the CPU time in
chunks of at most q time units at once. No process waits more
than (n-1)q time units.
• Timer interrupts every quantum to schedule next process
• Performance
– q large FIFO
– q small q must be large with respect to context switch, otherwise
overhead is too high
Example of RR with Time Quantum = 4
Process Burst Time
P1 24
P2 3
P3 3
• The Gantt chart is:
P1 P2 P3 P1 P1 P1 P1 P1
0 4 7 10 14 18 22 26 30
• Typically, higher average turnaround than SJF, but better response
• q should be large compared to context switch time
• q usually 10ms to 100ms, context switch < 10 usec
• Turn Around time = Exit time – Arrival time
• Waiting time = Turn Around time – Burst time
