COURSE SYLLABUS
Operating Systems
MSIT 3140
Spring 2014
Course Description
Operating system is the main and most complex software part of any computer system.
Operating systems are various, but their fundamental principles remain the same. This course is
devoted to the basic concepts of operating systems: classification and main definitions, resources
management, system call interface, processes executing and their synchronization, memory
hierarchy, virtual memory, file systems and files management, network services, security, etc.
Practical training raises following topics: operating system's bootable process, disk space's
preparation and operating system installation, operating systems’ virtualization, distributing of
operating systems via prepared images (cloning), tuning and management of operating systems
locally and through the network, user’s files recovery, administrating of operating systems. Key
course concepts are important and have practical application in professional activity in
installation, control, maintenance, administration and protection of operating systems.
Course Objectives
Operating systems course leading the following goals:
1) To provide an understanding of: software classification, role of operating system,
operating systems’ fundamentals and architecture, basics of file systems, definition of file
and file operations, files access control, process creation and management, process
scheduling, deadlocks and possible solutions, memory management, virtual memory
conception, input-output operations and devices, hardware and software interrupts, basics
of operating systems security policy, network services.
2) To understand the phases and stages of: disk drive’s preparation and portioning,
operating system installation in manual and unattended mode, operating system booting
process, process switching in multitasking, file access, user’s authorization and
authentication.
3) To understand the critical differences between: operating systems’ types (real-time,
multi-user, multi-tasking, distributed, embedded, etc.), operating system kernel
architecture’s types, process and program, interrupts and deadlocks, operating systems’
installation and distributing via cloning and deployment.
4) To experience: operating systems’ utilities for tuning, tweaking and management;
operating system registry, batch files and management of operating systems via
commands and scripts; file access restriction; free disk space preparation, checking and
portioning; operating systems’ installation and distribution; user accounts management;
operating system centralized administration; operating systems’ remote control through
the internet; operating systems’ virtualization; installing device drivers; networking.
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5) To work together with others to complete a group tasks. Students apply course's material
to solve following group problems: operating systems’ centralized installing,
maintenance and administration.
Reading materials
Text Books
1) Andrew S. Tanenbaum, Modern Operating Systems, December 21, 2007; ISBN10: 0136006639; ISBN-13: 978-0136006633; Third edition
2) William Stallings, Operating Systems: Internals and Design Principles, April 19, 2008;
ISBN-10: 0136006329; ISBN-13: 978-0136006329; Sixth edition
3) Andrew S. Tanenbaum, Operating Systems Design and Implementation, January 14,
2006; ISBN-10: 0131429388; ISBN-13: 978-0131429383; Third edition
Articles
1) Command-line reference:
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/enus/arp.mspx?mfr=true
2) Windows Batch Scripting: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Windows_Batch_Scripting
3) Converting DOS Batch Files to Shell Scripts:
http://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/dosbatch.html
4) Windows Sysinternals: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals
5) Windows WMIC command line command: http://www.computerhope.com/wmic.htm
6) Using the System Preparation Tool (Sysprep) in an Image-Based Installation:
http://www.petri.co.il/using_sysprep_in_an_image_based_installation.htm
7) Create a windows XP image for many different hardware:
http://www.fogproject.org/wiki/index.php?title=Create_a_windows_XP_image_for_man
y_different_hardware
8) MySysprep 2: http://www.tsaysoft.com/mysysprep2/
Weekly Assignment Schedule
1.
Week/Class One:
 Date: February 6, 2014
 Topics or Theme: Operating systems’ introduction. Operating systems
and software classification. Operating systems’ definitions and
functions.
2. Week/Class Two:
 Date: February 13, 2014
 Topics or Theme: Operating systems’ architecture. Operating systems’
kernel and layers. Kernel and user mode. Operating systems’ kernel
types.
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3. Week/Class Three:
 Date: February 20, 2014
 Topics or Theme: Operating systems’ evolution. Operating systems’
interfaces.
4. Week/Class Four:
 Date: February 27, 2014
 Topics or Theme: File system and its structure. File’s definition. Files’
access control. File’s types. File operations and file management.
5. Week/Class Five:
 Date: March 6, 2014
 Topics or Theme: Processes and streams. Processes’ classification.
Process states. Processes’ scheduling. Deadlocks and possible solutions.
6. Week/Class Six:
 Date: March 13, 2014
 Topics or Theme: Memory management. Memory addressing. Logical
and virtual memory. Paging. Segmentation.
7. Week/Class Seven:
 Date: March 20, 2014
 Topics or Theme: Input-output processes and devices. Input-output
devices’ classification and basics. Interrupts.
8. Week/Class Eight:
 Date: March 27, 2014
 Topics or Theme: Operation systems’ security. Security policies. Basic
operation systems security’s technologies.
9. Week/Class Nine:
 Date: April 3, 2014
 Topics or Theme: Operating systems’ management via commands.
Command line and command line utilities. Third party command line
software. Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) Command
Line (WMIC).
 Assignment:
 Reading: Articles 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
10. Week/Class Ten:
 Date: April 10, 2014
 Topics or Theme: Operating systems’ remote control. Remote desktop.
Third party remote control’s utility.
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11. Week/Class Eleven:
 Date: April 17, 2014
 Topics or Theme: Operating systems’ tuning and tweaking. System
registry. Remote operating systems’ management and control.
12. Week/Class Twelve:
 Date: April 24, 2014
 Topics or Theme: System Preparation Tool (Sysprep) in an Image-Based
Installation. Sysprep command line options. Unattended installation’s
answer file creation. Preparing an operating system image file using
Sysprep and ImageX.
 Assignment:
 Reading: Articles 6, 7, 8
13. Week/Class Thirteen:
 Date: May 1, 2014
 Topics or Theme: Windows Deployment Services (WDS), Microsoft
Deployment Toolkit (MDT), and Windows Automated Installation Kit
(AIC).
14. Week/Class Fourteen:
 Date: May 8, 2014
 Topics or Theme: Antivirus data protection’s software and firewalls.
Manual virus deletion. User’s data recovery.
 Assignment:
 Presentation
 Paper
Grading Procedure
(This will be explained in detail during the first class)
1) Participation in class
20%
Attendance in class is required. Be on time. Turn off cell phones. Participate in
discussions and exercises.
2) Examination (in-class multiple choice test)
30%
3) Group project:
50%
Students will be assigned into groups and complete a project that includes both an inclass presentation and a written analytical paper (4-5 pages, good grammar and
spelling and organization).
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Grading based on the following factors:
 Organization of material
 Application of course content and material
 Utilization of outside course resources
 Creativity of class presentation.
The goal of the group project is to work as a team utilizing the skills of each team
member. The main idea consists in the joint and most effective solution of specific
practical objectives in the field of installation, control and maintenance of operating
systems, using strengths of each team’s member and ability creative present the
results of team’s work.
Grade scale
Number to letter
A+
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
Failing
98-100
93-97
90-92
87-89
83-86
80-82
77-79
73-76
72 and below
Letter to number
98
95
92
88
85
82
78
75
72
Academic Policies
Academic integrity is highly valued at Clark. Research, scholarship and teaching are possible
only in an environment characterized by honesty and mutual trust. Academic integrity requires
that your work be your own. Because of the damage that violations of academic integrity do to
the intellectual climate of the University, they must be treated with the utmost seriousness and
appropriate sanctions must be imposed. The maintenance of high standards of academic integrity
is the concern of every member of the University community.
Several ways in which academic integrity is violated are outlined below:
Cheating has three principal forms:
1. Unauthorized use of notes, text, or other aids during an examination or in
performance of course assignments.
2. Copying the work of another.
3. Handing in the same paper for more than one course unless the faculty members
involved give their explicit permission to do so.
Plagiarism refers to the presentation of someone else’s work as one’s own, without
proper citation of references and sources, whether or not the work has been previously
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published. Submitting work obtained from a professional term paper writer or company is
plagiarism. Claims of ignorance about the rules of attribution, or of unintentional error are
not a defense against a finding of plagiarism.
Unauthorized collaboration refers to work that students submit as their own but which
arrived at through a process of collaboration without the approval of the professor. Since
standards on appropriate or inappropriate collaboration may vary widely among individual
faculty, students should make certain they understand a professor's expectations before
collaborating on any class work.
Alteration or fabrication of data includes the submission or changing of data obtained
by someone else or not actually obtained in the performance of an experiment or study,
except where allowed by the professor. It also includes the changing of data obtained in
the performance of one's research.
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