CS 471
Operating Systems
Jim X. Chen, Ph.D.
George Mason University
Summer 2009
Overview
 Textbook
• Required: Operating System Concepts (7th edition or
latest), by Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne. John Wiley &
Sons.
• Recommended:
 Distributed Systems: Concept and Design (4th Edition, 2005), by
Coulouris, Dollimore and Kindberg.
 Modern Operating Systems (2nd Edition, 2001), by A. S. Tanenbaum
 Prerequisites
• Computer Architecture (CS 365)
• Working knowledge of C/C++/Java
 Grading
• Midterm (25%), Final exam (35 %)
• Programming projects/Assignments (3 or 4) (30 %)
• Homeworks (10%)
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1.2
Operational Information
 Office: Engineering, Room 4446
 Office Hours:
• Office hour: M 5:00pm-6:00pm; F: 4:30pm-5:30pm
• E-mail: jchen@gmu.edu
 Teaching Assistant (TA): Changwei Liu(Coco) <cliu6@gmu.edu>
 TA Office Hours: Tuesday, 2:00– 4:00pm; Thursday, 3:00 –
5:00pm, in Room 4456.
 Computer Accounts on mason.gmu.edu or zeus.ite.gmu.edu
 Class Web Page: http://cs.gmu.edu/~jchen/cs471
 Slides available at
• http://www.cs.gmu.edu/~jchen/cs471/
1.3
Course Objectives
 Understand the principles behind the design of
centralized and distributed operating systems
 Observe how these principles are put into practice in
real operating systems
 Gain experience in
• Multithreaded programming
• Distributed system programming and design
1.4
Topics
 Introduction, Threads and Processes
 Inter-process Communication, Synchronization,
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Deadlocks
CPU Scheduling
Memory Management
File and I/O Systems
Protection and Security
Distributed System Structures, Communication
Distributed Coordination
Fault Tolerance and Real-Time Computing
1.5
Lecture 1 (Ch 1, Ch 2)
 Introduction
• What is an Operating System?
• Co-evolution of Computer Systems and Operating
System Concepts
 Computer System Structures
 Operating System Structures
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What is an Operating System?
 A program that acts as an intermediary between the user of
a computer and the computer hardware.
 Operating system goals
• Convenience: Make the computer system convenient to use.
• Efficiency: Manage the computer system resources in an
efficient manner
 “Everything a vendor ships when you order an operating
system” is good approximation
• But varies wildly
 “The one program running at all times on the computer” is
the kernel. Everything else is either a system program
(ships with the operating system) or an application
program
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Computer System Components
1. Hardware – provides basic computing resources
(CPU, memory, I/O devices).
2. Operating system – controls and coordinates the use
of the hardware among the various application
programs for the various users.
3. Application programs – define the ways in which the
system resources are used to solve the computing
problems of the users (compilers, database systems,
video games, business programs).
4. Users – people, other computers
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1.8
Computer System Components
User 1
compiler
User 2
User 3
assembler
Text editor
. .
.
Database system
System and Application Programs
Operating System
Hardware
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User n
Operating System Definitions:
System View
 Resource allocator – manages and allocates
resources.
 Control program – controls the execution of user
programs and operations of I/O devices.
 Kernel – the one program running at all times (all else
being application programs).
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Co-evolution of Computer Systems and
Operating System Concepts
 Mainframe Systems
• Batch Systems
• Multi-programmed Systems
• Time-sharing Systems
 Desktop Systems
 Modern Variants
• Parallel Systems
• Distributed Systems
• Real-time and Embedded Systems
• Handheld Systems
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1.11
Operating Systems Evolution
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1.12
Mainframe Systems
 First computers to tackle many commercial and scientific
applications
 Mainframes evolved through batch, multiprogrammed and time-
shared systems
 Early systems were afforded only by major government agencies
or universities:
• physically enormous machines run from a console.
• the user submitted the job to the human operator in the form of
•
punched cards.
The operator collects the output and returns it to the user.
 Batch systems: To speed up processing, operators batched
together jobs with similar needs and ran them through the
computer as a group.
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Batch Systems
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Multiprogrammed Systems
Several (and not necessarily similar) jobs are kept in the main
memory at the same time, and the CPU is switched to another job
when I/O takes place.
Objective: Avoid CPU idle time
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OS Features Needed
for Multiprogramming
 Job Scheduling – must choose the processes that
will be brought to memory
 Memory Management – must allocate the memory to
several jobs
 CPU Scheduling – must choose among several jobs
ready to run
 OS/360, developed by IBM to run on its System/360
series, was the first multiprogrammed operating
system.
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Time-Sharing Systems:
Interactive Computing
 Extension of multiprogrammed systems to allow
on-line interaction with users.
 Each user is provided with an on-line terminal.
 Objective: Response time for each user should be
short.
 The CPU is multiplexed among several jobs that are
kept in memory and on disk.
 A job swapped in and out of memory to the disk.
 CPU is allocated to another job when I/O takes place.
 All active users must have a fair share of the CPU
time (e.g. 10 ms for each user).
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1.17
Desktop Systems
 Personal computers – computer system originally
dedicated to a single user.
 I/O devices – keyboard, mouse, printers, …
 Objective: User convenience and responsiveness.
• Individuals have sole use of computers
• A single user may not need advanced features of
mainframe OS (maximize utilization, protection).
 Today, may run several different types of operating
systems (Windows, MacOS, Linux)
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Parallel Systems
 Multiprocessor systems with more than one CPU in
close communication.
 Tightly coupled system – processors share memory
and a clock; communication usually takes place
through the shared memory.
 Advantages of parallel system
• Increased throughput
• Economy of scale
• Increased reliability
 graceful degradation
 fault-tolerant systems
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Parallel Systems (Cont.)
 Symmetric multiprocessing (SMP)
• Each processor runs an identical copy of the operating
system.
• All processors are peers
 Asymmetric multiprocessing
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Distributed Systems
 Distribute the computation among several physical
processors.
 Loosely coupled system – each processor has its
own local memory; processors communicate with
one another through various communications lines
 Advantages of distributed systems
• Resource and Load Sharing
• Reliability
• Communications
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Real-Time and Embedded Systems
 A real-time system is used when rigid time
requirements have been placed on the operation of a
processor or the flow of data.
 An embedded system is a component of a more
complex system
• Control of a nuclear plant
• Missile guidance
• Control of home and car appliances (microwave oven,
DVD players, car engines, …)
 Real-time systems
• have well-defined time constraints.
• may be either hard or soft real-time.
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Real-Time Systems (Cont.)
 Hard real-time
• Critical tasks must be completed on time
• Secondary storage limited or absent, data stored in
short term memory, or read-only memory (ROM)
 Soft real-time
• No absolute timing guarantees (e.g. “best-effort
scheduling”)
• Limited utility in industrial control of robotics
• Useful in applications (multimedia, virtual reality)
requiring advanced operating-system features.
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1.23
Handheld Systems
 Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)
 Cellular telephones
 Issues
• Limited memory
• Limited battery power
• Slow processors
• Small display screens
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Computer-System Structures
 Computer System Organization
 Instruction Execution
 Computer System Operation
 Interrupt Processing
 Storage Structure
 Storage Hierarchy
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Computer-System Organization
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Instruction Execution
 While executing a program, the CPU:
• fetches the next instruction from memory (loading into IR)
• decodes it to determine its type and operands
• executes it
 May take multiple clock cycles to execute an instruction
 Examples:
• LOAD R1, #3
• LOAD R2, M2
• STORE M3, R4
• ADD
R1, R2, R3
 Each CPU has a specific set of instructions that it can execute
(instruction-set architecture).
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Instruction Execution
 Registers
• General registers (data/address)
• Program Counter (PC): contains the memory address of
the next instruction to be fetched.
• Stack Pointer (SP): points to the top of the current stack
in memory. The stack contains one frame for each
procedure that has been entered but not yet exited.
• Program Status Word (PSW): contains the condition
code bits and various other control bits.
• …
 When time multiplexing the CPU, the operating
system will often stop the running program to
(re)start another one. In these cases, it must save the
“state information” (e.g. values of the registers).
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Computer-System Operation
 I/O devices and CPU can execute concurrently.
 Each device controller has local buffer(s).
 CPU moves data from/to main memory to/from local

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buffers
I/O is from/to the device to/from local buffer of
controller.
The device driver is special operating system
software that interacts with the device controller.
Typically, the device controller informs CPU that it
has finished its operation by causing an interrupt.
The Device Controller has an equivalent device driver
through which the device controller communicates
with the Operating Systems through Interrupts.
1.29
Classes of Interrupts
 I/O Interrupts: Generated by an I/O controller, to signal
normal completion of an operation or to signal a variety of
error conditions.
 Timer Interrupts: Generated by a timer within the
processor. This allows the operating system to perform
certain functions on a regular basis.
 Hardware Failure Interrupts: Generated by a failure (e.g.
power failure or memory parity error).
 Traps (Software Interrupts): Generated by some condition
that occurs as a result of an instruction execution
• Errors
• User request for an operating system service
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Interrupt Mechanism
 Interrupt transfers control to the interrupt service routine
generally through the interrupt vector which contains the
addresses of all the service routines.
 Interrupt Service Routines (ISRs): Different segments of code
determine what action should be taken for each type of
interrupt.
 Once the interrupt has been serviced by the ISR, the control is
returned to the interrupted program. Need to save the “process
state” (registers, PC, …) before ISR takes over.
 A trap is a software-generated interrupt caused either by an
error or a user request.
 Modern operating systems are interrupt-driven.
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Interrupt Timeline (single process doing output)
User process
ISR move data from
buffer to user process
----------------Data xfr
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Basic Interrupt Processing
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
The interrupt is issued
Processor finishes execution of current instruction
Processor signals acknowledgement of interrupt
Processor pushes PSW (Program Status Word) and PC
(Program Counter) onto control stack
Processor loads new PC value through the interrupt vector
ISR (Interrupt Service Routine) saves the process state
information
ISR executes
ISR restores process state information
Old PSW and PC values are restored from the control stack
What if another interrupt occurs during interrupt processing?
7.
8.
9.

Incoming interrupts are disabled while another interrupt is being
processed to prevent a lost interrupt.
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I/O Structure
 After I/O starts, control returns to user program only
upon I/O completion.
• Wait instruction idles the CPU until the next interrupt
• Wait loop (contention for memory access).
• At most one I/O request is outstanding at a time, no
simultaneous I/O processing.
 After I/O starts, control returns to user program
without waiting for I/O completion.
• System call – request to the operating system to allow
•
•
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user to wait for I/O completion.
Device-status table contains entry for each I/O device
indicating its type, address, and state.
Operating system indexes into I/O device table to
determine device status and to modify table entry to
include interrupt.
1.34
Two I/O Methods
Synchronous
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Asynchronous
1.35
Device-Status Table
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Direct Memory Access Structure
 Used for high-speed I/O devices able to transmit
information at (close to) memory speeds.
 Device controller transfers blocks of data from buffer
storage directly to main memory without CPU
intervention.
 Only one interrupt is generated per block, rather than
one interrupt per byte.
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Dual-Mode Operation
 Operating System must protect itself and all other
programs (and their data) from any malfunctioning
program.
 Provide hardware support to differentiate between at
least two modes of operations.
1. User mode – execution done on behalf of a user.
2. Kernel mode (also monitor mode or system mode) –
execution done on behalf of operating system.
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Dual-Mode Operation (Cont.)
 Mode bit added to computer hardware to indicate the
current mode: kernel (0) or user (1).
 When an interrupt occurs hardware switches to
kernel mode.
Interrupt
kernel
user
set user mode
Privileged instructions can be issued only in kernel
mode.
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Transition From User to Kernel Mode
The system call can be executed by a generic trap
instruction (or in some systems, by an instruction such
as syscall).
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Storage Structure
 Main memory – only large storage media that the CPU
can access directly.
 Secondary storage – extension of main memory that
provides large nonvolatile storage capacity.
 Magnetic disks – rigid metal or glass platters covered
with magnetic recording material
• Disk surface is logically divided into tracks, which are
•
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subdivided into sectors.
The disk controller determines the logical interaction
between the device and the computer.
1.41
Memory Protection
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Storage Hierarchy
 Storage systems organized in hierarchy
• Speed
• Cost
• Volatility
 Faster access time, greater cost per bit
 Greater capacity, lower cost per bit
 Greater capacity, slower access speed
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Storage-Device Hierarchy
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Performance of Various Levels of Storage
 Movement between levels of storage hierarchy can be
explicit or implicit
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1.45
Caching
 Important principle, performed at many levels in a
computer (in hardware, operating system, software)
 Information in use copied from slower to faster
storage temporarily
 Faster storage (cache) checked first to determine if
information is there
• If it is, information used directly from the cache (fast)
• If not, data copied to cache and used there
 Cache smaller than storage being cached
• Cache management important design problem
• Cache size and replacement policy
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Migration of Integer A from Disk to Register
 Multitasking environments must be careful to use
most recent value, no matter where it is stored in the
storage hierarchy
 Multiprocessor environment must provide cache
coherency in hardware such that all CPUs have the
most recent value in their cache
 Distributed environment situation even more complex
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• Several copies of a datum can exist
• Various solutions covered
in Chapter 17
1.47
Operating-System Structures
 System Components
• Process Management
• Main Memory Management
• File Management
• Secondary-Storage Management
• I/O System Management
• Protection and Security
• User Operating-System Interface
 System Calls
 System Programs
 Operating System Design Approaches
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Process Management
 A process is a program in execution. It is a unit of work within
the system. Program is a passive entity, process is an active
entity.
 Process needs resources to accomplish its task
• CPU, memory, I/O, files
• Initialization data
 Process termination requires reclaim of any reusable
resources
 Single-threaded process has one program counter specifying
location of next instruction to execute
• Process executes instructions sequentially, one at a time, until
completion
 Multi-threaded process has one program counter per thread
 Typically system has many processes, some user, some
operating system running concurrently on one or more CPUs
• Concurrency by multiplexing the CPUs among the processes /
threads
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Process Management
A process tree
 A created two child
processes, B and C
 B created three child
processes, D, E, and
F
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Process Management
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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Memory Management
 All data in memory before and after processing
 All instructions in memory in order to execute
 Memory management determines what is in memory
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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Storage Management
 OS provides uniform, logical view of information storage
• Abstracts physical properties to logical storage unit - file
• Each medium is controlled by device (i.e., disk drive, tape
drive)
 Varying properties include access speed, capacity, datatransfer rate, access method (sequential or random)
 File-System management
• Files usually organized into directories
• Access control on most systems to determine who can
access what
• OS activities include
 Creating and deleting files and directories
 Primitives to manipulate files and dirs
 Mapping files onto secondary storage
 Backup files onto stable (non-volatile) storage media
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File Management
 A file is a collection of related information defined by
its creator
 Commonly, files represent programs (both source
and object forms) and data
 The operating system responsibilities
• File creation and deletion
• Directory creation and deletion
• Support of primitives for manipulating files and
•
•
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directories
Mapping files onto secondary storage
File backup on stable (non-volatile) storage media
1.54
File Systems Management
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Secondary-Storage Management
 The secondary storage backs up main memory and
provides additional storage.
 Most common secondary storage type: disks
 The operating system is responsible for
• Free space management
• Storage allocation
• Disk scheduling
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Mass-Storage Management
 Usually disks used to store data that does not fit in main
memory or data that must be kept for a “long” period of
time.
 Proper management is of central importance
 Entire speed of computer operation hinges on disk
subsystem and its algorithms
 OS activities
• Free-space management
• Storage allocation
• Disk scheduling
 Some storage need not be fast
• Tertiary storage includes optical storage, magnetic tape
• Still must be managed
• Varies between WORM (write-once, read-many-times) and RW
(read-write)
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I/O System Management
 The Operating System will hide the peculiarities of
specific hardware from the user.
 In Unix, the I/O subsystem consists of:
• A buffering, caching and spooling system
• A general device-driver interface
• Drivers for specific hardware devices
 Interrupt handlers and device drivers are crucial in
the design of efficient I/O subsystems.
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I/O Subsystem
 One purpose of OS is to hide peculiarities of
hardware devices from the user
 I/O subsystem responsible for
• Memory management of I/O including buffering (storing
•
•
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data temporarily while it is being transferred), caching
(storing parts of data in faster storage for performance),
spooling (the overlapping of output of one job with
input of other jobs)
General device-driver interface
Drivers for specific hardware devices
1.59
Protection and Security
 Protection – any mechanism for controlling access of
processes or users to resources defined by the OS
 Security – defense of the system against internal and
external attacks
• Huge range, including denial-of-service, worms,
viruses, identity theft, theft of service
 Systems generally first distinguish among users, to
determine who can do what
• User identities (user IDs, security IDs) include name and
•
•
•
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associated number, one per user
User ID then associated with all files, processes of that
user to determine access control
Group identifier (group ID) allows set of users to be
defined and controls managed, then also associated
with each process, file
Privilege escalation allows user to change to effective ID
with more rights
1.60
User Operating-System Interface
 Two main approaches
• Command-line interpreter (a.k.a command interpreter,
or shell)
• Graphical User Interfaces (GUI)
 The shell
• allows users to directly enter commands that are to be
performed by the operating system
• is usually a system program (not part of the kernel)
 GUI allows a mouse-based window-and-menu system
 Some systems allow both (e.g. X-Windows in Unix)
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System Calls
 System calls provide the interface between a running
program and the operating system.
• Generally available in routines written in C and C++
• Certain low-level tasks may have to be written using
assembly language.
 Typically, application programmers design programs
using an application programming interface (API).
 The run-time support system (run-time libraries)
provides a system-call interface, that intercepts
function calls in the API and invokes the necessary
system call within the operating system.
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Example System-Call Processing
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1.63
Major System Calls in Unix :
Process Management
 pid = fork()
• Create a child process identical to the parent
 pid = waitpid( pid, &statloc, options)
• Wait for a child to terminate
 s = execve(name, argv, environp)
• Replace a process’ core image
 exit(status)
• Terminate process execution and return status
 s = kill (pid, signal)
• Send a signal to a process
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Major System Calls in Unix :
File Management
 fd = open (file, how, …)
• Open a file for reading, writing or both
 s = close (fd)
• Close an open file
 n = read (fd, buffer, nbytes)
• Read data from a file into a buffer
 n = write (fd, buffer, nbytes)
• Write data from a buffer into a file
 position = lseek(fd, offset, whence)
• Move the file pointer
 s = stat(name, &buf)
• Get a file’s status information
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Major System Calls in Unix :
Directory and File System Management
 s = mkdir(name, mode)
• Create a new directory
 s = rmdir (name)
• Remove an empty directory
 s = link (name1, name2)
• Create a new directory, name2, pointing to name1
 s = unlink (name)
• Remove a directory entry
 s = mount (special, name, flag)
• Mount a file system
 s = umount(special)
• Unmount a file system
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System Programs
 System programs provide a convenient environment
for program development.
 They can provide various services
•
•
•
•
•
Status information
File modification
Programming language support
Program loading and execution
Communications
 Most users’ view of the operating system is defined
by system programs, not by the actual system calls.
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Operating System Design Approaches
 Simple Structure
 Layered Approach
 Microkernels
 Modular Approach
 Virtual Machines
 -- (July 6, 2009)
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1.68
Simple System Structure
 Some operating systems do not have well-defined
structures. Often, these started as simple systems
and grew beyond their original scope.
 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 Structure
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UNIX System Structure
 UNIX – limited by hardware functionality, the original
UNIX operating system had limited structure. The
UNIX OS consists of two separable parts.
• System programs
• The kernel (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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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.
 Simplifies debugging and system verification
 Disadvantages?
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Microkernels
 Moves as much as possible from the kernel into the
“user” space.
 Communication takes place between user modules using
message passing (e.g. Mach operating system)
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Microkernels (cont.)
 Benefits
• easier to extend
• more reliable (less code is running in kernel mode)
• convenient for distributed architectures
 Disadvantages
• Increased system function overhead (message passing)
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Modular Approach
 Modular kernel
• The kernel has a set of core components
• Dynamically links in additional services either during
boot time or during run-time
• Common in modern implementations of Unix such as
Linux and Solaris
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Virtual Machines
 Originally proposed and implemented for
VM Operating System (IBM)
 A virtual machine provides an interface identical to
the underlying bare hardware
 Each user is given its own virtual machine
 The operating system creates the illusion of multiple
processes, each executing on its own processor with
its own (virtual) memory
GMU – CS 571
1.77
Virtual Machines (Cont.)
Non-virtual Machine
GMU – CS 571
Virtual Machine
1.78
Virtual Machines (Evaluation)
 The virtual-machine concept provides complete
protection (because of complete isolation).
 This isolation, however, permits no direct sharing of
resources.
 A virtual-machine system is a perfect vehicle for
operating-systems research and development.
 The virtual machine concept is difficult to implement
due to the effort required to provide an exact
duplicate of the underlying machine.
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VMware
 Abstracts Intel 80x86 hardware into multiple virtual
machines
 VMware is an application running on top of a host
operating system (e.g. Windows or Linux).
 Several different guest operating systems (e.g. Free
BSD, Windows NT, Windows XP) can run on top of
VMware
GMU – CS 571
1.80
Java Virtual Machine
 Compiled Java programs are platform-neutral
bytecodes executed by a Java Virtual Machine (JVM).
 JVM consists of
- class loader
- class verifier
- runtime interpreter
 Just-In-Time (JIT) compilers increase performance
GMU – CS 571
1.81