Module 2: Computer-System Structures

• Computer System Operation

• I/O Structure
• Storage Structure
• Storage Hierarchy
• Hardware Protection
• General System Architecture

Applied Operating System Concepts 2.1 Silberschatz, Galvin, and Gagne 1999
 Computer-System Architecture

disk disk printer tape drives

on-line

disk printer tape-drive

CPU controller controller controller

system bus

memory controller

memory

Applied Operating System Concepts 2.2 Silberschatz, Galvin, and Gagne 1999
 Computer-System Operation

• I/O devices and the CPU can execute concurrently.

• Each device controller is in charge of a particular device type.
• Each device controller has a local buffer.
• CPU moves data from/to main memory to/from local buffers
• I/O is from the device to local buffer of controller.
• Device controller informs CPU that it has finished its operation by
causing an interrupt.

Applied Operating System Concepts 2.3 Silberschatz, Galvin, and Gagne 1999
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L2
 Common Functions of Interrupts

• Interrupts transfers control to the interrupt service routine

generally, through the interrupt vector, which contains the
addresses of all the service routines.
• 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.
• A trap is a software-generated interrupt caused either by an error
or a user request.
• An operating system is interrupt driven.

Applied Operating System Concepts 2.4 Silberschatz, Galvin, and Gagne 1999
 Interrupt Handling

• The operating system preserves the state of the CPU by storing

registers and the program counter.
• Determines which type of interrupt has occurred:
– polling
– vectored interrupt system
• Separate segments of code determine what action should be
taken for each type of interrupt

Applied Operating System Concepts 2.5 Silberschatz, Galvin, and Gagne 1999
 Interrupt Time Line For a Single Process Doing Output

CPU user
process
executing
I/O interrupt
processing

I/O idle
device transferring

I/O transfer I/O transfer

request done request done

Applied Operating System Concepts 2.6 Silberschatz, Galvin, and Gagne 1999
 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 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.

Applied Operating System Concepts 2.7 Silberschatz, Galvin, and Gagne 1999
 Two I/O methods

Synchronous Asynchronous

requesting process
user requesting process user
waiting

device driver device driver

kernel interrupt handler interrupt handler kernel

hardware hardware
data transfer data transfer

time time

(a) (b)

Applied Operating System Concepts 2.8 Silberschatz, Galvin, and Gagne 1999
 Device-Status Table

device: card reader 1

status: idle

device: line printer 3 request for

status: busy line printer
address: 38546
device: disk unit 1 length: 1372
status: idle
device: disk unit 2
status: idle
device: disk unit 3
request for request for
status: busy
disk unit 3 disk unit 3
.
..
file: xxx file: yyy
operation: read operation: write
address: 43046 address: 03458
length: 20000 length: 500

Applied Operating System Concepts 2.9 Silberschatz, Galvin, and Gagne 1999
 Direct Memory Access (DMA) 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 the one
interrupt per byte.

Applied Operating System Concepts 2.10 Silberschatz, Galvin, and Gagne 1999
 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
subdivided into sectors.
– The disk controller determines the logical interaction
between the device and the computer.

Applied Operating System Concepts 2.11 Silberschatz, Galvin, and Gagne 1999
 Moving-Head Disk Mechanism

actuator

read-write
track t spindle head

sector s

cylinder c

platter
arm

rotation

Applied Operating System Concepts 2.12 Silberschatz, Galvin, and Gagne 1999
 Storage Hierarchy

• Storage systems organized in hierarchy.

– Speed
– cost
– volatility
• Caching – copying information into faster storage system; main
memory can be viewed as a last cache for secondary storage.

Applied Operating System Concepts 2.13 Silberschatz, Galvin, and Gagne 1999
 Storage-Device Hierarchy

registers

cache

main memory

electronic disk

magnetic disk

optical disk

magnetic tapes

Applied Operating System Concepts 2.14 Silberschatz, Galvin, and Gagne 1999
 Hardware Protection

• Dual-Mode Operation
• I/O Protection
• Memory Protection
• CPU Protection

Applied Operating System Concepts 2.15 Silberschatz, Galvin, and Gagne 1999
 Dual-Mode Operation

• Sharing system resources requires operating system to ensure

that an incorrect program cannot cause other programs to
execute incorrectly.
• Provide hardware support to differentiate between at least two
modes of operations.
1. User mode – execution done on behalf of a user.
2. Monitor mode (also supervisor mode or system mode) –
execution done on behalf of operating system.

Applied Operating System Concepts 2.16 Silberschatz, Galvin, and Gagne 1999
 Dual-Mode Operation (Cont.)

• Mode bit added to computer hardware to indicate the current

mode: monitor (0) or user (1).
• When an interrupt or fault occurs hardware switches to monitor
mode.
Interrupt/fault

monitor user
set user mode

• Privileged instructions can be issued only in monitor mode.

Applied Operating System Concepts 2.17 Silberschatz, Galvin, and Gagne 1999
 I/O Protection

• All I/O instructions are privileged instructions.

• Must ensure that a user program could never gain control of the
computer in monitor mode (I.e., a user program that, as part of its
execution, stores a new address in the interrupt vector).

Applied Operating System Concepts 2.18 Silberschatz, Galvin, and Gagne 1999
 Memory Protection

• Must provide memory protection at least for the interrupt vector

and the interrupt service routines.
• In order to have memory protection, add two registers that
determine the range of legal addresses a program may access:
– base register – holds the smallest legal physical memory
address.
– Limit register – contains the size of the range
• Memory outside the defined range is protected.

Applied Operating System Concepts 2.19 Silberschatz, Galvin, and Gagne 1999
 A Base And A limit Register Define A Logical Address Space

monitor

256000

job 1

300040 300040

base register
job 2

420940 120900

limit register
job 3

880000
job 4
1024000

Applied Operating System Concepts 2.20 Silberschatz, Galvin, and Gagne 1999
 Protection Hardware

base base + limit

address yes yes

CPU ≥ <
no no

trap to operating system

monitor—addressing error memory

• When executing in monitor mode, the operating system has

unrestricted access to both monitor and user’s memory.
• The load instructions for the base and limit registers are
privileged instructions.

Applied Operating System Concepts 2.21 Silberschatz, Galvin, and Gagne 1999
 CPU Protection

• Timer – interrupts computer after specified period to ensure

operating system maintains control.
– Timer is decremented every clock tick.
– When timer reaches the value 0, an interrupt occurs.
• Timer commonly used to implement time sharing.
• Time also used to compute the current time.
• Load-timer is a privileged instruction.

Applied Operating System Concepts 2.22 Silberschatz, Galvin, and Gagne 1999
 General-System Architecture

• Given the I/O instructions are privileged, how does the user
program perform I/O?
• System call – the method used by a process to request action by
the operating system.
– Usually takes the form of a trap to a specific location in the
interrupt vector.
– Control passes through the interrupt vector to a service
routine in the OS, and the mode bit is set to monitor mode.
– The monitor verifies that the parameters are correct and
legal, executes the request, and returns control to the
instruction following the system call.

Applied Operating System Concepts 2.23 Silberschatz, Galvin, and Gagne 1999
 Use of A System Call to Perform I/O

resident
case n
monitor

.
.
1 . 2
trap to perform I/O
read
monitor
.
.
.

3
return
to user
.
.
.
user
system call n program
.
.
.

Applied Operating System Concepts 2.24 Silberschatz, Galvin, and Gagne 1999