Operating System - Question Bank
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UNIT: 1
Introduction: Definition, Functions of Operating Systems, Evolution of Operating Systems,
Types of OS, Structural Overview, Services Provided by OS, System Programs and System Calls.
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1) What is operating system? Explain different types of operating systems along with their
advantages and disadvantages.
2) Discuss in detail about structure of operating system.
3) Explain the following (any three):
a) Multiprogramming operating system
b) Time sharing operating system
c) Real time operating system
d) Batch operating system
4) What are the type of services offered by operating system? Discuss in detail.
5) Define Operating System. Explain batch, time sharing and real time operating system in
detail.
6) What is system call? Explain various system calls.
7) Define essential properties of the following type of OS.
a) Batch OS
b) Time sharing OS
c) Real time OS
d) Distributed OS
8) How does a microkernel differ from conventional kernel? Briefly list the motivation and
difficulties behind this.
9) Describe difference between symmetric and asymmetric multiprocessing. What are the
advantages and disadvantages of multiprocessor system?
10) What is the purpose of system calls? Enumerate five system calls used in process
management or file management.
11) Distinguish between multitasking, multiprogramming and multiprocessing.
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UNIT: 2
Scheduling: Process concept, Process control block, Types of scheduler, Context switch,
Scheduling criteria and different scheduling algorithms
Threads: Overview, Multithreading model
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1) What is process control block? Explain in detail about process control block. Also explain
process state transition.
2) Differentiate between preemptive and non- preemptive process scheduling.
3) Consider the following set of processes with the length of the CPU-burst time given in
milliseconds.
Process Burst time Priority
P1 10 3
P2 1 1
P3 2 3
P4 1 4
P5 5 2
The processes are assumed to have arrived in order P1,P2,P3,P4,P5 at time 0.
a) Draw a Gantt charts illustrating the execution of these processor using FCFS, SJF, non-
preemptive priority and RR scheduling.
b) What is the turnaround time of each process for each scheduling algorithm in part a?
c) What is the waiting time of each process for each of the scheduling algorithm in part a?
d) Which of the scheduler in part a results in the minimal avg waiting time?
4) Consider the set of processes, with the arrival time (in milliseconds), CPU burst time (in
milliseconds), and priority (0 is the highest priority) shown below. None of the processes
have I/O burst time.
Process Arrival Time Burst Time Priority
P1 0 11 2
P2 5 28 0
P3 12 2 3
P4 2 10 1
P5 9 16 4
Compute average turnaround time and average waiting time using SJF and Priority CPU
scheduling algorithm.
5) Differentiate between preemptive and non-preemptive scheduling. State why strict non-
preemptive scheduling is unlikely to be used in a computer system?
6) Give the performance criteria for selection of scheduling algorithms?
7) Consider the following set of processes with the arrival time and CPU burst time given below:
Process Arrival Time Burst Time
P1 0 4
P2 1 5
P3 2 2
P4 3 1
P5 4 6
P6 6 3
Compute average turnaround time and average waiting time using following algorithm.
a) RR Time Slice 2
b) RR Time Slice 3
8) Explain the following terms:
a) Throughput
b) Turn-around time
c) Waiting time
d) Response time
e) CPU Utilization
9) Assume you have the following jobs to execute with one processor with jobs arriving in the
order listed below:
Job Burst Time Arrival Time
0 80 0
1 20 10
2 10 10
3 20 80
4 50 85
Suppose a system uses RR scheduling with quantum of 15, find avg waiting time, turnaround
time of these jobs.
10) Consider the 4 process P1,P2,P3,P4 with the length of CPU burst time as follows:
Process Arrival Time Burst Time Priority
P1 0 8 3
P2 1 4 4
P3 2 2 2
P4 3 5 1
Draw Gantts chart for each of the following algorithms and compute average waiting time.
a) FCFS
b) RR(T.S=2MS)
c) PRIORITY (WITH PREEMPTIVE)
11) What is scheduler? What are different types of schedulers? Explain in detail.
12) What are threads and multithreading? Explain different types of threads with neat sketches.
13) Explain various multithreading models?
14) Consider four processes P1, P2, P3, P4 with length of CPU burst time.
Process Arrival Time Burst Time
P0 0 75
P1 10 50
P2 10 25
P3 80 20
P4 85 45
Find out average waiting time and average turnaround time for the following algorithms:
a) FCFS
b) RR (Slice = 15 ms)
c) SJF Preemptive and Non-Preemptive
15) Differentiate between user level and kernel level thread.
16) Explain three levels of scheduler present in a system.
17) Discuss in detail about PCB (process control block) & context switching.
18) Define thread. How it differs from process?
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UNIT: 3
Process cooperation and synchronization: Race condition, Critical section problem, software
and hardware solution, Semaphores, conditional critical regions and monitors, Classical Inter Pro-
cess Communication Problems.
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1) What is Race Condition? Illustrate it with suitable example.
2) What is Critical Section Problem? Discuss in detail.
3) What are the three requirements which must be satisfied by solution to critical section
problem? Discuss about all requirements in detail.
4) Discuss in detail about Producer Consumer problem as classical problem of process
synchronization.
5) What is Semaphore? Discuss it with suitable example.
6) How does semaphore is used to implement mutual exclusion? Discuss it with suitable
example.
7) Discuss in detail about implementation of strict alteration of processes using binary
semaphores? Illustrate your answer with suitable example.
8) Explain how improper implementation of a semaphore can lead to a deadlock.
9) What are P and V operations in process synchronization? Explain these operations with
respect to counting semaphores.
10) Explain in detail about software based solution to critical section problem.
11) What is Semaphore? What is the difference between a binary and counting semaphore?
12) Each process Pi , i = 1, 2,…..9 is coded as follows:
repeat
P(mutex)
{ Critical Section }
V(mutex)
forever
The code for P10 is identical except that it uses V(mutex) in place of P(mutex).
What is largest number of processes that can be inside the critical section at any moment?
Justify your answer with proper explanation.
13) A counting semaphore was initialized to 10. Then 16 P(wait) operations and 4 V(signal)
operations were completed on this semaphore. Compute the following:
a) The resultant value of semaphore
b) No. of processes blocked
14) Let m[0]…m[4] be mutexes (binary semaphores) and P[0]…P[4] be processes. Suppose
each process P[i] executes the following:
wait(m[i]; wait(m[i+1]mod4]);
…….
release(m[i]; release(m[i+1]mod4]);
Above program code will be deadlock free or not if processes are executed in concurrent
way? Justify your answer.
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