Computer System Structure

 Computer system can be divided into four components:

 Hardware – provides basic computing resources
 CPU, memory, I/O devices

Chapter 1: Introduction
 Operating system
 Controls and coordinates use of hardware among various
applications and users
 Application programs – define the ways in which the system
resources are used to solve the computing problems of the
users
 Word processors, compilers, web browsers, database
systems, video games
 Users
 People, machines, other computers

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Chapter 1: Introduction Abstract View of Components of Computer

 What Operating Systems Do

 Computer-System Organization
 Computer-System Architecture
 Operating-System Operations
 Resource Management
 Security and Protection
 Virtualization
 Distributed Systems
 Kernel Data Structures
 Computing Environments
 Free/Libre and Open-Source Operating Systems

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Objectives What Operating Systems Do

 Depends on the point of view
 Describe the general organization of a computer system
and the role of interrupts  Users want convenience, ease of use and good performance
 Describe the components in a modern, multiprocessor  Don’t care about resource utilization
computer system  But shared computer such as mainframe or minicomputer must keep
 Illustrate the transition from user mode to kernel mode all users happy
 Discuss how operating systems are used in various  Operating system is a resource allocator and control program
computing environments making efficient use of HW and managing execution of user
programs
 Provide examples of free and open-source operating
systems  Users of dedicate systems such as workstations have dedicated
resources but frequently use shared resources from servers
 Mobile devices like smartphones and tables are resource poor,
optimized for usability and battery life
 Mobile user interfaces such as touch screens, voice recognition
 Some computers have little or no user interface, such as embedded
computers in devices and automobiles
 Run primarily without user intervention
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 Defining Operating Systems Computer-System Operation

 I/O devices and the CPU can execute concurrently

 Term OS covers many roles
 Each device controller is in charge of a particular device type
 Because of myriad designs and uses of OSes
 Each device controller has a local buffer
 Present in toasters through ships, spacecraft, game
machines, TVs and industrial control systems  Each device controller type has an operating system device
driver to manage it
 Born when fixed use computers for military became
more general purpose and needed resource  CPU moves data from/to main memory to/from local buffers
management and program control  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

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Operating System Definition (Cont.) Common Functions of Interrupts

 No universally accepted definition  Interrupt transfers control to the interrupt service routine
 “Everything a vendor ships when you order an operating
generally, through the interrupt vector, which contains the
system” is a good approximation addresses of all the service routines

 But varies wildly  Interrupt architecture must save the address of the
interrupted instruction
 “The one program running at all times on the computer” is
 A trap or exception is a software-generated interrupt
the kernel, part of the operating system
caused either by an error or a user request
 Everything else is either
 An operating system is interrupt driven
 a system program (ships with the operating system, but
not part of the kernel) , or
 an application program, all programs not associated
with the operating system
 Today’s OSes for general purpose and mobile computing also
include middleware – a set of software frameworks that
provide addition services to application developers such as
databases, multimedia, graphics

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Computer System Organization Interrupt Timeline

 Computer-system operation
 One or more CPUs, device controllers connect through common
bus providing access to shared memory
 Concurrent execution of CPUs and devices competing for
memory cycles

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 Computer Startup I/O Structure
 bootstrap program is loaded at power-up or reboot  After I/O starts, control returns to user program only upon I/O
completion
 Typically stored in ROM or EPROM, generally known
as firmware  Wait instruction idles the CPU until the next interrupt
 Initializes all aspects of system  Wait loop (contention for memory access)
 At most one I/O request is outstanding at a time, no
 Loads operating system kernel and starts execution
simultaneous I/O processing
 After I/O starts, control returns to user program without waiting
for I/O completion
 System call – request to the OS 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
 OS indexes into I/O device table to determine device
status and to modify table entry to include interrupt

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Interrupt Handling Storage Structure

 The operating system preserves the state of the CPU by  Main memory – only large storage media that the CPU can access directly
storing registers and the program counter  Random access

 Determines which type of interrupt has occurred:  Typically volatile

 polling  Typically random-access memory in the form of Dynamic Random-

access Memory (DRAM)
 vectored interrupt system
 Secondary storage – extension of main memory that provides large
 Separate segments of code determine what action should nonvolatile storage capacity
be taken for each type of interrupt
 Hard Disk Drives (HDD) – 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
 Non-volatile memory (NVM) devices– faster than hard disks, nonvolatile
 Various technologies
 Becoming more popular as capacity and performance increases, price drops

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Interrupt-drive I/O Cycle Storage Definitions and Notation Review

The basic unit of computer storage is the bit . A bit can contain one of two
values, 0 and 1. All other storage in a computer is based on collections of bits.
Given enough bits, it is amazing how many things a computer can represent:
numbers, letters, images, movies, sounds, documents, and programs, to name
a few. A byte is 8 bits, and on most computers it is the smallest convenient
chunk of storage. For example, most computers don’t have an instruction to
move a bit but do have one to move a byte. A less common term is word,
which is a given computer architecture’s native unit of data. A word is made
up of one or more bytes. For example, a computer that has 64-bit registers and
64-bit memory addressing typically has 64-bit (8-byte) words. A computer
executes many operations in its native word size rather than a byte at a time.

Computer storage, along with most computer throughput, is generally

measured and manipulated in bytes and collections of bytes. A kilobyte , or
KB , is 1,024 bytes; a megabyte , or MB , is 1,0242 bytes; a gigabyte , or GB , is
1,0243 bytes; a terabyte , or TB , is 1,0244 bytes; and a petabyte , or PB , is 1,0245
bytes. Computer manufacturers often round off these numbers and say that
a megabyte is 1 million bytes and a gigabyte is 1 billion bytes. Networking
measurements are an exception to this general rule; they are given in bits
(because networks move data a bit at a time).

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 Storage Hierarchy Direct Memory Access Structure

 Storage systems organized in hierarchy  Used for high-speed I/O devices able to transmit
 Speed information at close to memory speeds

 Cost  Device controller transfers blocks of data from buffer

storage directly to main memory without CPU
 Volatility intervention
 Caching – copying information into faster storage system;  Only one interrupt is generated per block, rather than
main memory can be viewed as a cache for secondary the one interrupt per byte
storage
 Device Driver for each device controller to manage I/O
 Provides uniform interface between controller and
kernel

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Storage-Device Hierarchy Computer-System Architecture

 Most systems use a single general-purpose processor

 Most systems have special-purpose processors as well
 Multiprocessors systems growing in use and importance
 Also known as parallel systems, tightly-coupled systems
 Advantages include:
1. Increased throughput
2. Economy of scale
3. Increased reliability – graceful degradation or fault tolerance
 Two types:
1. Asymmetric Multiprocessing – each processor is assigned a
specie task.
2. Symmetric Multiprocessing – each processor performs all tasks

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How a Modern Computer Works Symmetric Multiprocessing Architecture

A von Neumann architecture

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 A Dual-Core Design Clustered Systems
 Multi-chip and multicore
 Systems containing all chips
 Chassis containing multiple separate systems

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Non-Uniform Memory Access System PC Motherboard

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Clustered Systems Operating-System Operations

 Bootstrap program – simple code to initialize the system, load
 Like multiprocessor systems, but multiple systems working together
the kernel
 Usually sharing storage via a storage-area network (SAN)  Kernel loads
 Provides a high-availability service which survives failures  Starts system daemons (services provided outside of the
 Asymmetric clustering has one machine in hot-standby mode kernel)
 Symmetric clustering has multiple nodes running applications,  Kernel interrupt driven (hardware and software)
monitoring each other  Hardware interrupt by one of the devices
 Some clusters are for high-performance computing (HPC)  Software interrupt (exception or trap):
 Applications must be written to use parallelization  Software error (e.g., division by zero)
 Some have distributed lock manager (DLM) to avoid conflicting  Request for operating system service – system call
operations  Other process problems include infinite loop, processes
modifying each other or the operating system

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 Multiprogramming and Multitasking Transition from User to Kernel Mode

 Multiprogramming (Batch system) needed for efficiency  Timer to prevent infinite loop / process hogging resources
 Single user cannot keep CPU and I/O devices busy at all times  Timer is set to interrupt the computer after some time period
 Multiprogramming organizes jobs (code and data) so CPU always has one  Keep a counter that is decremented by the physical clock
to execute
 A subset of total jobs in system is kept in memory
 Operating system set the counter (privileged instruction)
 One job selected and run via job scheduling  When counter zero generate an interrupt
 When it has to wait (for I/O for example), OS switches to another job  Set up before scheduling process to regain control or terminate
program that exceeds allotted time
 Timesharing (multitasking) is logical extension in which CPU switches jobs
so frequently that users can interact with each job while it is running, creating
interactive computing
 Response time should be < 1 second
 Each user has at least one program executing in memory process
 If several jobs ready to run at the same time  CPU scheduling
 If processes don’t fit in memory, swapping moves them in and out to run
 Virtual memory allows execution of processes not completely in memory

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Memory Layout for Multiprogrammed System 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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Dual-mode and Multimode Operation Process Management Activities

 Dual-mode operation allows OS to protect itself and other system The operating system is responsible for the following activities in
components connection with process management:
 User mode and kernel mode
 Creating and deleting both user and system processes
 Mode bit provided by hardware
 Suspending and resuming processes
 Provides ability to distinguish when system is running user
code or kernel code  Providing mechanisms for process synchronization
Some instructions designated as privileged, only
  Providing mechanisms for process communication
executable in kernel mode
 Providing mechanisms for deadlock handling
 System call changes mode to kernel, return from call resets
it to user
 Increasingly CPUs support multi-mode operations
 i.e. virtual machine manager (VMM) mode for guest VMs

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 Memory Management Caching

 To execute a program all (or part) of the instructions must be in  Important principle, performed at many levels in a computer
memory (in hardware, operating system, software)
 All (or part) of the data that is needed by the program must be in  Information in use copied from slower to faster storage
memory temporarily
 Memory management determines what is in memory and when  Faster storage (cache) checked first to determine if
 Optimizing CPU utilization and computer response to users information is there

 Memory management activities  If it is, information used directly from the cache (fast)

 Keeping track of which parts of memory are currently being  If not, data copied to cache and used there
used and by whom  Cache smaller than storage being cached
 Deciding which processes (or parts thereof) and data to  Cache management important design problem
move into and out of memory  Cache size and replacement policy
 Allocating and deallocating memory space as needed

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File-system Management Characteristics of Various Types of Storage

 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, data-
transfer 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 Movement between levels of storage hierarchy can be explicit or implicit
 Primitives to manipulate files and directories
 Mapping files onto secondary storage
 Backup files onto stable (non-volatile) storage media

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Mass-Storage Management Migration of data “A” from Disk to Register

 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  Multitasking environments must be careful to use most recent
 Proper management is of central importance value, no matter where it is stored in the storage hierarchy
 Entire speed of computer operation hinges on disk subsystem and its
algorithms
 OS activities
 Mounting and unmounting
 Free-space management
 Storage allocation  Multiprocessor environment must provide cache coherency in
hardware such that all CPUs have the most recent value in their
 Disk scheduling cache
 Partitioning  Distributed environment situation even more complex
 Protection  Several copies of a datum can exist
 Some storage need not be fast  Various solutions covered in Chapter 19
 Tertiary storage includes optical storage, magnetic tape
 Still must be managed – by OS or applications

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 I/O Subsystem Virtualization (cont.)

 One purpose of OS is to hide peculiarities of hardware devices  Use cases involve laptops and desktops running multiple OSes
from the user for exploration or compatibility
 I/O subsystem responsible for  Apple laptop running Mac OS X host, Windows as a guest
 Memory management of I/O including buffering (storing data  Developing apps for multiple OSes without having multiple
temporarily while it is being transferred), caching (storing parts systems
of data in faster storage for performance), spooling (the
 QA testing applications without having multiple systems
overlapping of output of one job with input of other jobs)
 Executing and managing compute environments within data
 General device-driver interface
centers
 Drivers for specific hardware devices
 VMM can run natively, in which case they are also the host
 There is no general purpose host then (VMware ESX and
Citrix XenServer)

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Protection and Security Computing Environments - Virtualization

 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
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

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Virtualization Distributed Systems

 Distributed computiing
 Allows operating systems to run applications within other OSes
 Collection of separate, possibly heterogeneous, systems
 Vast and growing industry
networked together
 Emulation used when source CPU type different from target
 Network is a communications path, TCP/IP most common
type (i.e. PowerPC to Intel x86)
– Local Area Network (LAN)
 Generally slowest method
– Wide Area Network (WAN)
 When computer language not compiled to native code –
Interpretation – Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)
 Virtualization – OS natively compiled for CPU, running guest – Personal Area Network (PAN)
OSes also natively compiled  Network Operating System provides features between
 Consider VMware running WinXP guests, each running systems across network
applications, all on native WinXP host OS  Communication scheme allows systems to exchange
 VMM (virtual machine Manager) provides virtualization messages
services  Illusion of a single system

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 Kernel Data Structures Computing Environments - Traditional

n Many similar to standard programming data structures  Stand-alone general purpose machines

n Singly linked list  But blurred as most systems interconnect with others (i.e.,
the Internet)
 Portals provide web access to internal systems
 Network computers (thin clients) are like Web terminals
 Mobile computers interconnect via wireless networks
n Doubly linked list
 Networking becoming ubiquitous – even home systems use
firewalls to protect home computers from Internet attacks

n Circular linked list

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Kernel Data Structures Computing Environments - Mobile

 Handheld smartphones, tablets, etc

 Binary search tree
left <= right  What is the functional difference between them and a
“traditional” laptop?
 Search performance is O(n)
 Extra feature – more OS features (GPS, gyroscope)
 Balanced binary search tree is O(lg n)
 Allows new types of apps like augmented reality
 Use IEEE 802.11 wireless, or cellular data networks for
connectivity
 Leaders are Apple iOS and Google Android

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Kernel Data Structures Computing Environments – Client-Server

 Hash function can create a hash map  Client-Server Computing

 Dumb terminals supplanted by smart PCs
 Many systems now servers, responding to requests generated
by clients
 Compute-server system provides an interface to client to
request services (i.e., database)
 File-server system provides interface for clients to store
and retrieve files

 Bitmap – string of n binary digits representing the status of n items

 Linux data structures defined in include files <linux/list.h>,
<linux/kfifo.h>, <linux/rbtree.h>

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 Computing Environments - Peer-to-Peer Computing Environments – Real-Time Embedded Systems

 Another model of distributed system  Real-time embedded systems most prevalent form of computers

 P2P does not distinguish clients and servers  Vary considerable, special purpose, limited purpose OS,
real-time OS
 Instead all nodes are considered peers
 Use expanding
 May each act as client, server or both
 Many other special computing environments as well
 Node must join P2P network
 Some have OSes, some perform tasks without an OS
 Registers its service with central
lookup service on network, or  Real-time OS has well-defined fixed time constraints

 Broadcast request for service and  Processing must be done within constraint
respond to requests for service via  Correct operation only if constraints met
discovery protocol
 Examples include Napster and Gnutella,
Voice over IP (VoIP) such as Skype

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Computing Environments – Cloud Computing Free and Open-Source Operating Systems

 Delivers computing, storage, even apps as a service across a network

 Operating systems made available in source-code format rather
 Logical extension of virtualization because it uses virtualization as the base
for it functionality.
than just binary closed-source and proprietary
 Amazon EC2 has thousands of servers, millions of virtual machines,  Counter to the copy protection and Digital Rights
petabytes of storage available across the Internet, pay based on usage Management (DRM) movement
 Many types  Started by Free Software Foundation (FSF), which has
 Public cloud – available via Internet to anyone willing to pay “copyleft” GNU Public License (GPL)
 Private cloud – run by a company for the company’s own use  Free software and open-source software are two different ideas
championed by different groups of people
 Hybrid cloud – includes both public and private cloud components
 http://gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html/
 Software as a Service (SaaS) – one or more applications available via
the Internet (i.e., word processor)  Examples include GNU/Linux and BSD UNIX (including core of
 Platform as a Service (PaaS) – software stack ready for application use Mac OS X), and many more
via the Internet (i.e., a database server)  Can use VMM like VMware Player (Free on Windows), Virtualbox
 Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) – servers or storage available over (open source and free on many platforms -
Internet (i.e., storage available for backup use) http://www.virtualbox.com)
 Use to run guest operating systems for exploration

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Computing Environments – Cloud Computing The Study of Operating Systems

 Cloud computing environments composed of traditional OSes, There has never been a more interesting time to study operating systems, and it has never been
plus VMMs, plus cloud management tools easier. The open-source movement has overtaken operating systems, causing many of them to be
made available in both source and binary (executable) format. The list of operating
 Internet connectivity requires security like firewalls systems available in both formats includes Linux, BUSD UNIX, Solaris, and part of macOS.
The availability of source code allows us to study operating systems from the inside out.
 Load balancers spread traffic across multiple applications Questions that we could once answer only by looking at documentation or the behavior of an
operating system we can now answer by examining the code itself.

Operating systems that are no longer commercially viable have been open-sourced as well, enabling
us to study how systems operated in a time of fewer CPU, memory, and storage resources.
An extensive but incomplete list of open-source operating-system projects is available
from https://curlie.org/Computers/Software/Operating_Systems/Open_Source/

In addition, the rise of virtualization as a mainstream (and frequently free) computer function
makes it possible to run many operating systems on top of one core system. For example, VMware
(http://www.vmware.com) providesa free “player” for Windows on which hundreds of free
“virtual appliances” can run. Virtualbox (http://www.virtualbox.com) provides a free, open-source
virtual machine manager on many operating systems. Using such tools, students can try out
hundreds of operating systems without dedicated hardware.

The advent of open-source operating systems has also made it easier to make the move from
student to operating-system developer. With some knowledge, some effort, and an Internet
connection, a student can even create a new operating-system distribution. Just a few years ago,
it was difficult or impossible to get access to source code. Now, such access is limited only by
how much interest, time, and disk space a student has.

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 End of Chapter 1

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Test Ch. 1 & Ch. 2

1. What are the purposes of an operating system? 5

2. Explain in a case or example of the transition from user mode to
kernel mode 7
3. How operating systems are used in various computing environments
such as in traditional computing, mobile computing, client-server
computing, peer-to-peer computing, cloud computing, and real time
embedded system. 10
4. What are the meaning of free and open source operating system.
Give an example. 8
5. What are the services provided by an operating system 7
6. How system call are used to provide operating system services 8
7. Explain the process for booting an operating system 8

Operating System Concepts – 10th Edition 1.62 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018

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