Common System Components

 Process Management
 Main Memory Management
 File Management
 I/O System Management
 Secondary Management
 Protection System
 Command-Interpreter System

Operating System Concepts 3.1 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Process Management

 A process is a program in execution. A

process needs certain resources, including
CPU time, memory, files, and I/O devices, to
accomplish its task.
 The operating system is responsible for the
following activities in connection with
process management.
 Process creation and deletion.
 process suspension and resumption.
 process communication

Operating System Concepts 3.2 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Main-Memory Management

 Memory is a large array of words or bytes, each

with its own address. It is a repository of quickly
accessible data shared by the CPU and I/O
devices.
 Main memory is a volatile storage device. It
loses its contents in the case of system failure.
 The operating system is responsible for the
following activities in connections with memory
management:
 Keep track of which parts of memory are currently
being used and by whom.
 Decide which processes to load when memory
space becomes available.
 Allocate and deallocate memory space as needed.

Operating System Concepts 3.3 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 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 is responsible for the
following activities in connections with file
management:
 File creation and deletion.
 Directory creation and deletion.
 Control the permission of given files


Operating System Concepts 3.4 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Secondary-Storage Management
 Since main memory (primary storage) is volatile
and too small to accommodate all data and
programs permanently, the computer system
must provide secondary storage to back up main
memory.
 Most modern computer systems use disks as the
principle on-line storage medium, for both
programs and data.
 The operating system is responsible for the
following activities in connection with disk
management:
 Free space management
 Storage allocation
 Disk scheduling

Operating System Concepts 3.5 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Protection System

 Protection refers to a mechanism for

controlling access by programs, processes, or
users to both system and user resources.
 The protection mechanism must:
 distinguish between authorized and
unauthorized usage.
 specify the controls to be imposed.
 provide a means of enforcement.

Operating System Concepts 3.6 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Command-Interpreter System

 Many commands are given to the operating

system by control statements which deal
with:
 process creation and management
 I/O handling
 secondary-storage management
 main-memory management
 file-system access
 protection
 networking

Operating System Concepts 3.7 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Command-Interpreter System
(Cont.)

 The program that reads and interprets control

statements is called variously:

 command-line interpreter
 shell (in UNIX)

Its function is to get and execute the next

command statement.

Operating System Concepts 3.8 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Operating System Services

 Program execution – system capability to load a

program into memory and to run it.
 I/O operations – since user programs cannot
execute I/O operations directly, the operating
system must provide some means to perform I/O.
 File-system manipulation – program capability to
read, write, create, and delete files.
 Communications – exchange of information
between processes executing either on the same
computer or on different systems tied together by a
network. Implemented via shared memory or
message passing.
 Error detection – ensure correct computing by
detecting errors in the CPU and memory hardware,
in I/O devices, or in user programs.

Operating System Concepts 3.9 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 System Calls

 System calls provide the interface between a

running program and the operating system.
 Generally available as assembly-language
instructions.
 Languages defined to replace assembly language for
systems programming allow system calls to be
made directly (e.g., C, C++)
 Three general methods are used to pass
parameters between a running program and the
operating system.
 Pass parameters in registers.
 Store the parameters in a table in memory, and the
table address is passed as a parameter in a register.
 Push (store) the parameters onto the stack by the
program, and pop off the stack by operating system.

Operating System Concepts 3.10 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Passing of Parameters As A
Table

Operating System Concepts 3.11 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Types of System Calls

 Process control
 File management
 Communications

Operating System Concepts 3.12 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 MS-DOS Execution

At System Start-up Running a Program

Operating System Concepts 3.13 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 UNIX Running Multiple
Programs

Operating System Concepts 3.14 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 System Programs

 System programs provide a convenient

environment for program development and
execution. The can be divided into:
 File manipulation
 Status information
 File modification
 Programming language support
 Program loading and execution
 Communications
 Application programs
 Most users’ view of the operation system is
defined by system programs, not the actual
system calls.

Operating System Concepts 3.15 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002