Chapter 2: Operating-System
Structures
Operating System Concepts – 8th Edition, Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2009
Chapter 2: Operating-System Structures
Operating System Services
User Operating System Interface
System Calls
Types of System Calls
System Programs
Operating System Design and Implementation
Operating System Structure
Virtual Machines
Operating System Debugging
Operating System Generation
System Boot
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Objectives
To describe the services an operating system provides to users,
processes, and other systems
To discuss the various ways of structuring an operating system
To explain how operating systems are installed and customized and
how they boot
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Operating System Services
One set of operating-system services provides functions that are
helpful to the user:
User interface - Almost all operating systems have a user interface (UI)
Varies between Command-Line (CLI), Graphics User Interface
(GUI), Batch
Program execution - The system must be able to load a program
into memory and to run that program, end execution, either normally
or abnormally (indicating error)
I/O operations - A running program may require I/O, which may
involve a file or an I/O device
File-system manipulation - The file system is of particular interest.
Obviously, programs need to read and write files and directories,
create and delete them, search them, list file Information,
permission management.
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A View of Operating System Services
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Operating System Services (Cont)
One set of operating-system services provides functions that are
helpful to the user (Cont):
Communications – Processes may exchange information, on the
same computer or between computers over a network
Communications may be via shared memory or through
message passing (packets moved by the OS)
Error detection – OS needs to be constantly aware of possible
errors
May occur in the CPU and memory hardware, in I/O devices, in
user program
For each type of error, OS should take the appropriate action
to ensure correct and consistent computing
Debugging facilities can greatly enhance the user’s and
programmer’s abilities to efficiently use the system
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Operating System Services (Cont)
Another set of OS functions exists for ensuring the efficient operation of the
system itself via resource sharing
Resource allocation - When multiple users or multiple jobs running
concurrently, resources must be allocated to each of them
Many types of resources - Some (such as CPU cycles, main
memory, and file storage) may have special allocation code, others
(such as I/O devices) may have general request and release code
Accounting - To keep track of which users use how much and what
kinds of computer resources
Protection and security - The owners of information stored in a multiuser
or networked computer system may want to control use of that information,
concurrent processes should not interfere with each other
Protection involves ensuring that all access to system resources is
controlled
Security of the system from outsiders requires user authentication,
extends to defending external I/O devices from invalid access
attempts
If a system is to be protected and secure, precautions must be
instituted throughout it. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
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User Operating System Interface - CLI
Command Line Interface (CLI) or command interpreter allows direct
command entry
Sometimes implemented in kernel, sometimes by systems
program
Sometimes multiple flavors implemented – shells
Primarily fetches a command from user and executes it
– Sometimes commands built-in, sometimes just names of
programs
» If the latter, adding new features doesn’t require shell
modification
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User Operating System Interface - GUI
User-friendly desktop metaphor interface
Usually mouse, keyboard, and monitor
Icons represent files, programs, actions, etc
Various mouse buttons over objects in the interface cause various
actions (provide information, options, execute function, open directory
(known as a folder)
Invented at Xerox PARC
Many systems now include both CLI and GUI interfaces
Microsoft Windows is GUI with CLI “command” shell
Apple Mac OS X as “Aqua” GUI interface with UNIX kernel underneath
and shells available
Solaris is CLI with optional GUI interfaces (Java Desktop, KDE)
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Bourne Shell Command Interpreter
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The Mac OS X GUI
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System Calls
Programming interface to the services provided by the OS
Typically written in a high-level language (C or C++)
Mostly accessed by programs via a high-level Application Program
Interface (API) rather than direct system call use
Three most common APIs are Win32 API for Windows, POSIX API for
POSIX-based systems (including virtually all versions of UNIX, Linux,
and Mac OS X), and Java API for the Java virtual machine (JVM)
Why use APIs rather than system calls?
(Note that the system-call names used throughout this text are generic)
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Example of System Calls
System call sequence to copy the contents of one file to another file
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API – System Call – OS Relationship
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Standard C Library Example
C program invoking printf() library call, which calls write() system call
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System Call Parameter Passing
Often, more information is required than simply identity of desired system
call
Exact type and amount of information vary according to OS and call
Three general methods used to pass parameters to the OS
Simplest: pass the parameters in registers
In some cases, may be more parameters than registers
Parameters stored in a block, or table, in memory, and address of
block passed as a parameter in a register
This approach taken by Linux and Solaris
Parameters placed, or pushed, onto the stack by the program and
popped off the stack by the operating system
Block and stack methods do not limit the number or length of
parameters being passed
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Parameter Passing via Table
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Types of System Calls
Process control
File management
Device management
Information maintenance
Communications
Protection
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System Calls: Process Control
Process control:
end, abort
load, execute
create process, terminate process
get process attributes, set process attributes
wait for time
wait event, signal event
allocate and free memory
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System Calls: File Management
File management:
• create file, delete file
• open, close
• read, write, reposition
• get file attributes, set file attributes
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System Calls: Device Management
Device management:
• request device, release device
• read, write, reposition
• get device attributes, set device attributes
• logically attach or detach devices
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System Calls: Information Maintenance
Information maintenance:
• get time or date, set time or date
• get system data, set system data
• get process, file, or device attributes
• set process, file, or device attributes
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System Calls: Communications
Communications
• create, delete communication connection
• send, receive messages
• transfer status information
• attach or detach remote devices
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Examples of Windows and Unix System Calls
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MS-DOS execution
(a) At system startup (b) running a program
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FreeBSD Running Multiple Programs
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System Programs (1/2)
System programs provide a convenient environment for
program development and execution
Some of them are simply user interfaces to system calls
Others are considerably more complex
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
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System Programs (2/2)
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System Programs
File management - create, delete, copy, rename, print, dump, list, and generally
manipulate files and directories
Status information
Some ask the system for info - date, time, amount of available memory, disk
space, number of users
Others provide detailed performance, logging, and debugging information
Typically, these programs format and print the output to the terminal or other
output devices
Some systems implement a registry - used to store and retrieve
configuration information
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System Programs (cont’d)
File modification
Text editors to create and modify files
Special commands to search contents of files or perform
transformations of the text
Programming-language support –
Compilers,
assemblers,
debuggers and
interpreters sometimes provided
Program loading and execution-
Absolute loaders,
relocatable loaders,
linkage editors,
and overlay-loaders,
debugging systems for higher-level and machine language
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System Programs (cont’d)
Communications –
Provide the mechanism for creating virtual connections among
processes, users, and computer systems
Allow users to send messages to one another’s screens,
browse web pages,
send electronic-mail messages,
log in remotely
transfer files from one machine to another
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Application/Additional Programs
Most operating system are supplied with programs to solve common
problems.
Example:
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Operating System Design and Implementation
Design and Implementation of OS not “solvable”, but some
approaches have proven successful
Internal structure of different Operating Systems can vary widely
Start by defining goals and specifications
Affected by choice of hardware, type of system
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Operating System Design and Implementation
User goals – operating system should be
convenient to use,
easy to learn,
reliable,
safe, and
fast
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Operating System Design and Implementation
System goals – operating system should be
easy to design,
implement,
and maintain,
as well as flexible,
reliable,
error-free,
and efficient
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Operating System Design and Implementation (Cont)
Important principle to separate
Policy: What will be done?
Mechanism: How to do it?
Mechanisms determine how to do something, policies decide what will be
done
The separation of policy from mechanism is a very important principle, it
allows maximum flexibility if policy decisions are to be changed later
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OS Implementation
Once an operating system is designed, it must be implemented
Traditionally, operating systems have been written in assembly
language
Now, however, they are the most commonly written in higher-level
language such as C or C++
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Advantages of written in high level
languages (1/2)
The code can be written faster
It is more compact
It is easier to understand and debug
It is easier to port
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Advantages of written in high level
languages (2/2)
E.g.
MS-DOS was written in Intel 8088 assembly language.
Consequently, it is available on only Intel family of CPUs
The Linux OS, in contrast,
is written mostly in C and is available on a number of different
CPUs,
including Intel 80X86, Motorola 680X0, SPARC, and MIPS RX000
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Structure of OS
OS is a large and a complex system
It has to be engineered carefully so that
It will function properly
It can be modified easily
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Simple Structure
MS-DOS – written to provide the most functionality in the least space
Not divided into modules
MS-DOS was written on the Intel 8088
Intel 8088 does not provide dual mode or any hardware
protection
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Simple:MS-DOS Layer Structure
The interfaces and level of
functionality are not well
separated
It looks like layered
structure, but not, because
all these layers have access
to the base hardware
This freedom leaves the
MS-DOS vulnerable to
errant and malicious
programs
Causing the entire system to
crush when user programs
fail
It is not well protected
It is not well defined
It is not well structure
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Simple: Monolithic (Earlier UNIX System
Structure)
Everything is packed in one level i.e., why it is called monolithic structure
Too many functionality in one level, therefore, it is very difficult to
manage and implement
Changes in one thing, it needs to change all in the level
Hardware
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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
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Layered Operating System
Advantages
It is easy to implement
Hardware is protected from
the layers above
When one layer has problem,
debug this
Disadvantages:
A layer can use only those
layers which are below that
layer
One layer needs to access
below the layer, it needs
create system call and go
through all the layer
Once the system call is
guaranteed, then possible to
use input/output ,i.e. not
efficient
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Microkernel System Structure (1/2)
Instead of big kernel with so many functionalities, removing non-essential
components from the kernel
And implement them into user and system level programs
Moves as much from the kernel into “user” space
Communication takes place between user modules using message passing
Benefits:
Easier to extend a microkernel
Easier to port the operating system to new architectures
More reliable (less code is running in kernel mode)
More secure
Detriments:
Performance overhead of user space to kernel space communication
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Microkernel System Structure (2/2)
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Modules
It is the best structure
Most modern operating systems implement kernel modules
Uses object-oriented approach
Each core component is separate
Each talks to the others over known interfaces
Each is loadable as needed within the kernel (boot-time/run-time)
It is something like layered approach and microkernel approach
Overall, similar to layers but with more flexible because any module can
call any other modules
It has protected interface
Though it looks like microkernel approach, but does not needs to
message passing
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Solaris Modular Approach
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Mac OS X Structure
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Virtual Machines
A virtual machine takes the layered approach to its logical
conclusion. It treats hardware and the operating system
kernel as though they were all hardware
A virtual machine provides an interface identical to the
underlying bare hardware
The operating system host creates the illusion that a
process has its own processor and (virtual memory)
Each guest provided with a (virtual) copy of underlying
computer
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Virtual Machines History and Benefits
First appeared commercially in IBM mainframes in 1972
Fundamentally, multiple execution environments (different operating
systems) can share the same hardware
Protect from each other
Some sharing of file can be permitted, controlled
Commutate with each other, other physical systems via networking
Useful for development, testing
Consolidation of many low-resource use systems onto fewer busier systems
“Open Virtual Machine Format”, standard format of virtual machines, allows
a VM to run within many different virtual machine (host) platforms
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Virtual Machines (Cont)
Non-virtual Machine Virtual Machine
(a) Nonvirtual machine (b) virtual machine
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VMware Architecture
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The Java Virtual Machine
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Operating System Generation (1/2)
Operating systems are designed to run on any of a class of machines;
the system must be configured for each specific computer site
SYSGEN program obtains information concerning the specific configuration
of the hardware system
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Operating System Generation (2/2)
The following kinds of information must be determined by SYSGEN:
What CPU is to be used?
How will the boot disk be formatted? How many sections, or “partitions, ”will
it be separated into, and what will go into each partition?
How much memory is available?
What devices are available? The system will need to know how to address
each device (the device number), the device interrupt number, etc.
What operating-system options are desired, or what parameter values are
to be used? These options or values might include how many buffers of
which sizes should be used, what type of CPU-scheduling algorithm is
desired, what the maximum number of processes to be supported is, and
so on.
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System Boot
Booting – starting a computer by loading the kernel
Bootstrap program – code stored in ROM that is able to locate the kernel,
load it into memory, and start its execution
Operating system must be made available to hardware so hardware can
start it
Small piece of code – bootstrap loader, locates the kernel, loads it into
memory, and starts it
Sometimes two-step process where boot block at fixed location loads
bootstrap loader
When power initialized on system, execution starts at a fixed memory
location
Firmware used to hold initial boot code
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End of Chapter 2
Operating System Concepts – 8th Edition, Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2009
