OPERATING SYSTEMS

UNIT CODE: IT/CU/CS/CR/02/6/A

Relationship to Occupational Standards

This unit addresses the unit of competency: Understand Operating Systems

Duration of Unit: 130 hours

Unit Description:
This unit covers the competencies required to understand operating systems. It involves
understanding fundamentals of operating systems, understanding process management,
understanding memory management, understanding input-output management and understanding
file management.

Summary of Learning Outcomes:

1. Understand fundamentals of operating systems
2. Understand process management
3. Understand memory management
4. Understand Input and Output management
5. Understand file management

Learning Outcomes, Content and Suggested Assessment Methods

Suggested Assessment
Learning Outcome Content
Methods
1. Understand  Computer software  Practical exercises
fundamentals of  Definition  Oral tests
operating systems  Classification  Written tests
 Operating system  Observation
 Definition
 Concepts
 Functions of operating
system are identified.
 Operating system structures
 Monolithic
 Layered
 Virtual
 Client-server model
 Types of operating systems
 Requirements for Windows OS
installation
  Demonstration of Windows
installation
 Specify hardware
requirements
 Back up data in target
machine
 Partition creation and/or
formatting
 Installation as per vendor
instructions
 Testing installation
2. Understand  Process management  Practical exercises
Process  Definitions: Process,  Oral tests
Management Thread, Process Control  Written tests
Block  Observation
 Functions of the Process
Manager
 Computer Resources
 Process states and their transition
 States: Ready, Waiting,
Complete, Running
 Transitions: Dispatch,
Suspend, Exit, Resume
 Process scheduling
 Features of scheduling
algorithms
 Types of schedulers
 Scheduling algorithms
 Demonstration of Task Manager
 Observing CPU queue
 Stopping CPU intensive
processes.
 Performance monitor tools
in process management
3. Understand  Memory Management  Practical exercises
Memory  Definition  Oral tests
Management  Objectives of Memory  Written tests
management  Observation
 Components of the Memory
Management unit
  Memory management techniques
 Partitioning
 Virtual memory:
 Paging, Segmentation
 Demonstration of virtual memory
settings – Increasing the Windows
page file size
4. Understand Input  Input - output management  Practical exercises
and Output  Definition  Oral tests
Management  Objectives of I/O management  Written tests
 I/O hardware  Observation
 I/O software
 Polling Vs Interrupt drive I/O
 Disk operations
 Access time factors
 Techniques for resolving slow
disk I/O
 Computer clock system
 Virtual Input Output
 Definition of Virtual I/O
 Types of virtual I/O: Buffering,
Spooling, Caching
 Disk selection criteria
 Size
 Speed
 Disk properties in Windows
 Demonstration of disk storage
management operations
 Formatting volume
 Partitioning volume
 Shrinking volume
 Extending volume
 Optimising and defragmenting
disk
 Changing drive security
permissions
 Backing up
 Copying data to optical disks
 Handling removable media
 Demonstration of device
 management operations using
Windows Device Manager
 Verifying installed drivers
 Resolving driver conflicts

5. Understand File  File management  Practical exercises

Management  Definition  Oral tests
 Objectives of file manager  Written tests
 File naming concepts  Observation
 File access methods
 Sequential access
 Direct/Random access
 Indexed sequential access
 File allocation techniques
 Contiguous
 File Allocation
 Indexed
 File protection and security
 Importance
 Access control
 Audit trial
 Demonstration of file and
directory operations
 Creating folders and files
 Renaming folders and files
 Deleting folders and files
 Copying and Moving folders
and files
 Setting file attributes
 Local security policy settings
 Password policy
 Account lockout policy
 Audit policy
 Security options