Next Generation Operating

Systems
6CS1039

Operating System Concepts – 9th Edit9on Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 Module 1: Operating System
Structure & process Management

Operating System Concepts – 9th Edit9on Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 What is an Operating System?

 A program that acts as an intermediary between a user of a

computer and the computer hardware.
 It manages and control hardware and software.
 OS provide platform for application software.
 Operating system goals:
 Execute user programs and make solving user problems
easier.
 Make the computer system convenient to use.
 Use the computer hardware in an efficient manner.

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 Objectives of Operating System

 To make the computer system convenient to use in an efficient manner.

 To hide the details of the hardware resources from the users.
 To provide users a convenient interface to use the computer system.
 To act as an intermediary between the hardware and its users, making it
easier for the users to access and use other resources.
 To manage the resources of a computer system.
 To keep track of who is using which resource, granting resource
requests, and mediating conflicting requests from different programs and
users.
 To provide efficient and fair sharing of resources among users and
programs

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Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 1.5 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 Computer System Structure
 Computer system can be divided into four components:
 Hardware – provides basic computing resources
 CPU, memory, I/O devices
 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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 Four Components of a Computer System

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 Two views of OS

Operating System can be viewed from two viewpoints

User View

System View

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 User View
The user’s view of the operating system depends on the type of user
If the user is using standalone system,
 OS is designed for ease of use and high performances.
 Here resource utilization is not given importance.
If the users are at different terminals connected to a mainframe or
minicomputers, by sharing information and resources,
 OS is designed to maximize resource utilization.
 OS is designed such that the CPU time, memory and i/o are used
efficiently and no single user takes more than the resource allotted
to them CPU moves data from/to main memory to/from local buffers.
If the users are in workstations, connected to networks and servers,
 then the user have a system unit of their own and shares resources
and files with other systems.
 Here the OS is designed for both ease of use and resource
availability (files).
Users of hand-held systems, expects the OS to be designed for ease of use
and performance per amount of battery life.
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 System View

 OS is a resource allocator
 Manages all resources
 Decides between conflicting requests for efficient and
fair resource use
 OS is a control program
 Controls execution of programs to prevent errors and
improper use of the computer

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 Computer System Organization
 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-System Operation

 I/O devices and the CPU can execute concurrently

 Each device controller is in charge of a particular device type
 Each device controller has a local buffer
 CPU moves data from/to main memory to/from local buffers
 Device controller informs CPU that it has finished its
operation by causing an interrupt

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 Interrupt Handling

 The operating system preserves the state of the CPU by

storing registers and the program counter
 Determines which type of interrupt has occurred:
 Separate segments of code determine what action should
be taken for each type of interrupt

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 Interrupt Timeline

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 Bootstrap

 When system is switched on, ‘Bootstrap’ program is executed.

 It is the initial program to run in the system.
 This program is stored in read-only memory (ROM) or in electrically
erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM).
 It initializes the CPU registers, memory, device controllers and other
initial setups.
 The program also locates and loads, the OS kernel to the memory.
 Then the OS starts with the first process to be executed (ie. ‘init’
process) and then wait for the interrupt from the user

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 Operating System Structure
 Multiprogramming (Batch system) needed for efficiency
 Single user cannot keep CPU and I/O devices busy at all times
 Multiprogramming organizes jobs (code and data) so CPU always has one to
execute
 A subset of total jobs in system is kept in memory
 One job selected and run via job scheduling
 When it has to wait (for I/O for example), OS switches to another job

 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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Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 1.18 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 Contd…

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Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 1.20 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 1.21 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 Contd..

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Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 1.23 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 Contd..

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 Operating System Operations

Figure represent Transition from user to kernel mode

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 Process Management
 A program under execution is a process.
 A process needs resources like CPU time, memory, files, and I/O devices for its
execution.
 These resources are given to the process when it is created or at run time.
 When the process terminates, the operating system reclaims the resources
 The program stored on a disk is a passive entity and the program under execution is
an active entity.
 A single-threaded process has one program counter specifying the next instruction
to execute.
 The CPU executes one instruction of the process after another, until the process
completes.
 A multithreaded process has multiple program counters, each pointing to the next
instruction to execute for a given thread.

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 Contd..
The operating system is responsible for the following activities in connection with
process management:
• Scheduling process and threads on the CPU
• Creating and deleting both user and system processes
• Suspending and resuming processes
• Providing mechanisms for process synchronization
• Providing mechanisms for process communication

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 Memory Management

 Main memory is the storage device which can be easily and directly accessed by the
CPU.
 As the program executes, the central processor reads instructions and also reads and
writes data from main memory.
 To improve both the utilization of the CPU and the speed of the computer's response to
its users, general-purpose computers must keep several programs in memory, creating a
need for memory management.
 The operating system is responsible for the following activities in connection with
memory management:
• Keeping track of which parts of memory are currently being used by user
• Deciding which processes and data to move into and out of memory.
• Allocating and deallocating memory space as needed.

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 Storage Management

 There are three types of storage management

i) File system management
ii) Mass-storage management
iii) Cache management.

Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 1.29 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 File system management
 A file is a collection of related information defined by its creator.
 files represent programs and data.
 Data files may be numeric, alphabetic, alphanumeric, or binary.
 Files may be free-form (for example, text files).
 The operating system implements the abstract concept of a file by managing mass
storage media.
 Files are normally organized into directories to make them easier to use.
 When multiple users have access to files, it may be desirable to control by whom and
in what ways (read, write, execute) files may be accessed.
 The operating system is responsible for the following activities in connection with
file management:
• Creating and deleting files
• Creating and deleting directories to organize files
• Supporting primitives for manipulating files and directories
• Mapping files onto secondary storage
• Backing up files on stable (nonvolatile) storage media
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 Mass-Storage Management
 As the main memory is too small to accommodate all data and programs, and as the
data that it holds are erased when power is lost, the computer system must provide
secondary storage to back up main memory.
 Most modern computer systems use disks as the 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

As the secondary storage is used frequently, it must be used efficiently. The entire
speed of operation of a computer may depend on the speeds of the disk. Magnetic
tape drives and their tapes, CD, DVD drives and platters are tertiary storage devices

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 Cach Management
 Caching is an important principle of computer systems. Information is normally kept
in some storage system (such as main memory). As it is used, it is copied into a
faster storage system— the cache—as temporary data.
 When a particular piece of information is required, first we check whether it is in the
cache.
 If it is, we use the information directly from the cache; if it is not in cache, we use
the information from the source, putting a copy in the cache under the assumption
that we will need it again soon.
 caches have limited size, cache management is an important design problem.
 Careful selection of the cache size and page replacement policy can result in greatly
increased performance.
 data transfer from cache to CPU and registers is usually a hardware function, with no
operating-system intervention. In contrast, transfer of data from disk to memory is
usually controlled by the operatin.g system

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 Contd..
 In a multiprocessor environment, in addition to maintaining internal registers, each
of the CPUs also contains a local cache.
 In such an environment, a copy of A may exist simultaneously in several caches.
 Since the various CPUs can all execute concurrently, any update done to the value of
A in one cache is immediately reflected in all other caches where A resides. This
situation is called cache coherency.

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 Storage-Device Hierarchy

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 Protection and Security
 Protection is a mechanism for controlling the access of processes or users to the
resources defined by a computer system.
 Protection improves reliability.
 A protection-oriented system provides a means to distinguish between authorized and
unauthorized usage. A
 system can have adequate protection but still be prone to failure and allow
inappropriate access.
 Consider a user whose authentication information is stolen. Her data could be copied
or deleted, even though file and memory protection are working.
 It is the job of security to defend a system from external and internal attacks. Such
attacks spread across a huge range and include viruses and worms, denial-of service
attacks etc.
 Protection and security require the system to be able to distinguish among all its
users. Most operating systems maintain a list of usernames and associated user
identifiers (user IDs).
 When a user logs in to the system, the authentication stage determines the
appropriate user ID for the user.

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 Distributed Systems
 A distributed system is a collection of systems that are networked to provide the users
with access to the various resources in the network.
 Access to a shared resource increases computation speed, functionality, data
availability, and reliability.
 A network is a communication path between two or more systems. Networks vary by
the protocols used(TCP/IP,UDP,FTP etc.), the distances between nodes, and the
transport media(copper wires, fiber-optic,wireless).
 TCP/IP is the most common network protocol. The operating systems support of
protocols also varies. Most operating systems support TCP/IP, including the
Windows and UNIX operating systems.
 Networks are characterized based on the distances between their nodes. A local-area
network (LAN) connects computers within a room, a floor, or a building. A wide-area
network (WAN) usually links buildings, cities, or countries. A global company may
have a WAN to connect its offices worldwide. These networks may run one protocol
or several protocols. A metropolitan-area network (MAN) connects buildings within a
city.

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 Operating System Services

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 User Operating-System Interface

There are several ways for users to interface with the operating system

(i) Command-line interface, or command interpreter, allows users to directly

enter commands to be performed by the operating system.
(ii) Graphical user interface (GUI), allows users to interface with the operating
system using pointer device and menu system.

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 Command-line interface

 Command Interpreters are used to give commands to the OS. There are multiple
command interpreters known as shells.
 The main function of the command interpreter is to get and execute the user-
specified command.
 Many of the commands manipulate files: create, delete, list, print, copy, execute,
and so on.
 The commands can be implemented in two general ways-
 The command interpreter itself contains the code to execute the command. For
example, a command to delete a file may cause the command interpreter to
jump to a particular section of its code that sets up the parameters and makes
the appropriate system call.
 The code to implement the command is in a function in a separate file. The
interpreter searches for the file and loads it into the memory and executes it by
passing the parameter.

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 Graphical User Interfaces

 A second strategy for interfacing with the operating system is through a

userfriendly graphical user interface or GUI. Rather than having users directly enter
commands via a command-line interface, a GUI allows provides a mouse-based
window-and-menu system as an interface.
 A GUI provides a desktop metaphor where the mouse is moved to position its
pointer on images, or icons, on the screen (the desktop) that represent programs,
files, directories, and system functions.
 Depending on the mouse pointer's location, clicking a button on the mouse can
invoke a program, select a file or directory—known as a folder— or pull down a
menu that contains commands.

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 System Calls
 System calls provides an interface to the services of the operating system. These
are generally written in C or C++, although some are written in assembly for
optimal performance.
 The below figure illustrates the sequence of system calls required to copy a file
content from one file (input file) to another file (output file).

An example to illustrate how system calls are used: writing a simple program to
read data from one file and copy them to another file
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 1.41 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 cont.
 There are number of system calls used to finish this task. The first system call
is to write a message on the screen (monitor). Then to accept the input
filename. Then another system call to write message on the screen, then to
accept the output filename.
 When the program tries to open the input file, it may find that there is no file
of that name or that the file is protected against access. In these cases, the
program should print a message on the console (another system call) and then
terminate abnormally (another system call) and create a new one (another
system call).
 Now that both the files are opened, we enter a loop that reads from the input
file (another system call) and writes to output file (another system call).
 Finally, after the entire file is copied, the program may close both files
(another system call), write a message to the console or window (system
call), and finally terminate normally (final system call).

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 The handling of a user application invoking the open() system call

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 cont.

 Most programmers do not use the low-level system calls directly, but instead
use an "Application Programming Interface", API.
 Instead of direct system calls provides for greater program portability
between different systems. The API then makes the appropriate system calls
through the system call interface, using a system call table to access specific
numbered system calls.
 Each system call has a specific numbered system call. The system call table
(consisting of system call number and address of the particular service)
invokes a particular service routine for a specific system call.
 The caller need know nothing about how the system call is implemented or
what it does during execution.

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 Passing of parameters as a table

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 cont.

 Three general methods used to pass parameters to OS are –

i) To pass parameters in registers
ii) If parameters are large blocks, address of block (where parameters are
stored in memory) is sent to OS in the register. (Linux & Solaris).
iii) Parameters can be pushed onto the stack by program and popped off the
stack by OS.

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 Types of System Calls

 The system calls can be categorized into six major categories

1. Process Control
2. File management
3. Device management
4. Information management
5. Communications
6. Protection

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 Types of system calls

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 1. Process Control
 A collection of programs that provide a convenient environment for program
 Process control system calls include end, abort, load, execute, create process, terminate
process, get/set process attributes, wait for time or event, signal event, and allocate and
free memory.
 Processes must be created, launched, monitored, paused, resumed, and eventually
stopped.
 When one process pauses or stops, then another must be launched or resumed
 Process attributes like process priority, max. allowable execution time etc. are set and
retrieved by OS.
 After creating the new process, the parent process may have to wait (wait time) or wait
for an event to occur (wait event). The process sends back a signal when the event has
occurred (signal event).

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 2. File Management
The file management functions of OS are –
 File management system calls include create file, delete file,
open, close, read, write, reposition, get file attributes, and set
file attributes.
 After creating a file, the file is opened. Data is read or
written to a file.
 The file pointer may need to be repositioned to a point.
 The file attributes like filename, file type, permissions, etc.
are set and retrieved using system calls.
 These operations may also be supported for directories as well
as ordinary files.

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 3. Device Management
 Device management system calls include request device, release
device, read, write, reposition, get/set device attributes, and
logically attach or detach devices.
 When a process needs a resource, a request for resource is done.
Then the control is granted to the process. If requested resource is
already attached to some other process, the requesting process
has to wait.
 In multiprogramming systems, after a process uses the device, it
has to be returned to OS, so that another process can use the
device.
 Devices may be physical (e.g. disk drives ), or virtual / abstract
( e.g. files, partitions, and RAM disks ).

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 4. Information Maintenance

 Information maintenance system calls include calls to get/set the

time, date, system data, and process, file, or device attributes.
 These system calls care used to transfer the information between
user and the OS. Information like current time & date, no. of
current users, version no. of OS, amount of free memory, disk
space etc. are passed from OS to the user.

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 5. Communication
 Communication system calls create/delete communication connection, send/receive
messages, transfer status information, and attach/detach remote devices.
 The message passing model must support calls to:
 Identify a remote process and/or host with which to communicate.
 Establish a connection between the two processes.
 Open and close the connection as needed.
 Transmit messages along the connection.
 Wait for incoming messages, in either a blocking or non-blocking state.
 Delete the connection when no longer needed.
 The shared memory model must support calls to: o Create and access memory that is
shared amongst processes (and threads. )
 Free up shared memory and/or dynamically allocate it as needed.
 Message passing is simpler and easier, (particularly for inter-computer communications), and
is generally appropriate for small amounts of data. It is easy to implement, but there are
system calls for each read and write process.
 Shared memory is faster,and is generally the better approach where large amounts of data are
to be shared. This model is difficult to implement, and it consists of only few system calls.
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 6. Protection

 Protection provides mechanisms for controlling which users / processes have access
to which system resources.
 System calls allow the access mechanisms to be adjusted as needed, and for non-
privileged users to be granted elevated access permissions under carefully controlled
temporary circumstances.

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 System Programs
 A collection of programs that provide a convenient environment for program
development and execution (other than OS) are called system programs or system
utilities.
 System programs may be divided into five categories :
1. File management - programs to create, delete, copy, rename, print, list, and generally
manipulate files and directories
2. Status information - Utilities to check on the date, time, number of users, processes
running, data logging, etc. System registries are used to store and recall configuration
information for particular applications.
3. File modification - e.g. text editors and other tools which can change file contents.
4. Programming-language support - E.g. Compilers, linkers, loaders, debuggers,
profilers, assemblers, library archive management, interpreters for common languages,
and support for make etc., as well as interactive debuggers.
5. Communications - Programs for providing connectivity between processes and users,
including mail, web browsers, remote logins, file transfers, and remote command
execution

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 Operating-System Design and Implementation
Design Goals
The first problem in designing a system is to define goals and specifications. At the
highest level, the design of the system will be affected by the choice of hardware and the
type of system: batch, time shared, single user, multiuser, distributed, real time, or general
purpose.
Beyond this highest design level, the requirements may be much harder to specify. The
requirements can, however, be divided into two basic groups
1. User goals (User requirements)
2. System goals (system requirements)

User requirements are the features that user care about and understand like system
should be convenient to use, easy to learn, reliable, safe and fast.
System requirements are written for the developers, ie. People who design the OS. Their
requirements are like easy to design, implement and maintain, flexible, reliable, error free
and efficient.

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 Mechanisms and Policies

 Policies determine what is to be done. Mechanisms determine how it is to be

implemented.
 Example: in timer- counter and decrementing counter is the mechanism and deciding
how long the time has to be set is the policies.
 Policies change overtime. In the worst case, each change in policy would require a
change in the underlying mechanism.
 If properly separated and implemented, policy changes can be easily adjusted without
re- writing the code, just by adjusting parameters or possibly loading new data /
configuration files.

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 Implementation

 Traditionally OS were written in assembly language.

 In recent years, OS are written in C, or C++. Critical sections of code are still written
in assembly language.
 The first OS that was not written in assembly language, it was the Master Control
Program (MCP).
 The advantages of using a higher-level language for implementing operating systems
are: The code can be written faster, more compact, easy to port to other systems and is
easier to understand and debug.
 The only disadvantages of implementing an operating system in a higher-level
language are reduced speed and increased storage requirements

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 Virtual Machines
 Virtual machine allows user to open multiple OS in a computer, thereby creating the
illusion that each separate execution environment is running its own private computer.
 Creates an illusion that a process has its own processor with its own memory.
 Host OS is the main OS installed in system and the other OS installed in the system are
called guest OS

Figure: System modes. (A) Non-virtual machine (b) Virtual machine

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 VM Implementation
 The virtual-machine concept is useful, it is difficult to implement.
 Work is required to provide an exact duplicate of the underlying
machine. Remember that the underlying machine has two modes: user
mode and kernel mode.
 The virtual-machine software can run in kernel mode, since it is the
operating system. The virtual machine itself can execute in only user
mode.

Figure: System modes. (A) Non-virtual machine (b) Virtual machine

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 Benefits
 Able to share the same hardware and run several different execution environments (OS).
 Host system is protected from the virtual machines and the virtual machines are protected from one another. A virus in guest
OS, will corrupt that OS but will not affect the other guest systems and host systems.
 Even though the virtual machines are separated from one another, software resources can be shared among them. Two ways of
sharing s/w resource for communication are: o To share a file system volume (part of memory).
o To develop a virtual communication network to communicate between the virtual machines.
 The operating system runs on and controls the entire machine. Therefore, the current system must be stopped and taken out of
use while changes are made and tested. This period is commonly called system development time. In virtual machines such
problem is eliminated. User programs are executed in one virtual machine and system development is done in another
environment.
 Multiple OS can be running on the developer’s system concurrently. This helps in rapid porting and testing of programmer’s
code in different environments.
 System consolidation – two or more systems are made to run in a single system.

Figure: System modes. (A) Non-virtual machine (b) Virtual machine

Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 1.61
 VMware
 VMware is a popular commercial application that abstracts Intel 80X86 hardware into
isolated virtual machines. The virtualization tool runs in the user-layer on top of the
host OS. The virtual machines running in this tool believe they are running on bare
hardware, but the fact is that it is running inside a user-level application.
 VMware runs as an application on a host operating system such as Windows or Linux
and allows this host system to concurrently run several different guest operating
systems as independent virtual machines.
 In below scenario, Linux is running as the host operating system; FreeBSD, Windows
NT, and Windows XP are running as guest operating systems. The virtualization layer
is the heart of VMware, as it abstracts the physical hardware into isolated virtual
machines running as guest operating systems. Each virtual machine has its own virtual
CPU, memory, disk drives, network interfaces, and so forth.

Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 1.62 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 VMware architecture

Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 1.63 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 The Java Virtual Machine

 Java was designed from the beginning to be platform independent, by running

Java only on a Java Virtual Machine, JVM, of which different
implementations have been developed for numerous different underlying HW
platforms.
 Java source code is compiled into Java byte code in .class files. Java byte code
is binary instructions that will run on the JVM.
 The JVM implements memory management and garbage collection.
 JVM consists of class loader and Java Interpreter. Class loader loads compiled
.class files from both Java program and Java API for the execution of Java
interpreter. Then it checks the .class file for validity.

Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 1.64 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 The JVM

Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 1.65 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 Processes
 A process is a program under execution.
 Its current activity is indicated by PC (Program Counter) and the contents of the
processor's registers.
 Process memory is divided into four sections as shown in the figure below:
• The stack is used to store temporary data such as local variables, function parameters,
function return values, return address etc.
• The heap which is memory that is dynamically allocated during process run time
• The data section stores global variables.
• The text section comprises the compiled program code.
• Note that, there is a free space between the stack and the heap. When the stack is full,
it grows downwards and when the heap is full, it grows upwards.

Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 1.66 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 Process in memory

Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 1.67 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 Process State
 A Process has 5 states. Each process may be in one of the following
states –
1. New - The process is in the stage of being created.
2. Ready - The process has all the resources it needs to run. It is waiting to
be assigned to the processor.
3. Running – Instructions are being executed.
4. Waiting - The process is waiting for some event to occur. For example,
the process may be waiting for keyboard input, disk access request,
inter-process messages, a timer to go off, or a child process to finish.
5. Terminated - The process has completed its execution

Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 1.68 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 Diagram of process state

Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 1.69 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 Process Control Block
For each process there is a Process Control Block (PCB), which stores the process-
specific information as shown below –
 Process State – The state of the process may be new, ready, running, waiting, and so
on.
 Program counter – The counter indicates the address of the next instruction to be
executed for this process.
 CPU registers - The registers vary in number and type, depending on the computer
architecture. They include accumulators, index registers, stack pointers, and general-
purpose registers. Along with the program counter, this state information must be saved
when an interrupt occurs, to allow the process to be continued correctly afterward.
 CPU scheduling information- This information includes a process priority, pointers to
scheduling queues, and any other scheduling parameters.
 Memory-management information – This includes information such as the value of
the base and limit registers, the page tables, or the segment tables.
 Accounting information – This information includes the amount of CPU and real time
used, time limits, account numbers, job or process numbers, and so on.
 I/O status information – This information includes the list of I/O devices allocated to
the process, a list of open files, and so on.
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 1.70 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 Diagram of Process control block (PCB)
 The PCB simply serves as the repository for any information that may
vary from process to process .

Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 1.71 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 Threads
 Threads are the smallest unit of execution within a process and are
fundamental for achieving multitasking and parallelism.
 It is a lightweight process that runs within a larger process or the OS itself.
 There can be more than one thread inside a process.
 Each thread of the same process makes use of a separate program
counter and a stack of activation records and control blocks.

Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 1.72 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 Thread States in Operating
Systems
When a thread moves through the system, it is always in one of the five states:
 Ready
 Running
 Waiting
 Delayed
 Blocked

 In order to execute all the processes successfully, the processor needs to

maintain the information about each thread through Thread Control Blocks
(TCB).


Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 1.73 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 Contd..
1. When an application is to be processed, then it creates a thread.
2. It is then allocated the required resources(such as a network) and it
comes in the READY queue.
3. When the thread scheduler (like a process scheduler) assign the
thread with processor, it comes in RUNNING queue.
4. When the process needs some other event to be triggered, which is
outsides it’s control (like another process to be completed), it
transitions from RUNNING to WAITING queue.
5. When the application has the capability to delay the processing of the
thread, it when needed can delay the thread and put it to sleep for a
specific amount of time. The thread then transitions
from RUNNING to DELAYED queue.An example of delaying of
thread is snoozing of an alarm. After it rings for the first time and is
not switched off by the user, it rings again after a specific amount of
time. During that time, the thread is put to sleep.
6. When thread generates an I/O request and cannot move further till
it’s done, it transitions from RUNNING to BLOCKED queue.
7. After the process is completed, the thread transitions
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Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 1.74
 Thread model
Types of thread model

•User Level Thread

•Kernel Level Thread

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 User Level Threads
 User Level Thread is a type of thread that is not created using
system calls.
 The kernel has no work in the management of user-level threads.
User-level threads can be easily implemented by the user.
 Advantages of User-Level Threads
• Implementation of the User-Level Thread is easier than Kernel
Level Thread.
• Context Switch Time is less in User Level Thread.
• User-Level Thread is more efficient than Kernel-Level Thread.
 Disadvantages of User-Level Threads
• There is a lack of coordination between Thread and Kernel.
• In case of a page fault, the whole process can be blocked.

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 Kernel Level Threads
 kernel Level Thread is a type of thread that can recognize the
Operating system easily.
 Kernel Level Threads has its own thread table where it keeps track of
the system.
 The operating System Kernel helps in managing threads.
 Kernel Threads have somehow longer context switching time.
 Kernel helps in the management of threads.
 Advantages of Kernel-Level Threads
• It has up-to-date information on all threads.
• Applications that block frequency are to be handled by the
Kernel-Level Threads.
• Whenever any process requires more time to process, Kernel-
Level Thread provides more time to it.
 Disadvantages of Kernel-Level threads
• Kernel-Level Thread is slower than User-Level Thread.
• Implementation of this type of thread is a little more complex than a
user-level thread.
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 1.77 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 End of Chapter 1

Operating System Concepts – 9th Edit9on Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013