SYSTEM COMPONENTS

Common System
Components

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

Process Management
A process is a program in execution. Eg: A
time shared user program; a wordprocessing user program.
A process needs certain resources,
including CPU time, memory, files, and I/O
devices, to accomplish its task. It may be
allocated during run-time or before its
execution.
Various input data may be passed onto
the process.
Program-passive entity; the contents of
file stored-active entity of process.
Execution of process must be a sequential
one. (Done using Program Counter)

Process Management
Processes that:
1. execute system code-OS processes;
2. Execute user code-User Processes.
. The operating system is responsible for
the following activities in connection with
process management.
Process creation and deletion.
Process suspension and resumption.
Providing mechanisms for:
Process synchronization,
communication.
Deadlock handling.

Main-Memory
Management

Memory is a large array of words or bytes,

each with its own address. It is a store of
quickly accessible data shared by the CPU
and I/O devices.
Central processor: read instruction from
main memory-during instruction fetch
cycle; read/write data from/to memoryduring data fetch cycle.
To process data in secondary memory; it
must be transferred to main memory
before processing.
To read or write the data/instructions onto
the memory absolute address from
processor side should be mapped onto

Main-Memory
Management

The main memory is a volatile one.

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 de allocate memory space
as needed.

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.
Files may be in free form or formatted form
which is defined by the creator.
Files are organized as directories for ease of
access.
OS maps files onto the physical media such as
magnetic tape, magnetic/optical disk and can
access them too.
If multiple users access the file; whom and in
what ways(read/write) the file can be accessed
could be controlled.

File Management
The operating system is responsible for the
following activities in connections with file
management:
File creation and deletion.
Directory creation and deletion.
Support of primitives for manipulating files
and directories.
Mapping files onto secondary storage.
File backup on stable (nonvolatile) storage
media.

I/O System
Management
One of the purpose of OS is to hide the
peculiarities of the I/O devices from the user.
The I/O system consists of:
A buffer-caching system
A general device-driver interface
Drivers for specific hardware devices(which only
knows the peculiarities)

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.
Programs including assemblers, compilers etc;
are stored in the secondary media until it is
loaded onto the main memory. i.e the
management of the secondary storage must
be proper.

Secondary-Storage
Management
The operating system is responsible for the
following activities in connection with disk
management:
Free space management
Storage allocation
Disk scheduling

Networking (Distributed
Systems)
A distributed system is a collection processors

that do not share memory or a clock. Each

processor(minicomputer, small microprocessors
etc;) has its own local memory.
The processors in the system are connected
through a communication network which can be
configured (Fully or partially connected).
A distributed system provides user access to
various system resources.
Access to a shared resource allows:
Computation speed-up
Increased data availability
Enhanced reliability

Networking (Distributed
Systems)
The network design must consider the routing
methods and the contention problems.
So the communication takes place in distributed
system uses a protocol.
Eg: File Transfer Protocol(FTP); Network File
System(NFS); (Both needs authentication);
http(hypertext transfer protocol) increase the
ease of access.

Protection System
In multi-user environment, various processes should
be protected from one anothers activities which
requires some authentication mechanism.
Protection refers to a mechanism for controlling
access of programs, processes, or users to both
system and user to the resources defined by the
program.
The protection mechanism must:
distinguish between authorized and unauthorized
usage.
specify the controls to be imposed.
provide a means of enforcement.

Protection System
Protection can be improved by detecting latent
errors at interfaces; so that contamination of
resources of one system by other will be
restricted.
A healthy protection system must distinguish
between authenticated and unauthenticated
users.