Operating Systems and Computer Hardware Quiz

Which component of a computer system provides basic computing resources such as the CPU, memory, and I/O devices?

What is the main goal of an operating system?

Which component of an operating system manages all the resources and decides between conflicting requests for efficient and fair resource use?

Which component of an operating system controls the execution of programs to prevent errors and improper use of the computer?

What is the function of a device controller in an operating system?

What type of interrupt is caused by a hardware device in an operating system?

Which component of an operating system is responsible for initializing all aspects of the system and loading the operating system kernel into memory?

What is the role of an application program in a computer system?

What is the purpose of a kernel in an operating system?

Where is the bootstrap program typically stored in a computer system?

Which type of system is known for increased throughput, economy of scale, and graceful degradation or fault tolerance?

What are the two types of multiprocessor systems mentioned in the text?

What is the main difference between Asymmetric Multiprocessing and Symmetric Multiprocessing?

What is the purpose of a multi-chip and multicore system?

What is the main advantage of a cluster system?

What is a common use of clusters?

Which type of system is growing in use and importance?

What are some examples of other process problems mentioned in the text?

What is the main advantage of using special-purpose processors in a system?

What is the purpose of a high-availability service in a system?

Which type of system is known for sharing storage via a storage-area network (SAN)?

What is the purpose of a mode bit provided by hardware in an operating system?

What is the main advantage of using special-purpose processors in a system?

What is the main goal of an operating system?

What is the function of a device controller in an operating system?

What is the main difference between Asymmetric Multiprocessing and Symmetric Multiprocessing?

What is the purpose of a high-availability service in a system?

Which component of an operating system controls the execution of programs to prevent errors and improper use of the computer?

Which component of a computer system provides basic computing resources such as the CPU, memory, and I/O devices?

What are some examples of other process problems mentioned in the text?

What is the role of an operating system in a computer system?

What are the four components of a computer system?

What is the function of a device controller in an operating system?

What is the purpose of a kernel in an operating system?

What is the main advantage of using special-purpose processors in a system?

What is the purpose of a high-availability service in a system?

What is the main advantage of a cluster system?

What is the main goal of an operating system?

What is the purpose of a multi-chip and multicore system?

What is the main advantage of using a multi-chip and multicore system?

Which type of system is known for sharing storage via a storage-area network (SAN)?

What is the main advantage of using special-purpose processors in a system?

What is the main goal of an operating system?

What is the purpose of a kernel in an operating system?

What are the two types of multiprocessor systems mentioned in the text?

Which component of an operating system controls the execution of programs to prevent errors and improper use of the computer?

Which component of a computer system provides basic computing resources such as the CPU, memory, and I/O devices?

Which type of system is growing in use and importance?

What is the main difference between Asymmetric Multiprocessing and Symmetric Multiprocessing?

Where is the bootstrap program typically stored in a computer system?

What is the purpose of a bootstrap program in a computer system?

What is the main function of a device controller in an operating system?

What is the main advantage of using a multi-chip and multicore system in a computer?

Which type of system is known for sharing storage via a storage-area network (SAN)?

What is the main purpose of a mode bit provided by hardware in an operating system?

What is the main role of an operating system in a computer system?

What are the four components of a computer system?

What type of interrupt is caused by a software error in an operating system?

What is the main advantage of using special-purpose processors in a computer system?

What is the main goal of an operating system in a computer system?

Which activity is NOT a part of memory management?

What is the purpose of access control on most systems?

What is the main purpose of mass-storage management?

What must multitasking environments be careful about in terms of memory usage?

What is cache coherency in a multiprocessor environment?

What is the purpose of protection in an operating system?

What is the main goal of security in an operating system?

What is the purpose of user IDs and group IDs in an operating system?

What is the main purpose of a device controller in an operating system?

What is the role of an operating system in a computer system?

During execution, the user program must not alter the memory area of other processes and kernel

Prevents a job from monopolizing the system

Can only be executed by the OS

Gives OS more flexibility in controlling user programs

Main memory is the only large storage media that the CPU can access directly

Extension of main memory that provides large nonvolatile storage capacity

Rigid metal or glass platters covered with magnetic recording material

Faster than hard disks, nonvolatile

Systems containing all chips in a framework containing multiple separate systems

Multiple systems working together, usually sharing storage via a storage-area network

An operating system acts as an intermediary between a user of a computer and the computer ______

The main components of a computer are ______, operating system, application programs, and users

The ______ is the part of the operating system that is running all the time when the computer is on

The ______ program is loaded at power-up or reboot to initialize all aspects of the system

A computer system can have one or more ______ and device controllers connected through a common bus

The ______ unit, ALU, and registers are the components of the CPU that control the operation of the computer

The operating system is responsible for managing and coordinating the use of ______ among various applications and users

The ______ program is responsible for locating the operating system kernel and loading it into memory to start running

The device drivers, which are part of the operating system, communicate with the ______ to manage I/O operations

An operating system is interrupt driven, with ______ interrupts caused by devices and software errors

Memory is expanded to hold three, four, or more programs and switch among all of them [W. Stallings book]

Dual-mode operation allows OS to protect itself and other system components User mode and kernel mode Mode bit provided by hardware Provides ability to distinguish when system is running user code or kernel code Certain areas of memory are protected from user access Some instructions designated as privileged, only executable in kernel mode System call changes mode to kernel, return from call resets it to user

Timer to prevent infinite loop / process hogging resources Timer is set to interrupt the computer after some time period Keep a counter that is decremented by the physical clock. Operating system set the counter (privileged instruction) When counter is zero generate an interrupt Set up before scheduling process to regain control or terminate program that exceeds allotted time

OS services include Program execution Process management Memory management Storage management Mass-storage management Access I/O devices Error detection and response Accounting Security

A process is a program in execution. It is a unit of work within the system. Program is a passive entity, process is an active entity. Process needs resources to accomplish its task CPU, memory, I/O, files, etc. Examples of operating system operations on processes: Creation and termination of both user and system processes Inter-process communication (chapter 3)

To execute a program all (or part) of the instructions must be in memory All (or part) of the data that is needed by the program must be in memory. Memory management determines what is in memory and when Memory management activities Keeping track of which parts of memory are currently being used and by whom Allocating and deallocating memory space as needed

File-System management Files usually organized into directories Access control on most systems to determine who can access what OS activities include Creating and deleting files and directories Primitives Backup to manipulate files and directories files onto stable (non-volatile) storage media

Usually, disks used to store data that does not fit in main memory or data that must be kept for a “long” period of time OS activities include Free-space management Storage allocation Disk scheduling

Multitasking environments must be careful to use most recent value, no matter where it is stored in the storage hierarchy Multiprocessor environment must provide cache coherency in hardware such that all CPUs have the most recent value in their cache Distributed environment situation even more complex Several copies of a datum can exist

Protection – any mechanism for controlling access of processes or users to resources defined by the OS Security – defense of the system against internal and external attacks Huge range, including denial-of-service, worms, viruses, identity theft, theft of service Systems generally first distinguish among users, to determine who can do what User identities (user IDs, security IDs) include name and associated number, one per user User ID then associated with all files, processes of that user to determine access control Group identifier (group ID) allows set of users to be defined and controls managed, then also associated with each process, file