K.

RAMAKRISHNAN COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND

ENGINEERING

CS8493 – OPERATING SYSTEMS

Question Bank

II YEAR A & B
 CS8493 OPERATING SYSTEMS
LTPC 3003

OBJECTIVES:

• To understand the basic concepts and functions of operating systems.

• To understand Processes and Threads
• To analyze Scheduling algorithms.
• To understand the concept of Deadlocks.
• To analyze various memory management schemes.
• To understand I/O management and File systems.
• To be familiar with the basics of Linux system and Mobile OS like iOS and Android.

UNIT I OPERATING SYSTEM OVERVIEW 7

Computer System Overview-Basic Elements, Instruction Execution, Interrupts, Memory
Hierarchy, Cache Memory, Direct Memory Access, Multiprocessor and Multicore Organization.
Operating system overview-objectives and functions, Evolution of Operating System.- Computer
System Organization Operating System Structure and Operations- System Calls, System
Programs, OS Generation and System Boot.

UNIT II PROCESS MANAGEMENT 11

Processes – Process Concept, Process Scheduling, Operations on Processes, Inter-process
Communication; CPU Scheduling – Scheduling criteria, Scheduling algorithms, Multiple-
processor scheduling, Real time scheduling; Threads- Overview, Multithreading models,
Threading issues; Process Synchronization – The critical-section problem, Synchronization
hardware, Mutex locks, Semaphores, Classic problems of synchronization, Critical
regions, Monitors; Deadlock – System model, Deadlock characterization, Methods for
handling deadlocks, Deadlock prevention, Deadlock avoidance, Deadlock detection,
Recovery from deadlock.

UNIT III STORAGE MANAGEMENT 9

Main Memory – Background, Swapping, Contiguous Memory Allocation, Paging, Segmentation,
Segmentation with paging, 32 and 64 bit architecture Examples; Virtual Memory – Background,
Demand Paging, Page Replacement, Allocation, Thrashing; Allocating Kernel Memory, OS
Examples.

UNIT IV FILE SYSTEMS AND I/O SYSTEMS 9

Mass Storage system – Overview of Mass Storage Structure, Disk Structure, Disk Scheduling
and Management, swap space management; File-System Interface – File concept, Access
methods, Directory Structure, Directory organization, File system mounting, File Sharing and
Protection; File System Implementation- File System Structure, Directory implementation,
Allocation Methods, Free Space Management, Efficiency and Performance, Recovery; I/O
Systems – I/O Hardware, Application I/O interface, Kernel I/O subsystem, Streams,
Performance.

UNIT V CASE STUDY 9

Linux System – Design Principles, Kernel Modules, Process Management, Scheduling, Memory
Management, Input-Output Management, File System, Inter-process Communication; Mobile
OS – iOS and Android – Architecture and SDK Framework, Media Layer, Services Layer, Core
OS Layer, File System.

TOTAL : 45 PERIODS

TEXT BOOK :

1. Abraham Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne, ―Operating System
Concepts‖, 9th Edition, John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012.
 INDEX
UNIT NO TEXT/ REFERENCE BOOK PAGE
NO
UNIT -I Abraham Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne,
―Operating System Concepts‖, 9th Edition, John Wiley and 4-98
Sons Inc., 2012.
UNIT -II Abraham Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne,
―Operating System Concepts‖, 9th Edition, John Wiley and 103-422
Sons Inc., 2012.
UNIT -III Abraham Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne,
―Operating System Concepts‖, 9th Edition, John Wiley and Sons 455-572
Inc., 2012.
UNIT -IV Abraham Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne,
―Operating System Concepts‖, 9th Edition, John Wiley and Sons 575-688
Inc., 2012.
UNIT -V Abraham Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne,
―Operating System Concepts‖, 9th Edition, John Wiley and 695-795
Sons Inc., 2012.
 UNIT I
OPERATING SYSTEMS OVERVIEW
Computer System Overview-Basic Elements, Instruction Execution, Interrupts, Memory Hierarchy, Cache
Memory, Direct Memory Access, Multiprocessor and Multicore Organization. Operating system overview-
objectives and functions, Evolution of Operating System.- Computer System Organization-Operating
System Structure and Operations- System Calls,
System Programs, OS Generation and System Boot.
PART A
S.
Question
No.
1 What are the objectives of operating system? (AU: April/May 2010) (AU: May/June
2012)
(April/May 2017)
Ans: An operating system is a program that manages the computer hardware. it act as an
intermediate between a users of a computer and the computer hardware. It controls and
coordinates the use of the hardware among the various application programs for the various
users.
2 What are the advantages of peer-to-peer systems over client-server systems?
(May/June 2016)
Ans:
• The main advantage of peer to peer network is that it is easier to set up
• In peer-to-peer networks all nodes are act as server as well as client therefore no need
of dedicated server.
• The peer to peer network is less expensive.
• Peer to peer network is easier to set up and use this means that you can spend less
time in the configuration and implementation of peer to peer network.
 It is not require for the peer to peer network to use the dedicated server computer.
Any
computer on the network can function as both a network server and a user workstation
3 What is the purpose of system programs/system calls?(May/June 2016) (Apr/May
2018)
Ans: System programs can be thought of as bundles of useful system calls. They
provide basic functionality to users so that users do not need to
 write their own programs to solve common problems.

4 How does an interrupt differ from a trap?(Nov/Dec 2016)(Apr/May 2018)

Ans: An interrupt is a hardware-generated signal that changes the flow within the system. A
trap is a software-generated interrupt.

An interrupt can be used to signal the completion of I/O so that the CPU doesn't have to
spend cycles polling the device. A trap can be used to catch arithmetic errors or to call
system routines
5 What are disadvantages of multi-processor systems?(Nov/Dec 2016)

Ans:
• Complex Operating System is required
• Large main memory required
• Very expensive
6 Defend timesharing differ from multiprogramming? If so, how?
(April/May 2015)
Ans: Main difference between multiprogramming and time sharing is that
multiprogramming is the effective utilization of CPU time, by allowing several programs to
use the CPU at the same time but time sharing is the sharing of a computing facility by
several users that want to use the same facility at the same time.
7 Why API’s need to be used rather than system call? (April/May2015)
Ans: There are four basic reasons:
1) System calls differ from platform to platform. By using a stable API, it is easier to migrate
your software to different platforms.
2) The operating system may provide newer versions of a system call with enhanced
features. The API implementation will typically also be upgraded to provide this support, so if
you call the API, you'll get it.
The API usually provides more useful functionality than the system call directly. If you
 make the system call directly, you'll typically have to replicate the pre-call and post-call code
that's already implemented by the API. (For example the 'fork' API includes tons of code
beyond just making the 'fork' system call. So does 'select'.)

4) The API can support multiple versions of the operating system and detect which version it
needs to use at run time. If you call the system directly, you either need to replicate this code or
you can only support limited versions.
8 Compare and contrast DMA and cache memory.(Nov/Dec 2015)
Ans: DMA(Direct Memory Access): Direct memory access (DMA) is a feature of computer
systems that allows certain hardware subsystems to access main memory (Random-access
memory), independent of the central processing unit (CPU).
Cache Memory: A cache is a smaller, faster memory, closer to a processor core, which stores
copies of the data from frequently used main memory locations.
So, both DMA and cache are used for increasing the speed of memory access.

9 Distinguish between batch systems and time

sharing systems.(Nov/Dec 2015)
Ans:
Batch System Time sharing system

The tasks are given

Jobs or work is keep in specific time and
order and jobs are run operating system
one after the other switches between
different tasks.

user interaction is
there won’t be any
involved in the
user interactions
processing

10 Compare tightly coupled systems and loosely coupled systems?

Ans:
 Loosely coupled systems:-
Each processor has its own local memory. Each processor can communicate with other all
through communication lines

Tightly coupled systems:-

Common memory is shared by many processors No need of any special communication
lines.
11 What is real time system?
Ans: A real time system has well defined, fixed time constraints. Processing must be
done within the defined constraints, or the system will fail. It is often used as a control
device in a dedicated application.
12 What are privileged instructions?
Ans: Some of the machine instructions that may cause harm to a system are designated
as privileged instructions. The hardware allows the privileged instructions to be executed
only in monitor mode.

13 What do you mean by system calls?

Ans: System calls provide the interface between a process and the operating system.
When a system call is executed, it is treated as by the hardware as software interrupt.
14 Define: process
Ans: A process is a program in execution. It is an active entity and it includes the
process stack, containing temporary data and the data section contains global variables.

15 What is process control block?

Ans: Each process is represented in the OS by a process control block. It contain many
pieces of information associated with a specific process.

16 What is scheduler?
Ans: A process migrates between the various scheduling queues through out its life time.
The OS must select processes from these queues in some fashion. This selection process
is carried out by a scheduler.
17 What are the use of job queues, ready queues and device queues?
Ans: As a process enters a system they are put in to a job queue. This queues consist of
all jobs in the system. The processes that are residing in main memory and are ready and
waiting to execute are kept on a list called ready queue. The list of processes waiting for
particular I/O devices kept in the device queue.

18 What is meant by context switch?

Ans: Switching the CPU to another process requires saving the state of the old process
and loading the saved state for the new process. This task is known as context switch.

19 Discuss the difference between symmetric and asymmetric multiprocessing

Ans:
Symmetric multiprocessing (SMP), in which each processor runs an identical copy of
the operating system and these copies, communicate with one another as needed.
Asymmetric multiprocessing, in which each processor is assigned a specific task. The
master processor controls the system; the other processor looks the master.

20 What is the main advantage of multiprogramming?

Ans: Multiprogramming makes efficient use of the CPU by overlapping the demands for
the CPU and its I/O devices from various users. It attempts to increase CPU utilization
by always having something for the CPU to execute.

21 Discuss the main advantages of layered approach to system design?

Ans: As in all cases of modular design, designing an operating system in a modular
way has several advantages. The system is easier to debug and modify because changes
affect only limited sections of the system rather than touching all sections of the
operating system. Information is kept only where it is needed and is accessible only
within a defined and restricted area, so any bugs affecting that data must be limited to a
specific module or layer.
22 List the advantage of multiprocessor system? Ans:

 Increased throughput.
 Economy of scale.
 Increased reliability.

23 Define inter process communication.

Ans: Inter process communication provides a mechanism to allow the co-operating
process to communicate with each other and synchronies their actions without sharing the
same address space. It is provided a message passing system.

24 Identify the difference between mainframe and desktop operating system.

Ans: The design goals of operating systems for those machines are quite different. PCs
are inexpensive, so wasted resources like CPU cycles are inconsequential. Resources are
wasted to improve usability and increase software user interface functionality.
Mainframes are the opposite, so resource use is maximized, at the expensive of ease of
use.

25 What is bootstrap program?

Ans: A bootstrap is the program that initializes the operating system (OS) during startup.

26 Illustrate the different interrupt clauses. Ans:

 Hardware interrupts
 Software interrupts

27 Identify what virtual machine is and what are the advantages virtual machines.
Ans: Virtual Machine is a completely separate individual operating system installation on
your usual operating system. It is implemented by software emulation and hardware
virtualization.
Advantages:

 Multiple OS environments can exist simultaneously on the

same machine, isolated from each other;
  Virtual machine can offer an instruction set architecture that differs from
real computer's;
 Easy maintenance, application provisioning, availability and convenient
recovery.

28 Distinguish between hard real time systems and soft real time systems.
Ans:
A Hard Real-Time System guarantees that critical tasks complete on time.
A Soft Real Time System where a critical real-time task gets priority over other
tasks and retains that priority until it completes.

29
Summarize the functions of DMA.
Ans: Direct memory access (DMA) is a method that allows an input/output
(I/O) device to send or receive data directly to or from the main memory,
bypassing the CPU to speed up memory operations. The process is managed by
a chip known as a DMA controller (DMAC).

30 Illustrate the use of fork and exec system calls.

Ans: fork() is the name of the system call that the parent process uses to "divide"
itself ("fork") into two identical processes. After calling fork(), the Creatingd
child process is an exact copy of the parent except for the return value.
When the child process calls exec(), all data in the original program is lost, and
it is replaced with a running copy of the new program. This is known as
overlaying.

31 Define: Clustered systems.

Ans: A computer cluster is a set of loosely or tightly connected computers that
work together so that, in many respects, they can be viewed as a single system.

32
Some computer systems do not provide a privileged mode of operation in
hardware. Is it possible to construct a secure operating system for these
computer systems? (Nov/Dec 2018)
 Ans: An operating system for a machine of this type would need to remain
in control (or monitor mode) at all times. This could be accomplished by two
methods:
a. Software interpretation of all user programs (like some BASIC, Java, and
LISP systems, for example). The software interpreter would provide, in
software, what the hardware does not provide.

b. Require meant that all programs be written in high‐level languages so that

all object code is compiler‐produced. The compiler would generate (either in‐
ine or by function calls) the protection checks that the hardware is missing.

33 Can traps be generated intentionally by a user program? If so, for what

purpose? (Nov/Dec 2018)
Ans: A trap is a software‐generated interrupt. An interrupt can be used to signal
the completion of an I/O to obviate the need for device polling. A trap can be
used to call operating system routines or to catch arithmetic errors.

34 What are the three main purposes of an operating system?

Ans:The three main puropses are:

• To provide an environment for a computer user to execute programs on

computer hardware in a convenient and efficient manner.

• To allocate the separate resources of the computer as needed to solve the

problem given. The allocation process should be as fair and efficient as possible.

• As a control program it serves two major functions: (1) supervision of the

execution of user programs to prevent errors and improper use of the computer,
and (2) management of the operation and control of I/O devices.
35 What is the purpose of system calls?
Ans:System calls allow user-level processes to request services of the
operating system.

36 What are the five major activities of an operating system with regard to
process management?

Ans:The five major activities are:

a. The creation and deletion of both user and system processes

b. The suspension and resumption of processes

c. The provision of mechanisms for process synchronization

d. The provision of mechanisms for process communication

e. The provision of mechanisms for deadlock handling

37 What are the three major activities of an operating system with regard to
memory management?

Ans:The three major activities are:

a. Keep track of which parts of memory are currently being used and by
whom.

b. Decide which processes are to be loaded into memory when memory space
becomes available.

c. Allocate and deallocate memory space as needed.

38 What are the three major activities of an operating system with regard to
secondary- storage management?
Ans:The three major activities are:
 • Free-space management.

• Storage allocation.

• Disk scheduling
39 What is an Operating system?

Ans:An operating system is a program that manages the computer hardware. It

also provides a basis for application programs and act as an intermediary
between a user of a computer and the computer hardware. It controls and
coordinates the use of the hardware among the variousapplication programs for
the various users.

40 List the services provided by an Operating System?

Ans:Program execution I/O Operation

File-System manipulation Communications

Error detection

41 What is the Kernel?

Ans:A more common definition is that the OS is the one program running at all
times on the computer, usually called the kernel, with all else being application
programs.

42 What is meant by Mainframe Systems?

Ans:Mainframe systems are the first computers developed to tackle many
commercial and scientific applications. These systems are developed from the
batch systems and then multiprogramming system and finally time sharing
systems.

43 What is Multiprocessor System?

Ans:Multiprocessor systems have systems more

than one processor for communication, sharing the computer bus, the
memory, clock & peripheral devices.
44 What are the advantages of multiprocessors?

Ans:Increased throughput

Economy of scale

Increased reliability

45 What is the use of Fork and Exec System Calls?

Ans:Fork is a System calls by which a new process is created. Exec is also a

System call, which is used after a fork by one of the two processes to replace
the process memory space with a new program.

46 What are the five major categories of System Calls?

Ans:

Process Control

File-management

Device-management

Information maintenance

Communications

47 What are the modes of operation in Hardware Protection?

Ans:

User Mode
Monitor Mode

48 What is meant by Batch Systems?

Ans:Operators batched together jobs with similar needs and ran through the
computer as a group .The operators would sort programs into batches with
similar requirements and as system become available, it would run each batch.

49 List the privileged instruction.

 Ans:

a. Set value of timer.

b. Clear memory.
c. Turn off interrupts.
d. Modify entries in device-status tab
e. Access I/O device.
50 What are the Components of a Computer System?

Ans:

Application Program

System Program

Operating System

Computer Hardware

PART B & C

1 Explain different operating system structures with

neat sketch. (Nov/Dec 2015) (Apr/May 2017)
(Apr/May 2018)
Refer page no 55 – 61 from text book “Abraham
Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne,
“Operating System Concepts”, 9th Edition, John
Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.

2 Explain the various types of system calls with

examples. (May/June 2015) (Nov/Dec 2015)
(Apr/May 2017) (Nov/Dec 2018)
Refer page no 62 – 73 from text book “Abraham
Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne,
“Operating System Concepts”, 9th Edition, John
Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.

3 What are the basic functions of OS and DMA

(Nov/Dec 2015) (Apr/May2017)
Refer page no 464 – 466 from text book “Abraham
Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne,
“Operating System Concepts”, 9th Edition, John
Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.
4 Explain the concept of multiprocessor and
Multicore organization. (Apr/May 2017)
Refer page no 14 – 16 from text book “Abraham
Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne,
 “Operating System Concepts”, 9th Edition, John
Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.
5 What are the advantages and disadvantages of using
the same system call interface for both files and
devices. (Nov/Dec 2016)
Refer page no 64 – 71 from text book “Abraham
Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne,
“Operating System Concepts”, 9th Edition, John
Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.
6 Describe the difference between symmetric and
asymmetric multiprocessing. Discuss the
advantages and disadvantages of multiprocessor
systems. (May/June 2016) (Nov/Dec 2016)
Refer page no 12 – 18 from text book “Abraham
Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne,
“Operating System Concepts”, 9th Edition, John
Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.
7 Discuss in detail about Distributed systems.
(May/June 2016)

Refer page no 37 – 38 from text book “Abraham

Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne,
“Operating System Concepts”, 9th Edition, John
Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.

8 Demonstrate the three methods for passing

parameters to the OS with examples. (May/June
2016)
Refer page no 120 – 128 from text book “Abraham
Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne,
“Operating System Concepts”, 9th Edition, John
Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.
9 Explain how protection is provided for the hardware
resources by the operating system. (Nov/Dec 2016)
Refer page no 30 –31 from text book “Abraham
Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne,
“Operating System Concepts”, 9th Edition, John
Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.

10 List the various services provided by operating

systems. (Nov/Dec 2016)
 (Apr/May 2018)
Refer page no 53-56 from text book “Abraham
Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne,
“Operating System Concepts”, 9th Edition, John
Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.
11 Discuss the DMA driven data transfer technique.
(May/June 2015)
Refer page no 12, 583-585 from text book
“Abraham Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin and Greg
Gagne, “Operating System Concepts”, 9th Edition,
John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.
12 Discuss about the evolution of virtual machines.
Also explain how virtualization could be
implemented in operating systems. (May/June
2015)
Refer page no 40 – 41 from text book “Abraham
Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne,
“Operating System Concepts”, 9th Edition, John
Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.
13 With neat sketch, discuss about computer system
overview. (Nov/Dec 2015)
Refer page no 27 – 34 from text book “Abraham
Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne,
“Operating System Concepts”, 9th Edition, John
Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.

14 Give reasons why caches are useful. What problems

do they solve and cause? If a catch can be made as
large as the device for which it is catching why not
make it that large and eliminate the device?
(Apr/May 2018)
15 Discuss the functionality of system boot with
respect to an operating system. (Nov/Dec 2018)
16 Discuss the essential properties of the following
types of systems, (Nov/Dec 2018)
i) Time sharing systems ii) Multi-processor systems
iii) Distributed systems
 UNIT II
PROCESS MANAGEMENT

Processes-Process Concept, Process Scheduling, Operations on Processes, Interprocess

Communication; Threads- Overview, Multicore Programming, Multithreading Models;
Windows 7 – Thread and SMP Management. Process Synchronization – Critical Section
Problem, Mutex Locks, Semophores, Monitors; CPU Scheduling and Deadlocks.
PART – A
S.
No Question
.
1 Compare and contrast Single-threaded and multi-threaded process.
(Apr/May 2017)
Ans:Single-threading is the processing of one command/ process at a time.
Whereas multi threading is a widespread programming and execution model
that allows multiple threads to exist within the context of one process. These
threads share the process's resources, but are able to execute independently.

2 Priority inversion is a condition that occurs in real time systems – Analyzing

on this statement. (Apr/May 2017)
Ans: Priority inversion is a problem that occurs in concurrent processes when low-
priority threads hold shared resources required by some high-priority threads,
causing the high priority-threads to block indefinitely. This problem is enlarged
when the concurrent processes are in a real time system where high- priority
threads must be served on time.

Priority inversion occurs when task interdependency exists among tasks with
different priorities.

3 Distinguish between CPU bounded, I/O bounded processes. (Nov/Dec 2016)

Ans:
CPU bound process, spends majority of its time simply using the CPU (doing
calculations).

I/O bound process, spends majority of its time in input/output related operations.
4 What resources are required to Creating
threads? (Nov/Dec 2016)
Ans: When a thread is Creatingd the threads does
not require any new resources to execute. The thread
shares the resources of the process to which it
belongs to and it requires a small data structure to
hold a register set, stack, and priority.

5 Under what circumstances user level threads are

better than the kernel level threads? (May/June
2016) (Nov/Dec 2015)
Ans: User-Level threads are managed entirely by
the run-time system (user-level library).The kernel
knows nothing about user-level threads and manages
them as if they were single-threaded processes.
User-Level threads are small and fast, each thread is
represented by a PC, register, stack, and small thread
control block. Creating a new thread, switching
between threads, and synchronizing threads are done
via procedure call. i.e. no kernel involvement. User-
Level threads are hundred times faster than Kernel-
Level threads.
User level threads are simple to represent, simple to
manage and fast and efficient.
6 What is the meaning of the term busy waiting?
(May/June 2016)(Nov/Dec2018)
Ans: Busy-waiting, busy-looping or spinning is a
technique in which a process repeatedly checks to
see if a condition is true.
7 List out the data fields associated with process
control blocks. .(April/May 2015)
Ans: Process ID, pointers, process state, priority,
program counter, CPU registers, I/O information,
Memory management information, Accounting
information, etc.

8 Define the term ‘Dispatch Latency”. (April/May

2015)
Ans: The term dispatch latency describes the
amount of time it takes for a system to respond to a
request for a process to begin operation.

9 What is the concept behind strong semaphore

and spinlock? (Nov/Dec 2015)
 Ans: Strong semaphores specify the order in which
processes are removed from the queue (FIFO order),
which guarantees avoiding starvation.
Spinlock is a lock which causes a thread trying to
acquire it to simply wait in a loop ("spin") while
repeatedly checking if the lock is available.
10 What is a thread?
Ans: A thread otherwise called a lightweight
process (LWP) is a basic unit of CPU utilization, it
comprises of a thread id, a program counter, a
register set and a stack. It shares with other threads
belonging to the same process its code section, data
section, and operating system resources such as open
files and signals.
11 What are the benefits of multithreaded
programming?
Ans: The benefits of multithreaded programming
can be broken down into four major categories:
• Responsiveness
• Resource sharing
• Economy
• Utilization of multiprocessor architectures

12 Compare user threads and kernel threads.

Ans:
User threads:-
User threads are supported above the kernel and are
implemented by a thread library at the user level.
Thread creation & scheduling are done in the user
space, without kernel intervention. Therefore they
are fast to Creating and manage blocking system call
will cause the entire process to block
Kernel threads:-
Kernel threads are supported directly by the
operating system .Thread creation, scheduling and
management are done by the operating system.
Therefore they are slower to Creating & manage
compared to user threads. If the thread performs a
blocking system call, the kernel can schedule
another thread in the application for execution

13 What is the use of fork and exec system calls?

 Ans: Fork is a system call by which a new process is
Creatingd. Exec is also a system call, which is used
after a fork by one of the two processes to place the
process memory space with a new program.
14 Distinguish between user-level threads and
kernel-level threads? Under what circumstances
is one type better than the other?
Ans:
• User-level threads are unknown by the
kernel, whereas the kernel is aware of kernel
threads.
• User threads are scheduled by the thread
library and the kernel schedules kernel
threads.
• Kernel threads need not be associated with a
process whereas every user thread belongs to
a process.
15 Define thread cancellation and target thread.
Ans:The thread cancellation is the task of
terminating a thread before it has completed. A
thread that is to be cancelled is often referred to as
the target thread. For example, if multiple threads
are concurrently searching through a database and
one thread returns the result, the remaining threads
might be cancelled.
16 What are the different ways in which a thread
can be cancelled?
Ans:Cancellation of a target thread may occur in
two different scenarios:
Asynchronous cancellation: One thread
immediately terminates the target thread is called
asynchronous cancellation.
Deferred cancellation: The target thread
can periodically check if it should terminate,
allowing the target thread an opportunity to
terminate itself in an orderly fashion.

17 Define CPU Scheduling.

Ans: CPU scheduling is the process of switching the
CPU among various processes. CPU scheduling is
the basis of multiprogrammed operating systems. By
switching the CPU among processes, the operating
system can make the computer more productive.
18 Distinguish between preemptive and non-
preemptive Scheduling.
Ans: Under nonpreemptive scheduling once the
CPU has been allocated to a process, the process
keeps the CPU until it releases the CPU either by
terminating or switching to the waiting state.
Preemptive scheduling can preempt a process which
is utilizing the CPU in between its execution and
give the CPU to another process.

19 List the functions of Dispatcher Module.

Ans: The dispatcher is the module that gives control
of the CPU to the process selected by the short- term
scheduler. This function involves:
• Switching context
• Switching to user mode
• Jumping to the proper location in the user
program to restart that program.
20 What are the various scheduling criteria for CPU
scheduling?
Ans: The various scheduling criteria are,
• CPU utilization
• Throughput
• Turnaround time
• Waiting time
• Response time
21 What are the requirements that a solution to the
critical section problem must satisfy?
Ans: The three requirements are
• Mutual exclusion
• Progress
• Bounded waiting
22 Define: Critical section problem.
Ans: Consider a system consists of 'n' processes.
Each process has segment of code called a critical
section, in which the process may be changing
common variables, updating a table, writing a file.
When one process is executing in its critical section,
no other process can allowed executing in its critical
section.
23 How will you calculate turn-around time?
Ans: Turnaround time is the interval from the time
of submission to the time of completion of a process.
 It is the sum of the periods spent waiting to get into
memory, waiting in the ready queue, executing on
the CPU, and doing I/O.
24 Name two hardware instructions and their
definitions which can be used for implementing
mutual exclusion.
Ans:
• TestAndSet

boolean TestAndSet (boolean &target)

boolean rv = target;

target = true;

return rv;

• Swap

void Swap (boolean &a, boolean &b)

boolean temp = a;

a = b;

b = temp;

}
25 What is a semaphore?
Ans: A semaphore 'S' is a synchronization tool
which is an integer value that, apart from
initialization, is accessed only through two standard
atomic operations; wait and signal .Semaphores can
be used to deal with the n-process critical section
problem. It can be also used to solve various
Synchronization problems.
26 Define Deadlock.
Ans: A process requests resources; if the resources
are not available at that time, the process enters a
wait state. Waiting processes may never again
change state, because the resources they have
requested are held by other waiting processes. This
situation is called a deadlock.
27 List two programming examples of
multithreading giving improved performance
over a single-threaded solution.
Ans:
• A Web server that services each request in a
separate thread.
• A parallelized application such as matrix
multiplication where different parts of the
matrix may be worked on in parallel.
• An interactive GUI program such as a
debugger where a thread is used to monitor
user input, another thread represents the
running application, and a third thread
monitors performance.
28 What are the conditions under which a deadlock
situation may arise?
Ans: A deadlock situation can arise if the following
four conditions hold simultaneously in a system:
• Mutual exclusion
• Hold and wait
• No pre-emption
• Circular wait

29 What are the methods for handling deadlocks?

Ans: The deadlock problem can be dealt with in one
 of the three ways:
a. Use a protocol to prevent or avoid deadlocks,
ensuring that the system will never enter a deadlock
state.
b. Allow the system to enter the deadlock state,
detect it and then recover.
c. Ignore the problem all together, and pretend that
deadlocks never occur in the system.

30 What is resource-allocation graph?

Ans: Deadlocks can be described more precisely in
terms of a directed graph called a system resource
allocation graph. This graph consists of a set of
vertices V and a set of edges E. The set of vertices V
is partitioned into two different types of nodes; P the
set consisting of all active processes in the system
and R the set consisting of all resource types in the
system.
31 Define busy waiting and Spinlock.
Ans: When a process is in its critical section, any
other process that tries to enter its critical section
must loop continuously in the entry code. This is
called as busy waiting and this type of semaphore is
also called a spinlock, because the process keeps on
waiting for the lock.
32 What are the benefits of synchronous and
asynchronous communication? (Apr/May 2018)
Ans:A benefit of synchronous communication is
that it allows a rendezvous between the sender and
receiver.
An asynchronous operation is non-blocking and only
initiates the operation.

33 Can a multithreaded solution using multiple

user-level threads achieve better performance on
a multiprocessor system than on a single-
processor system?(Nov/Dec 2018)
Ans: A multithreaded system comprising of multiple
user-level threads cannot make use of the different
processors in a multiprocessor system
simultaneously.
34 Define process?
 Ans: A process is more than a program code, which
is sometime known as the text section. It also
includes the current activity, as represented by the
value of the program counter and the processor’s
registers.

35 Describe the actions taken by a kernel to context-

switch between kernel level threads.

Ans: Context switching between kernel threads

typically requires saving the value of the CPU
registers from the thread being switched out and
restoring the CPU registers of the new thread being
scheduled

36 What is meant by the state of the process?

Ans: The state of the process is defined in part by

the current activity of that process. Each process
may be in one of the following states.

New: The process is being created.

Running: Instruction are being executed

Waiting: The process is waiting for some event to

occur.

Ready: The process is waiting to be assigned to a

processor

Terminated: The process has finished execution

37 Define process control block contain?

Ans: Each process is represented in the operating

system by a process control block (PCB) – also
called as task control block. The PCB simply serves
as the repository for any information that may vary
from process to process.

38 What are the 3 different types of scheduling

queues?

Ans: Job Queue: As process enters the system they

are put into job queue.

Ready Queue: The processes that are residing in the

main memory and are ready and waiting to execute
 are kept in the queue.

Device Queue: The list of processes waiting for

particular I/O device is called a device queue.

39 Define schedulers?

Ans: A process migrates between the various

scheduling throughout its lifetime. The operating
system must select, for scheduling purposes,
processes from these queues in some fashion. The
selection process is carried out by the appropriate
scheduler.

40 What are the types of scheduler?

Ans: Long term scheduler or job scheduler selects

processes from the pool and load them into the
memory for execution. Short term scheduler or CPU
scheduler, select among the processes that are ready
to execute and allocates the CPU to one of them.

41 Define critical section?

Ans: If a system consist on n processes {P0, P1,

……., Pn-1}.Each process has a segment of code
called a critical section, in which the process may be
changing common variables, updating a table ,
writing a file. The important feature of this system is
that, when one process is in its critical section, no
other process is to be allowed to execute in its
critical section.

Define Starvation in deadlock?

42
Ans: A problem related to deadlock is indefinite
blocking or starvation, a situation where processes
wait indefinitely within a semaphore. Indefinite
blocking may occur if we add and remove processes
from the list associated with a semaphore in LIFO
order.

43 Name some classic problem of

synchronization? Ans: The Bounded – Buffer

Problem

The Reader – Writer Problem

 The Dining –Philosophers Problem

44 What is the sequence of operation by which a

process utilizes a resource?

Ans: Under the normal mode of operation, a process

may utilize a resource in only the following
sequence:

Request: If the request cannot be granted

immediately, then the requesting process must wait
until it can acquire the response.

Use: The process can operate on the

resource. Release: The process releases the

resource
45 Give the condition necessary for a deadlock
situation to arise?

Ans: A deadlock situation can arise if the following

4 condition hold simultaneously in a system.

Mutual Exclusion

Hold and Wait

No preemption

Circular Wait

46 Define ‘Safe State”?

Ans: A state is safe if the system allocates resources

to each process in some order and still avoid
deadlock.

47 Define race condition.

Ans: When several process access and manipulate

same data concurrently, then the outcome of the
execution depends on particular order in which the
access takes place is called race condition. To avoid
race condition, only one process at a time can
manipulate the shared variable.

48 Define entry section and exit section.

Ans: The critical section problem is to design a

protocol that the processes can use to cooperate.
 Each process must request permission to enter its
critical section. The section of the code
implementing this request is the entry section. The
critical section is followed by an exit section. The
remaining code is the remainder section.

49 Define busy waiting and spinlock.

Ans: When a process is in its critical section, any

other process that tries to enter its critical section
must loop continuously in the entry code. This is
called as busy waiting and this type of semaphore is
also called a spinlock, because the process while
waiting for the lock.

50 Explain the difference between preemptive and

nonpreemptive scheduling.

Ans: Preemptive scheduling allows a process to be

interrupted in the midst of its execution, taking the
CPU away and allocating it to another process.

Non preemptive scheduling ensures that a process

relinquishes control of the CPU only when it
finishes with its current CPU burst.

PART B&C
1 Suppose that the following processes arrive for
execution at the times indicated. Each process will
run the listed amount of time. In answering the
questions, use non-preemptive scheduling and
base all decisions on the information you have at
the time the decision must be made. (Nov/Dec
2018)
Process Arrival Time Burst Time
P1 0.0 8
P2 0.4 4
P3 1.0 1

a. Find the average turnaround time for these

processes with the FCFS scheduling algorithm?

b. Find the average turnaround time for these

 processes with the SJF scheduling algorithm?

c. The SJF algorithm is supposed to improve

performance, but notice that we chose to run
process P1 at time 0 because we did not know that
two shorter processes would arrive soon. Find
what is the average turnaround time will be if the
CPU is left idle for the first 1 unit and then SJF
scheduling is used.
Remembering that processes P1 and P2 are
waiting during this idle time, so their waiting time
may increase. This algorithm could
be known as future-knowledge
scheduling. (Apr/May2017) (Apr/May2018)
--Refer class work

2 State critical section problem? Discuss three

solutions to solve the critical section problem.
(Apr/May 2017)
Refer page no 256-259 from text book “Abraham
Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne,
“Operating System Concepts”, 9th Edition, John
Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.

Illustrate an example situation in which ordinary

3 pipes are more suitable than named pipes and an
example situation in which named pipes are more
suitable than ordinary pipes. (Nov/Dec 2016)
Refer page no 140 – 145 from text book
“Abraham Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin and
Greg Gagne, “Operating System Concepts”, 9th
Edition, John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.
4 Explain: why interrupts are not appropriate for
implementing synchronization primitives in
multiprocessor systems. (Nov/Dec 2016)
(Nov/Dec 2018)
Refer page no 269-272 from text book “Abraham
Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne,
“Operating System Concepts”, 9th Edition, John
Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.
5 Elaborate the actions taken by the kernel to
context-switch between processes. (Nov/Dec
2016)
 Refer page no 112 -113 from text book “Abraham
Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne,
“Operating System Concepts”, 9th Edition, John
Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.
6 Consider the following resource-allocation policy.
Requests and releases for resources are allowed at
any time. If a request for resources cannot be
satisfied because the resources are not available,
then we check any processes that are blocked,
waiting for resources. If they have the desired
resources, then these resources are taken away
from them and are given to the requesting process.
The vector of resources for which the waiting
process is waiting is increased to include the
resources that were taken away.

For example, consider a system with three

resource types and the vector

Available initialized to (4,2,2). If process P0 asks

for (2,2,1), it gets them. If P1 asks for (1,0,1), it
gets them. Then, if P0 asks for (0,0,1), it is
blocked (resource not available). If P2 now asks
for (2,0,0), it gets the available one (1,0,0) and
one that was allocated to P0 (since P0 is blocked).

P0‘s Allocation vector goes down to (1,2,1), and

its Need vector goes up to (1,0,1).

a. Predict whether deadlock occurs? If so, give an

example. If not, which necessary condition cannot
occur?

b. Predict whether indefinite blocking occurs?

(Nov/Dec 2015)
Refer page no 326-333 from text book “Abraham
Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne,
“Operating System Concepts”, 9th Edition, John
Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.
-- Also Refer Class Work
 7 Explain dining philosopher’s problem. (Apr/May
2017) (Nov/Dec 2018)
Refer page no 272 – 273 from text book
“Abraham Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin and
Greg Gagne, “Operating System Concepts”, 9th
Edition, John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.

8 Distinguish among short-term, medium-term and

long-term scheduling with suitable example. (Apr
/May 2018)
9 Explain the differences in the degree to which the
following scheduling algorithms deiscriminate in
favour of short processes: RR, Multilevel
Feedback Queues (Apr/May 2018)
10 Discuss how the following pairs of scheduling
criteria conflict in certain settings.
i) CPU utilization and response time ii) Average
turn around time and maximum waiting time
iii)I/O device utilization and CPU utilization.
(Nov/Dec 2018)
11 Write about the various CPU scheduling
algorithms.
12 Write about critical regions and monitors.

13 Consider the following page reference string 7, 0,

1, 2, 0, 3, 0, 4, 2, 3, 0, 3, 2, 1, 2, 0, 1, 7, 0, 1 How
many page faults would occur for the following
replacement algorithms, assuming three frames
that all frames are initially empty?
14 How can deadlock be detected? Explain.

15 Write notes about multiple-processor scheduling

and real-time scheduling.

UNIT III
STORAGE MANAGEMENT

Main Memory-Contiguous Memory Allocation, Segmentation, Paging, 32 and 64 bit

architecture Examples; Virtual Memory- Demand Paging, Page Replacement, Allocation,
Thrashing; Allocating Kernel Memory, OS Examples.

PART A
S. Question
No.

1 What is the difference between user-level instructions and

privileged instructions? (April/May 2017)
Ans: A non-privileged (i.e. user-level) instruction is an
instruction that any application or user can execute. A privileged
instruction, on the other hand, is an instruction that can only be
executed in kernel mode. Instructions are divided in this manner
because privileged instructions could harm the kernel.
2 Define: Belady’s anomaly? (April/May 2017)
Ans: In computer storage, Bélády's anomaly is the
phenomenon in which increasing the number of page frames
results in an increase in the number of page faults for certain
memory access patterns. This phenomenon is commonly
experienced when using the first-in first-out (FIFO) page
replacement algorithm.
3 What is the purpose of paging the page table? (Nov/Dec
2016)

Ans: In certain situations the page tables could become large

enough that by paging the page tables, one could simplify the
memory allocation problem (by ensuring that everything is
allocated as fixed-size pages as opposed to variable-sized
chunks) and also enable the swapping of portions of page table
that are not currently used.
4 Why page sizes are always power of 2? (Nov/Dec 2016)
Ans: Recall that paging is implemented by breaking up an
address into a page and offset number. It is most efficient to
break the address into X page bits and Y offset bits, rather than
perform arithmetic on the address to calculate the page number
and offset. Because each bit position represents a power of 2,
splitting an address between bits results in a page size that is a
power of 2.
5 List two differences between logical and physical addresses.
(May/June 2016)
Ans:

Logical Physical
 1. An address seen by
memory unit that is, the one
loaded into the memory
address register of the
1. An address generated memory is referred to as
by CPU is referred to us a physical address.
logical address.

2. The set of all logical 2. The set of all physical

address generated by a address corresponding to
program is a logical address these logical addresses is a
space. physical address.

3. For user view. 3. For system view.

4. The user program deals

with logical address or these 4. These are generated by
are generated by user memory management unit
(program). (MMU).

6 Define demand paging in memory management. (Nov/Dec

2015)
Ans: In virtual memory systems, demand paging is a type of
swapping in which pages of data are not copied from disk to
RAM until they are needed.
7 What are the steps required to handle a page fault in
demand paging? (Nov/Dec 2015)
Ans: Steps in handling page fault:

1. Operating system looks at another table to

decide:
• Invalid reference - abort
• Just not in memory
2. Find free frame
3. Swap page into frame via scheduled disk
operation
4. Reset tables to indicate page now in memory Set
validation bit = v
5. Restart the instruction that caused the page fault
Tell the significance of LDT and GDT in segmentation.
8
 (May/June 2015)
Ans: The LDT is supposed to contain memory segments which
are private to a specific program, while the GDT is supposed to
contain global segments.

In order to reference a segment, a program must use its index

inside the GDT or the LDT. Such an index is called a segment
selector or selector in short.
9 What do you meant by thrashing? (May/June 2015)
(May/June 2016)
Ans: A process that is spending more time in paging than
executing is said to be thrashing. In other words it means that
the process doesn't have enough frames to hold all the pages for
its execution, it will do swapping pages in and out very
frequently to keep executing.
10 Explain dynamic loading.
Ans: To obtain better memory-space utilization dynamic
loading is used. With dynamic loading, a routine is not loaded
until it is called. All routines are kept on disk in a relocatable
load format. The main program is loaded into memory and
executed. If the routine needs another routine, the calling
routine checks whether the routine has been loaded. If not, the
relocatable linking loader is called to load the desired program
into memory.
11 Explain dynamic Linking.
Ans: Dynamic linking is similar to dynamic loading, rather that
loading being postponed until execution time, linking is
postponed. This feature is usually used with system libraries,
such as language subroutine libraries. A stub is included in the
image for each library-routine reference. The stub is a small
piece of code that indicates how to locate the appropriate
memory-resident library routine, or how to load the library if the
routine is not already present.
12 Define Overlays.
Ans: To enable a process to be larger than the amount of
memory allocated to it, overlays are used. The idea of overlays
is to keep in memory only those instructions and data that are
needed at a given time.
When other instructions are needed, they are loaded into space
occupied previously by instructions that are no longer needed.
13 Define swapping.
Ans: A process needs to be in memory to be executed. However
a process can be swapped temporarily out of memory to a
backing store and then brought back into memory for continued
execution. This process is called swapping.
14 What is Demand Paging?
Ans: Virtual memory is commonly implemented by demand
paging. In demand paging, the pager brings only those
necessary pages into memory instead of swapping in a whole
process. Thus it avoids reading into memory pages that will not
be used anyway, decreasing the swap time and the amount of
physical memory needed.
15 What is pure demand paging?
Ans: When starting execution of a process with no pages in
memory, the operating system sets the instruction pointer to the
first instruction of the process, which is on a non-memory
resident page, the process immediately faults for the page. After
this page is brought into memory, the process continues to
execute, faulting as necessary until every page that it needs is in
memory. At that point, it can execute with no more faults. This
schema is pure demand paging.
16 Outline about virtual memory.
Ans: Virtual memory is a technique that allows the execution
of processes that may not be completely in memory. It is the
separation of user logical memory from physical memory. This
separation provides an extremely large virtual memory, when
only a smaller physical memory is available.
17 Define lazy swapper.
Ans: Rather than swapping the entire process into main
memory, a lazy swapper is used. A lazy swapper never swaps a
page into memory unless that page will be needed.
18 What are the common strategies to select a free hole from a
set of available holes?
Ans: The most common strategies are,
• First fit
• Worst fit
• Best fit

19 Define effective access time.

 Ans: Let p be the probability of a page fault . The value of p is
expected to be close to 0; that is, there will be only a few page
faults. The effective access time is Effective access time = (1-p)
* ma + p * page fault time. Where ma : memory-access time.
20 What is the basic approach for page replacement?
Ans: If no frame is free is available, find one that is not
currently being used and free it. A frame can be freed by writing
its contents to swap space, and changing the page table to
indicate that the page is no longer in memory.
Now the freed frame can be used to hold the page for which the
process faulted.
21 Distinguish between page and segment.
Ans: Paging is used to get a large linear address space without
having to buy more physical memory. Segmentation allows
programs and data to be broken up into logically independent
address spaces and to aid sharing and protection.
22 How the problem of external fragmentation can be
solved. Ans: Solution to external fragmentation :
1) Compaction : shuffling the fragmented memory into one
contiguous location.
2) Virtual memory addressing by using paging and
segmentation.
23 Formulate how long a paged memory reference takes if
memory reference takes 200 nanoseconds .Assume a paging
system with page table stored in memory.
Ans: 400 nanoseconds. 200 ns to access the page table plus 200
ns to access the word in memory.
24 Evaluating the maximum number of pages needed If a
system supports 16 bit address line and 1K page size.
Ans:
A 16 bit address can address 2^16 bytes in a byte addressable
machine. Since the size of a page 1K bytes (2^10),
the number of addressable pages is 2^16 / >2^10 = 2^6 = 64
pages.

25 How does the system discover thrashing? (Nov/Dec 2018)

Ans: In a virtual memory system, thrashing is a situation when
there is excessive swapping of pages between memory and the
hard disk, causing the application to respond more slowly. The
operating system often warns users of low virtual memory when
thrashing is occurring.
26 What you mean by compaction? In which situation is it
applied.
Ans: Compaction is a process in which the free space is
collected in a large memory chunk to make some space
available for processes. In memory management, swapping
Creatings multiple fragments in the memory because of the
processes moving in and out. Compaction refers to combining
all the empty spaces together and processes.

27 Outline about TLB.

Ans: A translation lookaside buffer (TLB) is a memory cache
that is used to reduce the time taken to access a user memory
location. It is a part of the chip's memory-management unit
(MMU). The TLB stores the recent translations of virtual
memory to physical memory and can be called an address-
translation cache.
28 List the need of inverted page table.
Ans:
• There will be only one page table in memory i.e One
entry for each real page of memory.
• Decreases the memory needed to store each page table.
29 Define Address binding.
Ans: Address binding is the process of mapping the program's
logical or virtual addresses to corresponding physical or main
memory addresses. In other words, a given logical address is
mapped by the MMU (Memory Management Unit) to a physical
address.
30 List the steps needed to handle page
fault. Ans:
1. The memory address requested is first checked, to
make sure it was a valid memory request.
2. If the reference was invalid, the process is terminated.
Otherwise, the page must be paged in.
3. A free frame is located, possibly from a free-frame list.
4. A disk operation is scheduled to bring in the necessary
page from disk.
( This will usually block the process on an I/O wait,
allowing some other process to use the CPU in the
meantime. )
5. When the I/O operation is complete, the process’s page
table is updated with the new frame number, and the
invalid bit is changed to indicate that this is now a
valid page reference.
 6. The instruction that caused the page fault must now be
restarted from the beginning, ( as soon as this process
gets another turn on the CPU. )
31 Define External Fragmentation. (Apr/May 2018)
Ans: It is a situation, when total memory available is enough to
process a request but not in contiguous manner.
32 What are the counting based page replacement algorithm?
(Apr/May 2018)
Ans: These algorithms keep a counter of the number of
references that have been made to each page. Example: Least
Frequently Used(LFU), Most Frequently Used(MFU)
33 Under what circumstances would a user be better off using a
time-sharing system, rather than a PC or single-user
workstation.(Nov/Dec 2018)
Ans:
A user is better off under three situations: when it is cheaper,
faster, or easier. For example:

1. When the user is paying for management costs, and the costs
are cheaper for a time-sharing system than for a single-user
computer.

2. When running a simulation or calculationg that takes too long

to run on a single PC or workstation.

3. When a user is travelling and doesn't have laptop to carry

around, they can connect remotely to a time-shared system and
do their work.

34 How is memory protected in a paged environment?

Ans:

Protection bits that are associated with each frame accomplish

memory protection in a paged environment. The protection bits
can be checked to verify that no writes are being made to a read-
only page.

35 What are the major problems to implement Demand

 Paging?

Ans:

The two major problems to implement demand paging is

developing,

Frame allocation algorithm

Page replacement algorithm

36 What is Internal Fragmentation?

Ans:
When the allocated memory may be slightly larger than the
requested memory, the difference between these two numbers is
internal fragmentation.

37 What do you mean by Compaction?

Ans:
Compaction is a solution to external fragmentation. The
memory contents are shuffled to place all free memory together
in one large block. It is possible only i f relocation is dynamic,
and is done at execution time.

38 What are Pages and Frames?

Ans:
Paging is a memory management scheme that permits the
physical -address space of a process to be non-contiguous. In
the case of paging, physical memory is broken into fixed-sized
blocks called frames and logical memory is broken into blocks
of the same size called pages.

39 What is the use of Valid-Invalid Bits in Paging?

Ans:
When the bit is set to valid, this value indicates that the
associated page is in the process’s logical address space, and is
thus a legal page. If the bit is said to invalid, this value indicates
that the page is not in the process’s logical address space. Using
the valid-invalid bit traps illegal addresses.

40 What is the basic method of Segmentation?

 Ans:
Segmentation is a memory management scheme that supports
the user view of memory. A logical address space is a collection
of segments. The logical address consists of segment number
and offset. If the offset is legal, it is added to the segment base
to produce the address in physical memory of the desired byte.

41 Program containing relocatable code was created, assuming

it would be loaded at address 0. In its code, the program
refers to the following addresses: 50,78,150,152,154. If the
program is loaded into memory starting at location 250, how
do those addresses have to be adjusted?

Ans:
All addresses need to be adjusted upward by 250.So the
adjusted addresses would be 300, 328, 400, 402, and 40

42 What is a Pure Demand Paging?

Ans:
When starting execution of a process with no pages in memory,
the operating system sets the instruction pointer to the first
instruction of the process, which is on a non-memory resident
page, the process immediately faults for the page. After this
page is brought into memory, the process continues to execute,
faulting as necessary until every page that it needs is in memory.
At that point, it can execute with no more faults. This schema is
pure demand paging.

43 What is a Reference

String? Ans:
An algorithm is evaluated by running it on a particular string of
memory references and computing the number of page faults.
The string of memory reference is called a reference string

44 Define Secondary Memory.

Ans:
This memory holds those pages that are not present in main
memory. The secondary memory is usually a high speed disk. It
is known as the swap device, and the section of the disk used for
this purpose is known as swap space.
45 What is the basic approach of Page Replacement?

Ans:
If no frame is free is available, find one that is not currently
being used and free it. A frame can be freed by writing its
contents to swap space, and changing the page table to indicate
that the page is no longer in memory. Now the freed frame can
be used to hold the page for which the process faulted.

46 What is the various Page Replacement Algorithms used for

Page Replacement?

Ans:
FIFO page replacement

Optimal page replacement

LRU page replacement

LRU approximation page replacement

Counting based page replacement

Page buffering algorithm

47 What do you mean by Best Fit?

Ans:
Best fit allocates the smallest hole that is big enough. The entire
list has to be searched, unless it is sorted by size. This strategy
produces the smallest leftover hole.

48 What do you mean by First Fit?

Ans:
First fit allocates the first hole that is big enough. Searching can
either start at the beginning of the set of holes or where the
previous first-fit search ended. Searching can be stopped as soon
as a free hole that is big enough is found.

49 Name two differences between logical and physical

addresses.

Ans:
A logical address does not refer to an actual existing address;
rather, it refers to an abstract address in an abstract address
 space. Contrast this with a physical address that refers to an
actual physical address in memory. A logical address is
generated by the CPU and is translated into a physical address
by the memory management unit(MMU). Therefore, physical
addresses are generated by the MMU.

50 Consider a logical address space of 64 pages of 1024 words

each, mapped onto a physical memory of 32 frames.

a. How many bits are there in the logical address?

b. How many bits are there in the physical

address? Ans:

a. Logical address: 16 bits

b. Physical address: 15 bits

PART B&C
1 Explain about given memory management techniques. (i)
Partitioned allocation (ii) Paging and translation look-aside
buffer. (Nov/Dec 2015) (Apr/May 2017)
Refer page no 360-371 from text book “Abraham Silberschatz,
Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne, “Operating System
Concepts”, 9th Edition, John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.
2 Elaborate about the free space management on I/O buffering
and blocking. (Apr/May 2017)
Refer page no 561 – 564 from text book “Abraham Silberschatz,
Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne, “Operating System
Concepts”, 9th Edition, John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.
3 What is copy-on write feature and under what circumstances it
is beneficial? What hardware support is needed to implement
this feature? (Nov/Dec 2016)
Refer page no 400-401 from text book “Abraham Silberschatz,
Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne, “Operating System
Concepts”, 9th Edition, John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.
4 When page faults will occur? Describe the actions taken by
operating system during page fault. (May/June 2016)
Refer page no 360-371 from text book “Abraham Silberschatz,
Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne, “Operating System
Concepts”, 9th Edition, John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.
5
Consider the following page reference string: 1, 2, 3, 4, 2, 1, 5,
 6, 2, 1, 2, 3, 7, 6, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 6.

Identify the no.of page faults would occur for the following
replacement algorithms, assuming one, two, three, four, five,
six, or seven frames? Remember all frames are initially empty,
so your first unique pages will all cost one fault each.
a.LRU replacement b. FIFO replacement
c.Optimal replacement (Apr/May 2015) (Nov/Dec2015)
--Refer class work
6 Explain about the difference between internal fragmentation and
external fragmentation. (Nov/Dec2016)
Refer page no 354-358 from text book “Abraham Silberschatz,
Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne, “Operating System
Concepts”, 9th Edition, John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.
7 Why are segmentation and paging sometimes combined into
one scheme? (May/June 2016)
Refer page no 358-360 from text book “Abraham Silberschatz,
Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne, “Operating System
Concepts”, 9th Edition, John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.
8 Explain why sharing a reentrant module is easier when
segmentation is used than when pure paging is used with
example. (Apr/May 2018)
9 Discuss situation under which the most frequently used page
replacement algorithm generates fewer page faults than the
least frequently used page replacement algorithm. Also dicuss
under which circumstances the opposite holds. (Apr/May 2018)
10 Compare paging with segmentation in terms of the amount of
memory required by the address translation structures in order
to convert virtual addresses to physical addresses. (Nov/Dec
2018)
11 Most systems allow programs to allocate more memory to its
address space during execution. Data allocated in the heap
segments of programs is an example of such allocated memory.
What is required to support dynamic memory allocation in the
following schemes? (Nov/Dec 2018)
i) Contiguous memory allocation ii)Pure segmentation iii) Pure
paging

12 Differentiate local and global page replacement algorithm.

13 Explain the basic concepts of segmentation.

14 What is thrashing and explain the methods to avoid thrash

15 What is the maximum file size supported by a file system with

16 direct blocks, single, double, and triple indirection? The
block size is 512 bytes. Disk block number can be stored in 4 by

UNIT IV

I/O SYSTEMS

Mass Storage Structure- Overview, Disk Scheduling and Management; File System Storage-
File Concepts, Directory and Disk Structure, Sharing and Protection; File System
Implementation- File System Structure, Directory Structure, Allocation Methods, Free Space
Management; I/O Systems.

PART A
S.
No Question
.
1 Distinguish file from dictionary. (Apr/May2017)
Ans:
A file is any kind of computer document whereas a directory is a
collection of files and folders.
2 Why it is important to scale up system bus and device speed
as CPU speed increases? (Nov/Dec 2016)
Ans:
Consider a system which performs 50% I/O and 50% computes.
Doubling the CPU performance on this system would increase
total system performance by only 50%. Doubling both system
aspects would increase performance by 100%. Generally, it is
important to remove the current system bottleneck, and to
increase overall system performance, rather than blindly
increasing the performance of individual system components.

3 Define C-SCAN scheduling. (Nov/Dec 2016)

Ans:
The elevator algorithm (also SCAN) is a disk scheduling
algorithm to determine the motion of the disk's arm and head in
servicing read and write requests.
 This algorithm is named after the behaviour of a building
elevator, where the elevator continues to travel in its current
direction (up or down) until empty, stopping only to let
individuals off or to pick up new individuals heading in the same
direction.
4 How does DMA increase system concurrency? (May/June
2016)
Ans:
DMA increases system concurrency by allowing the CPU to
perform tasks while the DMA system transfers data via the
system and memory buses.
5 Why rotational latency is not considered in disk scheduling?
(May/June2016)

Ans:
Most disks do not export their rotational position information to
the host. Even if they did, the time for this information to reach
the scheduler would be subject to imprecision and the time
consumed by the scheduler is variable, so the rotational position
information would become incorrect. Further, the disk requests
are usually given in terms of logical block numbers, and the
mapping between logical blocks and physical locations is very
complex.
6 List the various file attributes. (Apr/May 2015) (Nov/Dec
2018)
Ans:
A file has certain other attributes, which vary from one operating
system to another, but typically consist of these: Name,
identifier, type, location, size, protection, time, and date and user
identification

7 What is HSM? Where it is used? (Apr/May

2015) Ans:
Hierarchical storage management (HSM) is a data storage
technique, which automatically moves data between high-cost
and low-cost storage media. HSM systems exist because high-
speed storage devices, such as solid state drive arrays, are more
expensive (per byte stored) than slower devices, such as hard
disk drives, optical discs and magnetic tape drives.
8 What are the functions of Virtual File System (VFS) layer in
file system implementation? (Nov/Dec 2015)
 Ans:
A virtual file system (VFS) or virtual file system switch is an
abstraction layer on top of a more concrete file system. The
purpose of a VFS is to allow client applications to access
different types of concrete file systems in a uniform way. A VFS
can, for example, be used to access local and network storage
devices transparently without the client application noticing the
difference.
9 What is a
file? Ans:
A file is a named collection of related information that is
recorded on secondary storage. A file contains either programs
or data. A file has certain "structure" based on its type.
10 What are the various file operations? (Nov/Dec2018)
Ans:
The six basic file operations are
Creating a file
Writing a file
Reading a file
Repositioning within a file
Deleting a file
Truncating a file

11 What are the informations associated with an open

file? Ans:
Several pieces of information are associated with an open file
which may be:
File pointer
File open
count
Disk location of the file

Access rights
12 What are the different accessing methods of a file?
Ans:
 The different types of accessing a file are:
Sequential access: Information in the file is accessed
sequentially
Direct access: Information in the file can be accessed without
any particular order.
Other access methods: Creating index for the file, indexed
sequential access method (ISAM) etc.

13 Define Directory.
Ans:
The device directory or simply known as directory records
information-such as name, location, size, and type for all files on
that particular partition. The directory can be viewed as a symbol
table that translates file names into their directory entries.
14 List the operations that can be performed on a directory.

15 Determine the most common schemes for defining the logical

structure of a directory?
Ans:
The most common schemes for defining the logical structure of
a directory
Single-Level Directory
Two-level Directory
Tree-Structured
Directories Acyclic-Graph
Directories
General Graph Directory
16 Define UFD and MFD.
Ans:
In the two-level directory structure, each user has her own user
file directory (UFD). Each UFD has a similar structure, but lists
only the files of a single user. When a job starts the system's
master file directory (MFD) is searched. The MFD is indexed by
the user name or account number, and each entry points to the
UFD for that user.
17 Examine how an index file is used to speed up the access in
direct-access files?
 Ans:
Have an index in memory; the index gives the key and the disk
location of its corresponding record. Scan the index to find the
record you want, and then access it directly.
18 Explain what ISAM is.
Ans:
ISAM is Indexed sequential access method in which the file is
stored in sorted order. ISAM has a master index file, indicating
in what part of another index file the key you want is; the
secondary index points to the file records. In both cases, a binary
search is used to locate a record.
19 List disadvantages of using a single
directory. Ans:
Users have no privacy. Users must be careful in choosing file
names, to avoid names used by others. Users may destroy each
other’s work.
20 List the advantages of two-level directory?

Ans:
Users are isolated from each other. Users have more freedom in
choosing file names.
21 List the disadvantages of two-level directory?
Ans:
Without other provisions, two users who want to cooperate with
each other are hampered in reaching each other‘s files, and
system files are inaccessible.
22 Discover the ways to overcome the disadvantages of two-
level directory?
Ans:
Provide links from one user directory to another, creating path
names; system files become available by letting the command
interpreter search your directory first, and then the system
directory if file needed is not in first directory.
23 What are the allocation methods of a disk
space? Ans:
Methods of allocating disk space which are widely in use are
a. Contiguous allocation
b. Linked allocation
 c. Indexed allocation
24 List various layers of a file
system. Ans:
The file system is composed of many different levels. Each level
in the design uses the feature of the lower levels to Creating new
features for use by higher levels.
Application programs
Logical file system
File-organization module
Basic file system
I/O control
Devices

25 Define seek time and latency

time. Ans:
The time taken by the head to move to the appropriate cylinder
or track is called seek time. Once the head is at right track, it
must wait until the desired block rotates under the read-write
head. This delay is latency time.
26 Define rotational latency and disk
bandwidth. Ans:
Rotational latency is the additional time waiting for the disk to
rotate the desired sector to the disk head. The disk bandwidth is
the total number of bytes transferred, divided by the time
between the first request for service and the completion of the
last transfer.
27 How free-space is managed using bit vector implementation?
List its advantages. (Apr/May 2018)
Ans:
The free-space list is implemented as a bit map or bit vector.
Each block is represented by 1 bit. If the block is free, the bit is
1; if the block is allocated, the bit is 0.
Advantages: It is relatively simple and its efficiency in finding
the first free block or n consecutive free blocks on the disk.

28 Define Spooling.
 Ans:
A spool is a buffer that holds output for a device, such as printer,
that cannot accept interleaved data streams. When an application
finishes printing, the spooling system queues the corresponding
spool file for output to the printer. The spooling system copies
the queued spool files to the printer one at a time.
29 What are the various disk-scheduling algorithms?
Ans:
The various disk-scheduling algorithms are
• First Come First Served Scheduling
• Shortest Seek Time First Scheduling
• SCAN Scheduling
• C-SCAN Scheduling
 LOOK scheduling
30 What is the use of boot
block? Ans:
For a computer to start running when powered up or rebooted it
needs to have an initial program to run. This bootstrap program
tends to be simple. It finds the operating system on the disk
loads that kernel into memory and jumps to an initial address to
begin the operating system execution. The full bootstrap
program is stored in a partition called the boot blocks, at fixed
location on the disk. A disk that has boot partition is called boot
disk or system disk.
31 List three ways of allocating storage, and give advantages of
each.
Ans:
a. Contiguous allocation. Fastest, if no changes are to be made.
Also easiest for random access files.
b. Linked allocation. No external fragmentation. File can grow
without complications.
c. Indexed allocation. Supports direct access without external
fragmentation.

32 Define typical bad sector transaction.

Ans:

 The operating system tries to read logical block 87.

 The controller calculates the ECC and finds that the
sector is bad, It reports this finding to the OS.
 The next time the system is rebooted, a special command
 is run to tell the controller to replace the bad sector with
a space.
 After that, whenever the system requests logical block
87, the request is translated into the replacement sector’s
address by the controller.
33 List the significance of LDT and GDT in segmentation.
(Nov/Dec 2018)
Ans: LDT contains memory segments which are private to a
specific program, the GDT contains global segments. The x86
processors have facilities for automatically switching the current
LDT on specific machine events, but no facilities for
automatically switching the GDT.

34 What is a Path Name?

Ans:

A pathname is the path from the root through all subdirectories

to a specified file. In a two-level directory structure a user name
and a file name define a path name.

35 What is Access Control List?

Ans:

The most general scheme to implement identity-dependent

access is to associate with each file and directory an access
control unit.

36 Define Equal Allocation.

Ans:
The way to split „m’ frames among „n’ processes is to give
everyone an equal share, m/n frames. For instance, if there are
93 frames and 5 processes, each process will get 18 frames. The
leftover 3 frames could be used as a free-frame buffer pool. This
scheme is called equal allocation.

37 What is the cause of Thrashing? How does the system detect

thrashing? Once it detects thrashing, what can the system do
to eliminate this problem?

Ans:
Thrashing is caused by under allocation of the minimum number
of pages required by a process, forcing it to continuously page
fault. The system can detect thrashing by evaluating the level of
CPU utilization as compared to the level of multiprogramming.
 It can be eliminated by reducing the level of multiprogramming.

38 If the average page faults service time of 25 ms and a

memory access time of 100ns.Calculate the

effective access time.

Ans:
Effective access time = (1-p) *ma + p*page fault time

= (1-p) *100+p*25000000

= 100-100p+25000000*p

= 100 + 24999900p

39 What is Belady’s Anomaly?

Ans:
For some page replacement algorithms, the page fault rate may
increase as the number of allocated frames increases
40 What are the types of Path Names?

Ans:
Path names can be of two types.

Absolute path name: Begins at the root and follows a path down
to the specified file, giving the directory names on the path.

Relative path name: Defines a path from the current directory.

41 What is meant by Locality of

Reference? Ans:
The locality model states that, as a process executes, it moves
from locality to locality. Locality is of two types.

Spatial locality

Temporal locality.

42 What are the advantages of Contiguous Allocation?

Ans:
The advantages are,
 Supports direct access

Supports sequential access

Number of disk seeks is minimal.

43 What are the drawbacks of Contiguous Allocation of Disk

Space?

Ans:
The disadvantages are,

Suffers from external fragmentation

Suffers from internal fragmentation

Difficulty in finding space for a new

file File cannot be extended

Size of the file is to be declared in advance

44 What are the advantages of Linked Allocation?

Ans:
The advantages are,

No external fragmentation

Size of the file does not need to be declared

45 What are the disadvantages of Linked Allocation?

Ans:
The disadvantages are,

Used only for sequential access of files.

Direct access is not supported

Memory space required for the pointers.

Reliability is compromised if the pointers are lost or damaged

46 What are the various Disk-Scheduling

Algorithms? Ans:

The various disk-scheduling algorithms are,

 First Come First Served Scheduling

Shortest Seek Time First

Scheduling SCAN Scheduling

C-SCAN Scheduling

LOOK scheduling

47 What are the techniques used for performing

I/O. Ans:

Programmed I/O

Interrupt driven I/O

Direct Memory Access

48 Give an example of an application in which data in a file

should be accessed in the following order:

Ans:
Sequentially - Print the content of the file.

Randomly - Print the content of record i. This record can be

found using hashing or index techniques.

What problems could occur if a system allowed a file system

49 to be mounted simultaneously at more than one location?

Ans:
There would be multiple paths to the same file, which could
confuse users or encourage mistakes. (Deleting a file with one
path deletes the file in all the other).

50 Why must the bit map for file allocation be kept on mass
storage rather than in main memory?

Ans:
In case of system crash (memory failure ), the free-space list
would not be lost as it would be if the bit map had been stored in
main memory

PART B
1 Explain about directory structure? (Apr/May 2015) (Apr/May
2017)
 Refer page no 517 – 526 from text book “Abraham Silberschatz,
Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne, “Operating System
Concepts”, 9th Edition, John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.
2 What are files and explain the access methods for files?
(Apr/May 2017)
Refer page no 379 – 382 from text book “Abraham Silberschatz,
Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne, “Operating System
Concepts”, 9th Edition, John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.
3 Explain about kernel I/O subsystem and transforming I/O to
hardware operations. (Apr/May 2017)
Refer page no 592-600 from text book “Abraham
Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne, “Operating
System Concepts”, 9th Edition, John Wiley and Sons Inc.,
2012”.

4 Explain about RAID in detail. (Apr/May 2015) (Nov/Dec2016)

Refer page no 484 – 491 from text book “Abraham Silberschatz,
Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne, “Operating System
Concepts”, 9th Edition, John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.
5 Compare the functionalities of FCFS, SSTF, C-SCAN and C-
LOOK with example. (Apr/May 2015) (Apr/May 2018)
Refer page no 472 – 478 from text book “Abraham Silberschatz,
Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne, “Operating System
Concepts”, 9th Edition, John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.
6 Explain about file system mounting in detail. (May/June 2016)

Refer page no 498 – 502 from text book “Abraham Silberschatz,

Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne, “Operating System
Concepts”, 9th Edition, John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.
7 Explain about free space management with example. (Nov/Dec
2015)
Refer page no 561 – 564 from text book “Abraham Silberschatz,
Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne, “Operating System
Concepts”, 9th Edition, John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.

8 Illustrate the functions of file and file implementation. (Nov/Dec

2015)
Refer page no 411 – 419 from text book “Abraham Silberschatz,
Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne, “Operating System
Concepts”, 9th Edition, John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.

9
Distinguish between a STREAMS driver and STREAMS
 module. (Nov/Dec 2016)
Refer page no 601-602 from text book “Abraham
Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne, “Operating
System Concepts”, 9th Edition, John Wiley and Sons Inc.,
2012”.
10 What are the various disk space allocation methods. Explain in
detail. (Apr/May 2018)

11 Consider a file system where a file can be deleted and the disk
space reclaimed while the links to that file still exist. What
problems may occur if a new file is created in the same storage
area or with the same absolute path name? How these problem
be avoided? (Nov/Dec 2015)
12 Illustrate an application that could benefit from operating system
support for random access to indexed files. (Nov/Dec 2015)

13 Explain the following:a. RAID b. I/O in Linux

14 Write briefly about file attributes, operations, types and structure

15 Discuss in detail about file allocation methods. What are the

possible structures for directory? Discuss themin detail.

UNIT V
CASE STUDY

Linux System- Basic Concepts; System Administration-Requirements for Linux System

Administrator, Setting up a LINUX Multifunction Server, Domain Name System, Setting Up
Local Network Services; Virtualization- Basic Concepts, Setting Up Xen,VMware on Linux
Host and Adding Guest OS.

PART A

S. Question
No.

1 What are the features of Linux file system? (Apr/May

2017) Ans:
• Specifying paths
• Partition, drives/devises and Directories
• Mounting and Unmounting
• Case sensitivity
• File Extensions
• Hidden files
 • File System Permissions
2 What is the use of kernel modules in Linux? (Apr/May
2017) Ans:
Kernel modules are pieces of code that can be loaded and
unloaded into the kernel upon demand. They extend the
functionality of the kernel without the need to reboot the system.
3 Define the components of LINUX system. (May/June
2016) Ans:
Linux Operating System has primarily three components:
Kernel − Kernel is the core part of Linux. It is responsible for
all major activities of this operating system. It consists of various
modules and it interacts directly with the underlying hardware.
Kernel provides the required abstraction to hide low level
hardware details to system or application programs.
System Library − System libraries are special functions or
programs using which application programs or system utilities
accesses Kernel's features. These libraries implement most of the
functionalities of the operating system and do not requires kernel
module's code access rights.
System Utility − System Utility programs are responsible to do
specialized, individual level tasks.

4 Define the function of caching-only serves. (May/June

2016) Ans:
A cache server is a dedicated network server or service acting as
a server that saves Web pages or other Internet content locally.
By placing previously requested information in temporary
storage, or cache, a cache server both speeds up access to data
and reduces demand on an enterprise's bandwidth.

5 What is virtualization? ?(Nov/Dec

2016) Ans:
Virtualization is the creation of a virtual -- rather than actual --
version of something, such as an operating system, a server, a
storage device or network resources.
6 What scheduling algorithm is used in Linux to schedule
jobs? (Nov/Dec2016)
Ans:
The current Linux task scheduler is called Completely Fair
 Scheduler (CFS). It handles CPU resource allocation for
executing processes, and aims to maximize overall CPU
utilization while also maximizing interactive performance.
7 List some of the Linux Network services. (Apr/May
2015) Ans:
• ntpd – Network Time Protocol Daemon
• httpd – Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Daemon
• sshd – Secure SHell Daemon
• sendmail – Mail Server Daemon
• snmpd – Simple Network Management Protocol Daemon
• iptables – Network Filtering Protocol Service
• nfsd – Network File System Server Daemon
• nscd – Name Service Cache Daemon
• named – Dynamic Naming Service Server Daemon
8 Why virtualization is required? (Nov/Dec
2015) Ans:
Virtualization reduces the number of physical servers, reducing
the energy required to power and cool them. Save time.......It's
also much faster to deploy a virtual machine than it is to deploy
a new physical server. Reduce desktop management headaches.

9 What are the requirements for Linux system administrator?

(Nov/Dec2015)
Ans:
The administrator must have the knowledge about,
• Linux file systems
• File system hierarchy
• Handling files and directories
• System Management, etc.
10 What is the responsibility of kernel in LINUX operating
system? (Apr/May2015) (Nov/Dec 2018)
Ans:
The kernel is the essential centre of a computer operating
system, the core that provides basic services for all other parts of
the operating system. A synonym is nucleus. A kernel can be
contrasted with a shell, the outermost part of an operating system
that interacts with user commands

11 Do FAT file system is advantageous? Why? (Apr/May 2015)

(Nov/Dec 2018)
Ans:
The main advantage of FAT is its efficient use of disk space.
 FAT can place the parts of the file wherever they fit. File names
can be up to 255 characters and file extensions longer than 3
characters. Easy to recover file names that have been deleted.
FAT is also useful for cross-platform compatibility.
12 What are the components of kernel
module? Ans:
Linux Kernel modules has three component,
Module management
Driver registration
Conflict resolution mechanism

13 Define: Conflict
Resolution. Ans:
A mechanism that allows different device drivers to, reserve
hardware resources and to protect those resources from
accidental use by another driver.
Linux provides a ventral conflict resolution mechanism.

14 Define the design principles of LINUX

systems. Ans:
 Linux is a multiuser, multitasking system
• Linux is UNIX compatible
• its file system adheres to traditional UNIX semantics
• it fully implements the standard UNIX networking model
• its API adheres to the SVR4 UNIX semantics
• it is POSIX-compliant
• Linux supports a wide variety of architectures
• Main design goals are speed, efficiency, and
standardization
15 Classify Virtualization.
Ans:
• Full virtualization
 Paravirtualization
• Hardware-assisted virtualization
16 Define Hypervisor.
Ans:
A hypervisor or virtual machine monitor (VMM) is computer
software, firmware or hardware that Creatings and runs virtual
machines. A computer on which a hypervisor runs one or more
 virtual machines is called a host machine, and each virtual
machine is called a guest machine.
17 List the two types of
Hypervisor. Ans:
There are two types of hypervisors: Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1
hypervisors run directly on the system hardware. They are often
referred to as a "native" or "bare metal" or "embedded"
hypervisors in vendor literature. Type 2 hypervisors run on a
host operating system.

18 Define XEN.
Ans:
Xen is a virtual machine monitor (VMM) for x86-compatible
computers. Xen can securely execute multiple virtual machines,
each running its own OS, on a single physical system with close-
to-native performance. Xen is open source, and is released under
terms of the GNU General Public License.
19 List the advantages of Virtualization.
Ans:
• Better utilization of computer hardware.
• More securable and manageable than one kernel running
many applications.
• Reduce complexity of hardware.
• Consumes less power and less space.
• Requires less maintenance
 Extended life for installed software.
20 Illustrate the key features of VMware server virtualization.

Ans:
• High Availability (HA)
• Fault Tolerance (FT)
• vMotion
• Storage vMotion
• Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS)
21 Explain guest operating system.
Ans: A guest OS is the software installed on either a virtual
machine (VM) or partitioned disk that describes an operating
system that is different than the host operating system.
22 Summarize the three layers network in LINUX
kernel. Ans:
• L2 corresponds to Datalink Layer of OSI
• L3 corresponds to Network Layer of OSI
 • L4 corresponds to Transport Layer of OSI
23 Define demand-zero memory.
Ans: "Demand zero" memory is a sections of memory that exist
only as virtual memory, without existing anywhere as physical
memory nor backed anywhere on disk.

24 Illustrate the type of LINUX device

classes. Ans:
i) Character Devices ii) Block Devices iii) Network
interfaces

25 Compare the types of hypervisors.

Ans:
Type 1 Hypervisor Type 2 Hypervisor

also known as Bare Metal or • This is also known

d or Native Hypervisor. Hypervisor.
directly on the hardware of the • In this case, the hypervisor
can monitor operating systems on an operating system
bove the hypervisor. supports other operating sys
mpletely independent from the it.
g System. • It is completely dependen
ervisor is small as its main task Operating System for its oper
ng and managing hardware • While having a base operat
s between different operating allows better specification
any problems in the base
advantage is that any problems system a ffects the entire sys
rtual machine or guest operating even if the hypervisor runnin
do not affect the other guest base OS is secure.
systems running on the Examples:
or.
• VMware Workstation
• Microsoft Virtual PC
ware ESXi Server • Oracle Virtual Box
rosoft Hyper-V
ix/Xen Server
26 Define LINUX Virtualization.

Ans:
Linux virtualization refers to running one or more virtual
machines on a physical computer that's operated by the Linux
open source operating system. Linux virtualization can be used
for isolating specific apps, programming code or even an
operating system itself, as well as for security and performance
testing purposes.
27 Prepare a list of LINUX system administrator
responsibilities.
Ans:
The Linux system administrators are responsible for installing,
configuring and maintaining the Linux servers and workstations.
They are responsible for maintaining the network environment
as well as the health of the network and servers.

28 What are the functions of virtual file system

(VFS)? Ans:
a. It separates file-system-generic operations from their
implementation defining a clean VFS interface. It allows
transparent access to different types of file systems
mounted locally.

b. VFS is based on a file representation structure, called a

vnode. It contains a numerical value for a network-wide
unique file .The kernel maintains one vnode structure for
each active file or directory
29 What is Domain Name
System? Ans:
DNS server or Domain Name Server is used to map the internet
names to an IP address. The system distributes data and the
naming of hosts hierarchically in a domain name space.
30 Define the functions of cache only
servers. Ans:
A cache server is a dedicated network server or service acting as
a server that saves Web pages or other Internet content locally.
By placing previously requested information in temporary
storage, or cache, a cache server both speeds up access to data
and reduces demand on an enterprise's bandwidth.

31 List the advantages and disadvantages of writing an

operating system in high-level language such as C. (Apr/May
2018)
Ans: The advantages is that all files are accessed in the same
manner.
The disadvantages is that the operating system become more
complex.

32
What is handle? How does a process obtain a handle?
 (Apr/May 2018)
Ans: A handle is an abstract reference to a resources.
A process gets a handle by creating an object, by opening an
existing object, by receiving a duplicated handle from another
process, or by inhering a handle from the parent process. When a
process exists, all its open handles are implicitly closed.
33 What is meant by Data Striping?

Ans:

Data Stripping means splitting the bits of each byte across

multiple disks .It is also called as Bit –level Striping.

34 What is meant by Boot

Disk? Ans:

A Disk that has a boot partition is called as Boot Disk

35 What are the Components of a Linux

System? Ans:
Linux System composed of three main modules. They are:

(i).Kernel (ii).System libraries (iii).System utilities

36 What are the main supports for the Linux

modules? Ans:
The Module support under Linux has three components. They
are:

(i). Module Management

(ii).Driver Registration.

(iii).Conflict Resolution mechanism.

37 What is meant by

Process? Ans:

A Process is the basic context within which all user-requested

activity is serviced within the Operating system.

38 What is meant by Process -ID?

Ans:
 Each process has a unique identifier. PID’s are used to specify
processes to the operating system when an application makes a
system call to signal, modify or wait for another process.
39 What is meant by Personality?

Ans:
Process Personalities are primarily used by emulation libraries to
request that system call be compatible with certain versions of
UNIX.

40 What is meant by Buffer cache?

Ans:
It is the kernel's main cache for block-oriented devices such as
disk drives and is the main mechanism through which I/O to
these devices is performed.

What is the Disadvantage of Static Linking?

41
Ans:
The main disadvantage of static linking is that every program
generated must contain copies of exactly the same common
system library functions.

42 What is meant by Kernel in Linux

system? Ans:
Kernel is responsible for maintaining all the important
abstractions of the operating system including such things as
virtual memory and processes.

43 What is meant by System Libraries?

Ans:
System Libraries define a standard set of functions through
which applications can interact with the kernel and that
implement much of the operating -system functionality that
doesn’t need the full privileges of kernel code.

44 What is meant by System Utilities?

Ans:
System Utilities are system programs that perform individual,
specialized management tasks. Some of the System utilities may
 be invoked just to initialize and configure some aspect of the
system and others may run permanently, handling such tasks as
responding to incoming network connections, accepting logon
requests from terminals or updating log files.

45 What is the function of Module

management? Ans:
The module management allows modules to be loaded into
memory and to talk to the rest of the kernel.

46 What is the function of Driver registration?

Ans:
Driver Registration allows modules to tell the rest of the kernel
that a new driver has become available

47 What is the function of Conflict Resolution

mechanism? Ans:
This mechanism allows different device drivers to reserve
hardware resources and to protect those resources from
accidental use by another driver.

48 What is meant by Device drivers?

Ans:
Device drivers include (i) Character devices such as printers,
terminals (ii) Block devices including all disk drives) and
network interface devices.

49 What does Media Layer mean?

Ans:
Media layer is an Apple Inc. term that refers to software
frameworks and technologies that enable audio, visual and other
multimedia capabilities within an iOS powered device. It defines
the entire multimedia architecture within Apple-powered mobile
devices and applications.

50 Define Services

Layer. Ans:
Service layer is the middle layer between presentation and data
store. It abstracts business logic and data access. The idea behind
 such a layer is to have an architecture which can support
multiple presentation layers such as web, mobile, etc.
PART B&C
1 Explain about Linux kernel and virtualization with neat sketch.
(Apr/May 2017) (Nov/Dec 2016)
Refer page no 703 – 705 from text book “Abraham Silberschatz,
Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne, “Operating System
Concepts”, 9th Edition, John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.
2 Explain the step-by-step procedure for setting up a local network
services. (Nov/Dec 2016)
Refer: https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-
lan/index.html

3 Discuss the advantages of dynamic linkage of libraries compared

with static linkage. (Nov/Dec 2016)
Refer:
https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/ssw_aix_71/c
om.ibm.aix.performance/when_dyn_linking_static_linking.htm

4 What are the primary goals of conflict-resolution mechanisms

used by the Linux kernel for loading kernel modules?
(May/June 2016)
Refer page no 703 – 705 from text book “Abraham Silberschatz,
Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne, “Operating System
Concepts”, 9th Edition, John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.

5 Explain the concept of Domain name system and multi-function

server. (Apr/May 2017) (Nov/Dec 2015)
Refer page no 804 – 809 from text book “Abraham Silberschatz,
Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne, “Operating System
Concepts”, 9th Edition, John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.

6 Discuss about the steps involved in the installation of the Linux

multi-function server. (Apr/May 2015) (May/June 2016)
Refer page no 804 – 809 from text book “Abraham Silberschatz,
Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne, “Operating System
Concepts”, 9th Edition, John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.

7 Explain the significance and steps involved in setting up Xen,

VMWare softwares on Linux Host for successful virtualization.
(Apr/May2015)
Refer page no 804 – 809 from text book “Abraham Silberschatz,
Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne, “Operating System
Concepts”, 9th Edition, John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.
8 Briefly discuss about the requirements needed to become a
Linux System Administrative. (Apr/May 2015)
Refer text book “Abraham Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin and
Greg Gagne, “Operating System Concepts”, 9th Edition, John
Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.

9 Explain about Linux’s Completely-Fair scheduler in detail.

(Nov/Dec 2016)
Refer page no 730 – 731 from text book “Abraham Silberschatz,
Peter Baer Galvin and Greg Gagne, “Operating System
Concepts”, 9th Edition, John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2012”.
10 Under what circumstances would an user process request an
operation that results in the allocation of a demand-zero memory
region. (Apr/May 2018)
Answer: When there are few other users, the task is large, and
the hardware is fast, timesharing
makes sense. The full power of the system can be brought to
bear on the user’s
problem. The problem can be solved faster than on a personal
computer. Another case
occurs when lots of other users need resources at the same time.
A personal computer is best when the job is small enough to be
executed reasonably on it
and when performance is sufficient to execute the program to the
user’s satisfaction.

11 What optimization were used to minimize the desrepency

between CPU and I/O speeds on early computer systems.
(Apr/May 2018)
Answer:An optimization used to minimize the discrepancy
between CPU and I/O speeds is spooling.Spooling overlaps the
I/O of one job with the computation of other jobs.The spooler
for instance could be reading the input of one job while printing
the output of a different job

or while executing another job.

12 UNIX coordinates the activities of the kenel I/O components by

manipulating shared in-kernel data structures, whereas Windows
NT uses object-oriented message passing between kernel I/O
components. Discuss three pros and three cons of each approach.
 (Nov/Dec 2018)
Refer: https://www.passeidireto.com/arquivo/1000684/os6---
solutions-manual-/17

13 Explain in detail the design principles, kernel modules, process

management, scheduling in LINUX system.
14 Explain in detail the file system in LINUX system.

15 Explain in detail the memory management in LINUX system.