Linux and Networking

Linux and Networking

1.2 Modules of an operating system

Every operating system has a series of modules or components in charge of several functions:

 

  1. Process Management. A process is a running program that needs resources to perform its task: CPU time, memory, files, I/O devices.

 

The OS will be responsible for stopping and resuming the processes and offering mechanisms for them to communicate and synchronize.

 

Process management could be comparable to an office job. You can have a list of tasks to perform and set different degrees of priority to them. We must start doing the highest priority tasks first and when they are finished continue with other lower priority ones. Once the task is done, it is removed from the list. This can cause a problem, that the tasks with the lowest priority take a long time to execute, but there are mechanisms to control this.

 

  1. Main Memory Management. The OS is responsible for knowing what parts of memory are used and by whom, controlling free space, deciding which processes will load into memory when there is free space, and allocating or reclaiming memory space when needed.

 

  1. Secondary storage management. It is responsible for transferring and maintaining in secondary memory that information from main memory that is not necessary. He is also in charge of scheduling disks, managing free space, and allocating storage.

 

  1. Input-output management. The OS must manage the temporary storage of the I/O devices as well as serve the interruptions of these.

 

  1. File Management. Files are collections of information that store programs and data such as images, text, etc.

The OS is responsible for building and removing files and directories, providing functions for manipulating files and directories, backing up files, etc.

 

  1. Protection Mechanisms. They must offer mechanisms that control the access of programs or users to system resources.

 

  1. Communications Management. They control the sending and receiving of information through network interfaces, they create and control communication points and virtual connections between applications running locally or remotely.
  2. 8. System Utilities. They offer a useful environment for the development and execution of programs supporting different programming languages, controlling the state of the system, etc.

 

operating systems
operating systems
Rollplay
Explain to your partner what are the modules of an operating system

The Demeter Project