Major Trends in Operating Systems Development

Operating systems have changed in nature in response to demands of users, and in response to advances in hardware and software technology. The purpose of this paper is to trace the development of major themes in operating system design from their beginnings through the present. This is not an exhaustive history of operating systems, but instead is intended to give the reader the flavor of the dif ferent periods in operating systems\u27 development. To this end, the paper will be organized by topic in approximate order of development. Each chapter will start with an introduction to the factors behind the rise of the period. This will be fol lowed by a survey of the state-of-the-art systems, and the conditions influencing them. The chapters close with a summation of the significant hardware and software contributions from the period

An evaluation of load sharing algorithms for heterogeneous distributed systems

Distributed systems offer the ability to execute a job at other nodes than the originating one. Load sharing algorithms use this ability to distribute work around the system in order to achieve greater efficiency. This is reflected in substantially reduced response times. In the majority of studies the systems on which load sharing has been evaluated have been homogeneous in nature. This thesis considers load sharing in heterogeneous systems, in which the heterogeneity is exhibited in the processing power of the constituent nodes. Existing algorithms are evaluated and improved ones proposed. Most of the performance analysis is done through simulation. A model of diskless workstations communicating and transferring jobs by Remote Procedure Call is used. All assumptions about the overheads of inter-node communication are based upon measurements made on the university networks. The comparison of algorithms identifies those characteristics that offer improved performance in heterogeneous systems. The level of system information required for transfer is investigated and an optimum found. Judicious use of the collected information via algorithm design is shown to account for much of the improvement. However detailed examination of algorithm behaviour compared with that of a 'optimum' load sharing scenario reveals that there are occasions when full use of all the information available is not beneficial. Investigations are carried out on the most promising algorithms to assess their adaptability, scalability and stability under a variety of differing conditions. The standard definitions of load balancing and load sharing are shown not to apply when considering heterogeneous systems. To validate the assumptions in the simulation model a load sharing scenario was implemented on a network of Sun workstations at the University. While the scope of the implementation was somewhat limited by lack of resources, it does demonstrate the relative ease with which the algorithms can be implemented without alteration of the operating system code or modification at the kernel level

Computer performance analysis - Measurement objectives and tools

Objectives and measurements in computer performance analysi

C-MOS array design techniques: SUMC multiprocessor system study

The current capabilities of LSI techniques for speed and reliability, plus the possibilities of assembling large configurations of LSI logic and storage elements, have demanded the study of multiprocessors and multiprocessing techniques, problems, and potentialities. Evaluated are three previous systems studies for a space ultrareliable modular computer multiprocessing system, and a new multiprocessing system is proposed that is flexibly configured with up to four central processors, four 1/0 processors, and 16 main memory units, plus auxiliary memory and peripheral devices. This multiprocessor system features a multilevel interrupt, qualified S/360 compatibility for ground-based generation of programs, virtual memory management of a storage hierarchy through 1/0 processors, and multiport access to multiple and shared memory units

The analysis and simulation of multi-access computer systems

Digitisation of this thesis was sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin

Efficient processor management strategies for multicomputer systems

Multicomputers are cost-effective alternatives to the conventional supercomputers. Contemporary processor management schemes tend to underutilize the processors and leave many of the processors in the system idle while jobs are waiting for execution;Instead of designing faster processors or interconnection networks, a substantial performance improvement can be obtained by implementing better processor management strategies. This dissertation studies the performance issues related to the processor management schemes and proposes several ways to enhance the multicomputer systems by means of processor management. The proposed schemes incorporate the concepts of size-reduction, non-contiguous allocation, as well as job migration. Job scheduling using a bypass-queue is also studied. All the proposed schemes are proven effective in improving the system performance via extensive simulations. Each proposed scheme has different implementation cost and constraints. In order to take advantage of these schemes, judicious selection of system parameters is important and is discussed

A model of a multiprogrammed demand paging computer system.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering. Thesis. 1973. M.S.MICROFICHE COPY ALSO AVAILABLE IN BARKER ENGINEERING LIBRARY.Includes bibliographical references.M.S

Construction of a support tool for the design of the activity structures based computer system architectures

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University.This thesis is a reapproachment of diverse design concepts, brought to bear upon the computer system engineering problem of identification and control of highly constrained multiprocessing (HCM) computer machines. It contributes to the area of meta/general systems methodology, and brings a new insight into the design formalisms, and results afforded by bringing together various design concepts that can be used for the construction of highly constrained computer system architectures. A unique point of view is taken by assuming the process of identification and control of HCM computer systems to be the process generated by the Activity Structures Methodology (ASM). The research in ASM has emerged from the Neuroscience research, aiming at providing the techniques for combining the diverse knowledge sources that capture the 'deep knowledge' of this application field in an effective formal and computer representable form. To apply the ASM design guidelines in the realm of the distributed computer system design, we provide new design definitions for the identification and control of such machines in terms of realisations. These realisation definitions characterise the various classes of the identification and control problem. The classes covered consist of: 1. the identification of the designer activities, 2. the identification and control of the machine's distributed structures of behaviour, 3. the identification and control of the conversational environment activities (i.e. the randomised/ adaptive activities and interactions of both the user and the machine environments), 4. the identification and control of the substrata needed for the realisation of the machine, and 5. the identification of the admissible design data, both user-oriented and machineoriented, that can force the conversational environment to act in a self-regulating manner. All extent results are considered in this context, allowing the development of both necessary conditions for machine identification in terms of their distributed behaviours as well as the substrata structures of the unknown machine and sufficient conditions in terms of experiments on the unknown machine to achieve the self-regulation behaviour. We provide a detailed description of the design and implementation of the support software tool which can be used for aiding the process of constructing effective, HCM computer systems, based on various classes of identification and control. The design data of a highly constrained system, the NUKE, are used to verify the tool logic as well as the various identification and control procedures. Possible extensions as well as future work implied by the results are considered.Government of Ira