University of Trinidad & Tobago

OPSY2003
Assignment #1 5%

1. Describe five factors that affect your choice of a Network OS. [10]

Describe any five of the following [ 2marks each x 5]

Security
Robustness

Performance

Scalability

Management

Compatibility

Cost

Support

Service variety

2. Differentiate between the two types of OS architectures in relation to speed, stability, size,
upgradeability and structure. [10]

[ 2marks each x 5 ]

Two structures
monolithic= All OS is one block , cannot separate functions into components
kernel = small important set of functions reside on hw, less important services reside
above with the user processes.

Speed
monolithic is faster as entire os in fast ram, kernel slower as components separated and referenced by
slower communication mechanisms and some components are not all in ram.

Upgradeability
monolithic not upgradeable, need to change entire os, Kernel can have individual components upgraded
 University of Trinidad & Tobago
OPSY2003
Assignment #1 5%

Stability
monolithic unstable, any code fails may send entire os down, not crash proof. Kernel will have each
module self contained so failure restricted to that component alone.

Size
monolithic uses more ram, kernel less ram

3. Explain the concept of process states and transitions [8]

4. Describe how an OS manages a process with reference to the blocked list, ready list, process table and
PCB. [8]

[2 marks x 4]

A process is managed by the Os through the PCB it creates being the data structure defining the process.
The OS inserts it into the process table of active processes and places it onto the queue or list of ready
processes which waits for the CP?U when it is available.
 University of Trinidad & Tobago
OPSY2003
Assignment #1 5%

As a process is dispatched to the CPU , it runs until it may encounter an event it has to wait for where it
blocks itself the OS saves it to its PCB and places it onto the blocked list where it waits until the event
occurs. Then the OS changes it to the ready state and places it back to the ready list to run later.

5. Describe four characteristics of a NOS. [8]

Describe any 4 of the following [ 2 marks each]

Multiuser
Multitasking

Multiprocessing

Provide remote services

Specialized hardware

6. Explain the need for mutual exclusion in the O.S. [4]

Some resources are to be accessed one at a time or system failure may occur. When a process is allocated
it, it must own exclusive access to it , not sharing it until it is finished. This exclusiveness is so for every
process mutually.