QUESTION BANK

MODULE 1
SL. QUESTIONS BLC CO’s Marks
NO
1 Define Operating System. Explain briefly multiprogramming and 1 8
time sharing system.
2 Explain various OS services. 1 5
3 What are System calls? Briefly explain types of System call. 1 7
4 Distinguish between the following terms: 1 10
i. Multi programming and Multitasking.
ii. Multiprocessor systems and clustered systems.
5 Define Operating Systems. Explain dual mode of Operating 1 5
Systems with a neat diagram.
or
Discuss briefly about operating system operations with diagram.
6 Explain about System calls with an example of handling a user 1 5
application invoking the open() system call.
7 What are the differences between a trap and an interrupt? What 1 5
is the use of each function?
8 Explain in detail about abstract view of the components of a 1 10
computer system with a neat diagram.
9 Explain about computer system organization with a neat diagram. 1 10
10 Explain the function of memory management , process 1 10
management, file management, storage management.

11 Define the essential properties of the following types of OS: 1 10

i. Batch
ii. Multiprogramming
iii. Multitasking
iv. Distributed
v. Real time
12 Explain the role of an operating system from different viewpoints. 1 7
Explain the dual mode of operation of an operating system.
13 Demonstrate the concept of virtual machine with an example. 1 5
14 Distinguish between the following pairs of terms: 1 10
i. Symmetric and asymmetric multiprocessor systems
ii. CPU burst and I/O burst jobs
iii. User’s view and System view of OS
iv. Batch systems and time sharing systems
v. User mode and kernel mode operations
15 List the three main advantages of multiprocessor systems. 1 5
Also bring out the difference between graceful degradation and
fault tolerance in this context.
16 What are the different categories of system program? Explain. 1 6
17 Is separation of mechanism and policy desirable while designing 1 4
an operating system? Discuss with an example
18 Explain the advantage of the layered approach with a neat 1 6
diagram.
19 What is microkernel? Discuss the layers of kernel. 1 6
20 What is SYSGEN program and system boot? 1 5

MODULE 2
SL. QUESTIONS BLC CO’s Marks
NO

1 What is a process? With neat diagram, explain the different state 2 7

of process.
2 Explain scheduler in a process execution. 2 5
or
Describe the differences among long-term, short-term and
medium- term scheduling.
3 Explain direct and indirect communication with respect to 2 8
message passing systems.
4 Explain CPU scheduling criteria in process scheduling concept. 2 7
or
Explain different scheduling criteria that must be kept in mind
while choosing different scheduling algorithms.
5 Explain in detail about multiple processor scheduling with 2 10
example.
6 Describe implementation of IPC using shared and message 2 8
passing

7 Demonstrate the operations of process creation and process 2 6

termination in UNIX.
or
What are the two main operations on processes?
8 Why is it important for the scheduler to distinguish I/O bound 2 2
programs from CPU bound programs?
9 Explain components of PCB with a neat diagram. 2 6
10 What is preemptive scheduling and non preemptive scheduling? 2 5
11 Describe the actions kernel take to context switch between 2 6
processes.2
12 Explain producer-consumer problem.
 13 Define the terms: 2 6
i. Arrival time
ii. Burst time
iii. Turn around time
iv. Waiting time
v. Completion time
vi. Response time
14 Discuss multithreading models. 5

Discuss in detail about multithreading models with suitable

10
illustration.
15 Discuss the benefits of multithreaded programming. 5
16 Discuss the issues that come with multithreaded programming. 10

Discuss the threading issues that come with multithreaded

8
program.
17 What is a thread? What is need for multithreaded processes? 6
Indicate the four major categories of benefits derived from
multithreaded programming.

MODULE 3
SL. QUESTIONS BLC CO’s Marks
NO
1 What is deadlock? What are the necessary conditions for 5
deadlock?

Discuss in detail about deadlock characteristics with example. 10

Define deadlock. What are the necessary conditions for deadlock 10

to
occur? Indicate how many of these should occur for deadlock to
happen.
2 Explain different methods to recovery from deadlocks. 8

Discuss the various approaches used for deadlock recovery. 7

Explain the process of recovery from deadlock. 5

3 How to prevent the occurrence of deadlock, explain in detail. 5
4 State and explain banker’s algorithm for deadlock avoidance. 10
5 What are the different methods to handle deadlocks? Also explain 6
deadlock prevention and deadlock avoidance.
6 Consider a system containing m resources of the same type 10
being shared by n processes. Resources can be requested and
released by processes only one at a time. Show that the system
is deadlock free if the following two conditions hold:
i) The maximum need of each process is between 1
and m resources.
ii) The sum of all maximum needs is less than m+n.
7 Describe resource allocation graph 6
i) With deadlock
ii) With a cycle but no deadlock.
8 What is wait for graph? Explain how it is useful for detection of 6
deadlock.
9 What is a deadlock? Consider the traffic deadlock depicted in the 5
figure given below, explain that the four necessary conditions for
deadlock indeed hold in the example.
Figure:
10 What are the methods used to handle the deadlocks? Explain 6
how circular wait condition can be prevented from occurring.
11 Deadlock exists if a cycle exists. Yes or no. Justify your answer 8
with suitable example.
12 What is a resource allocation graph (RAG)? Explain how RAG is 8
very useful in describing deadly embrace by considering your own
example.
13 Explain requirements must satisfy to critical section problem. 4
14 Illustrate with an example Peterson’s solution problem. 8
15 What is critical section problem? What are the requirements for 8
the
solution to critical section problem? Explain Peterson’s solution.

What is critical section problem? What requirements should a

10
solution to critical section problem satisfy? State peterson’s
solution and
indicate how it satisfies the above requirements.
16 Discuss briefly about semaphores in synchronization. 10

Define semaphores. Explain its usage and implementation. 6

What are semaphores? Explain Binary and counting semaphores 5

with
an example.
What do you mean by binary semaphore and counting 10
semaphore? Explain the implementation of wait() and signal()
semaphore operation.

17 Explain the Dining-philosopher’s problem. 8

18 Explain the operation of semaphores. Bring out how their 8
operation may lead to priority inversion.
19 What do you mean by RACE? Explain Reader’s-Writer’s problem 8
with semaphore in detail.
20 What is race condition? List the requirements that a solution to 5
critical section must satisfy.
21 Explain any one synchronization problem for testing newly 5
proposed synchronization scheme.
22 Describe an N-process solution to critical section problem which 8
uses test and test() atomic instruction. Also explain how the
algorithm satisfies all the requirements of critical section.
23 What is busy waiting in a critical section concept? How 10
semaphore is used to solve critical section problem? What are the
advantages os semaphore?

MODULE 4
SL. QUESTIONS BLC CO’s Marks
NO

1 What is paging hardware with TLB? 7

What is Translation load aside buffers (TLB)? Explain TLB in

8
detail with a simple paging system with a neat diagram.

Why are TLB important? In a simple paging system, what 8

information
is stored in TLB? Explain.

Mention the problem with simple paging scheme. How TLB is

used to solve this problem? Explain with supporting hardware 8
diagram and
with an example.
2 Explain structure of page table with respect to hierarchical paging. 8
3 Explain the process of segmentation. 5
4 Describe the steps in handling page fault. 6,8
5 Explain copy on write process in virtual machine. 6
6 Explain FIFO and optimal page replacement algorithm. 8
7 What is the cause of Thrashing? How does the system detect 4
thrashing?
8 Discuss in detail about contiguous memory allocation with 10
illustration.
9 Explain in detail about paging in a memory management scheme. 10
10 Discuss briefly about demand paging in memory management 10
scheme.

Illustrate how demand paging affects systems performance.

8
11 Illustrate with example, the internal and external fragmentation 7
problem encountered in continuous memory allocation.
12 What is the principle behind paging? Explain its operation, clearly 10
indicating how the logical addresses are converted to physical
addresses.
13 What is swapping? Does this increase the operating systems 8
overhead? Justify your answer.
14 Explain the differences between: 5
i) Logical and physical address space.
ii) Internal and external fragmentation.
15 What is locality of reference? Differentiate between paging and 5
segmentation.
16 Given the memory partitions of 100k, 500k, 200k, 300k, and 600k 4
apply First fit and Best fit algorithm to place 212k, 417k, 112k,
426k.

What are the drawbacks of contagious memory allocation? Given 6

the memory partitions of 100k, 500k, 200k, 300k, and 600k apply
First fit, Best fit and worst fit algorithm to place 212k, 417k, 112k,
426k (in order). Which algorithm makes the most efficient use of
memory?
17 For the following page reference calculate the page faults that 10
occur using FIFO and LRU for 3 and 4 page frames respectively.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1,
4, 3, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 5.
18 For the following page reference string : 10
1, 2, 3, 4, 2, 1, 5, 6, 2, 1, 2, 3, 7, 6, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 6.
How many page faults would occur for the following page
replacement algorithms assuming 3 and 5 frames.
i) LRU
ii) Optimal
19 Consider the page reference string: 14
1, 0, 7, 1, 0, 2, 1, 2, 3, 0, 3, 2, 4, 0, 3, 6, 2, 1 for a memory with 3
frames. Determine the number of page faults using FIFO, optimal
and LRU replacement algorithms. Which algorithm is most
efficient?
20 Consider a paging system with the page table stored in memory. 4
i) If a memory reference takes 200 nano seconds, how long
does a paged memory reference take?
ii) If we add associative register and 75 percentage of all
page table references are found in the associative
registers, what is the effective memory access time?
(Assume that finding a page
table entry in the associative memory/registers takes
zero time, if the entry is found).
21 A hypothetical main memory can store only 3 frames 10
simultaneously. The sequence in which the pages will be
required is given below:
7, 0, 1, 2, 0, 3, 0, 4, 2, 3, 0, 3, 2, 1, 2, 0, 1, 7, 0, 1 (twenty operations).
Indicate the sequence in which the three frames will be filled in
i) FIFO
ii) Optimal page replacement
iii) Least recently used methods of page replacement.
Indicate number of page faults in each case. Which is the most
efficient among them?
 MODULE 5
SL. QUESTIONS BLC CO’s Marks
NO

1 Explain with a diagram any two disk allocation method in detail. 8

Explain different allocation methods.

10

Explain the various allocation methods in implementing file

systems. 8

What are the three methods for allocating disk space? Explain with 12
suitable example.
2 List the different operations performed on a directory. 6

Explain in detail about various file operations in a file

10

system. Explain briefly various operations performed on

6

file.
10
List any five typical file attributes and any five file operations
indicating their purpose in one line each.
5

Explain the various file operations supported by the OS, also

differentiate mandatory lock and advisory lock mechanisms
used on files by the OS.
3 Explain tree structured directory structure. 6
4 Explain different directory structures with required 10

diagrams. Explain the various types of directory structure.

8

What are directories? List different types of directory structures

with examples. Mention their advantages and disadvantages. 8

Describe the methods used for implementing the directories. 8

5 Explain in detail about various file types in a file system. 10
6 Describe various file allocation methods. 8

What is file? Explain in detail different allocation methods.

8

What is file? Explain in the different allocation methods

10
7 Explain the various access methods of files. 6

What are the different techniques with which a file can be shared 6
among users?
8 Briefly explain the methods of keeping track of free space on 10

disks. Explain how free space is managed.

4

What do you mean by free space list? With suitable example,

explain any two methods of implementation of free space list. 8

How is free space managed? Explain. 5

9 Explain the various storage mechanisms available to store files, 8
with neat diagram.
10 Explain various file protection mechanisms. 7
11 What are directories? Write a brief note on mounting file systems. 5
12
13 Explain SCAN, CSCAN and LOOK scheduling techniques. 8

Explain the following disk scheduling algorithm in brief with

9
example:
i) FCFS Scheduling
ii) SSTF scheduling
iii) SCAN scheduling
iv) LOOK scheduling
10
Explain the various disk scheduling algorithms with example.

12
What is disk scheduling? Discuss different disk scheduling
techniques.
9
Explain the following disk scheduling algorithms in brief
i) SSTF
ii) SCAN
iii) LOOK
14 Explain access matrix model of implementing protection in OS. 6
Explain access matrix method of system protection with domain
10
as objects and its implementation.

Explain the access matrix model of implementing protection in OS. 7

Explain access matrix method of system protection. 5

Explain the capability lists methods of implementing access
8
matrix.

What is protection? Distinguish between mechanism and 8

policies. Explain briefly access matrix with domain as objects.

What are access matricies? Explain its implemention. 4

Discuss the strengths and weakness of implementing an access
matrix using access lists that are associated with objects. 5
15 Explain bad-block recovery in detail. 6
16 Explain in detail about over view of mass storage structure. 10
17 Point out and explain briefly the problems with RAID. 5
18 Differentiate between protection and security. 4
Explain the difference between protection and security? Describe
the scheme to capability lists to implement protection. 10
What is protection? Distinguish between mechanisms and
policies. Explain briefly access matrix with domains as objects.
7
19 Write a note on : 8
i) Domain of protection
ii) Access matrix
20 Writ short notes on: 10
i) Swap space management.
ii) Revocation of access rights.
21 Explain in brief, the selection of a disk scheduling algorithm. 4
 Problems

[Link] Questions BCL CO’s

1 Consider the following set of processes with length of the CPU L3 CO2
burst
time given in milliseconds.

Process Arrival Time Burst Time

P1 0 9
P2 1 4
P3 2 9
P4 3 5

Draw the Gantt charts illustrating the execution of these

processes
using FCFS, SRTF, RR (q = 2 ms) scheduling. Compute average
waiting time and average turnaround time for each of the
scheduling algorithms.

2 Consider the following set of processes with length of the CPU L3 CO2
burst
time given in milliseconds.
Process Arrival Time Burst Time
P1 0 10
P2 1 29
P3 2 03
P4 3 07

Draw the Gantt charts illustrating the execution of these

processes
using FCFS, SJF, RR (Quantum = 10 ms) scheduling. Compute
average waiting time and average turnaround time for each of the
scheduling algorithms.

3 Consider the following set of processes with length of the CPU L3 CO2
burst
time given in milliseconds.
Process Arrival Burst Priority
Time Time
P1 0 10 3
P2 0 1 1
P3 3 2 3
P4 5 1 4
P5 10 5 2

Draw the Gantt charts illustrating the execution of these

processes
using FCFS, SJF, Priority, SRTF scheduling. Compute average
waiting time and average turnaround time for each of the
scheduling algorithms.
4 Consider the following set of processes with length of the CPU L3 CO2
burst
time given in milliseconds.
Process Arrival Burst Priority
Time Time
P1 0 7 3
P2 3 2 2
P3 4 3 1
P4 5 1 1
P5 5 3 2

Draw the Gantt charts illustrating the execution of these

processes
using Priority, RR (Quantum = 1 ms) scheduling. Compute average
waiting time and average turnaround time for each of the
scheduling algorithms.

5 Consider the following set of processes with length of the CPU L3 CO2
burst
time given in milliseconds.
Process Arrival Time Burst Time
P1 0 10
P2 0 1
P3 1 2
P4 2 4
P5 2 3

Draw the Gantt charts illustrating the execution of these

processes
using FCFS, SJF, SRTF scheduling. Compute average waiting time
and average turnaround time for each of the scheduling
algorithms.
6 Consider the following set of processes with length of the CPU L3 CO2
burst
time given in milliseconds.
Process Arrival Burst Priority
Time Time
P1 0 6 4
P2 3 5 2
P3 3 3 6
P4 5 5 3

Draw the Gantt charts illustrating the execution of these

processes
using FCFS, Priority (larger priority number has higher priority)
scheduling. Compute average waiting time and average
turnaround
time for each of the scheduling algorithms.

7 Consider the following set of processes with length of the CPU L3 CO2
burst
time given in milliseconds.
Process Arrival Time Burst Time
P1 0 6
 P2 1 3
P3 2 1
P4 3 4

Draw the Gantt charts illustrating the execution of these

processes
using SJF, SRTF scheduling. Compute average waiting time and
average turnaround time for each of the scheduling algorithms.
[Link] Questions BCL CO’
s
1 Consider the following snapshot of the system:

Process Allocation Maximum Available

A B C A B C A B C
P0 0 1 0 7 5 3 3 3 2
P1 2 0 0 3 2 2
P2 3 0 2 9 0 2
P3 2 1 1 2 2 2
P4 0 0 2 4 3 3

Find the need matrix and calculate safe sequence using

banker’s algorithm. Mention the above is safe or not
safe.
2 Consider the following snapshot of the system:

Process Allocation Maximum Available

A B C D A B C D A B C D
P0 2 0 0 1 4 2 1 2 3 3 2 1
P1 3 1 2 1 5 2 5 2
P2 2 1 0 3 2 3 1 6
P3 1 3 1 2 1 4 2 4
P4 1 4 3 2 3 6 6 5

Answer the following using Banker’s algorithm

i) Is the system in safe state? If so, give the
safe sequence.
ii) If process p2 requests (0,1,1,3) resources
can it be granted immediately?
3 For the following snapshot, find the safe sequence
using Banker’s algorithm.
Process Allocation Maximum Available
A B C A B C A B C
P0 0 0 2 0 0 4 1 0 2
P1 1 0 0 2 0 1
P2 1 3 5 1 3 7
P3 6 3 2 8 4 2
P4 1 4 3 1 5 7

i) Is the system in safe state? If so, give the

safe sequence.
ii) If process p2 requests (0,0,2) resources
can it be granted immediately?
4 Consider the following snapshot of the system:

Process Allocation Maximum Available

A B C D A B C D A B C D
P0 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 2 1 5 2 0
P1 1 0 0 0 1 7 5 0
P2 1 3 5 4 2 3 5 6
P3 0 6 3 2 0 6 5 2
P4 0 0 1 4 0 6 5 6
i) Find out need matrix.
ii) If a request from process P1 arrived for (0,4,2,0)
can the request be granted immediately?
iii) Is the system in a safe state?

5 Determine whether the following system is in safe state

by using Banker’s algorithm.

Process Allocation Maximum Available

A B C A B C A B C
P0 0 1 0 7 5 3 3 3 2
P1 2 0 0 3 2 2
P2 3 0 2 9 0 2
P3 2 1 1 2 2 2
P4 0 0 0 4 3 3

If a request for P1 arrives for (1,0,2), can the request be

granted immediately?
6 For the given snapshot:

Process Allocation Maximum Available

A B C D A B C D A B C D
P0 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 2 1 5 2 0
P1 1 0 0 0 1 7 5 0
P2 1 3 5 4 2 3 5 6
P3 0 6 3 2 0 6 5 2
P4 0 0 1 4 0 6 5 6

Using Banker’s algorithm:

i) What is the need matrix content?
ii) Is the system in safe state?
iii) If a request from process P2(0,4,2,0) arrives,
can it be granted?
7 The following snapshot of the system has been taken:

Process Allocation Maximum Available

R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3
J1 0 1 0 7 5 3 3 3 2
J2 2 0 0 3 2 2
J3 3 0 1 9 0 2
J4 2 1 1 2 2 2
J5 0 0 2 4 3 3

System consists of 5 jobs(J1,J2,J3,J4,J5) and three

resources (R1,R2,R3). Resource type R1 has 10
instances, resource type R2 has 5 instances an R3
has 7 instances.

Find the need matrix and calculate the safe sequence

by using Banker’s algorithm. Mention the above system
is safe or not safe.
8 For the following snapshot find the safe sequence
using Banker’s algorithm: The number of resource units
are R1,
Process Allocation Maximum
R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R2, R3 which
P1 2 2 3 3 6 8 are 7,7,10
P2 2 0 3 4 3 3 respectively.
P3 1 2 4 3 4 4

9 Consider the following snapshot of resource

allocation at time t1
Process Allocation Request Available
A B C A B C A B C
P0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
P1 2 0 0 2 0 2
P2 3 0 3 0 0 0
P3 2 1 1 1 0 0
P4 0 0 2 0 0 2

i) Show that the system is not

deadlocked by generating one safe
sequence.
ii) At instance t2, P2 makes one additional
request for instance of type C. Show that the
system is deadlocked if the request is granted.
Write down the deadlocked processes.
[Link] Questions BC CO’s
L
1 Suppose that the disk drive has 5000 cylinders numbered from 0 to 4999. L3 CO5
The drive is currently serving a request at cylinder 143, and the previous
request was at cylinder 125. The queue of pending requests in FIFO order
is 86, 1470, 913, 1774, 948, 1509, 1022, 1750, 130. Starting from the
current (location) head position, what is the total distance (in cylinders)
that the disk arm moves to satisfy all the pending requests, for each of
the following disk-scheduling algorithms?
FCFS, STF, SCAN, LOOK, C-SCAN
2 Suppose that a disk has 50 cylinders named 0 to 49. The R/W head is L3 CO5
currently serving at cylinder 15. The queue of pending requests are in
order : 4, 40, 11, 35, 7, 14 starting from the current head position. What is
the total distance traveled (in cylinders) by the disk arm to satisfy the
requests using algorithms FCFS,
SSTF and LOOK. Illustrate with figure in each case.
3 Given the following queue 95, 180, 34, 119, 11, 123, 62, 64 with head L3 CO5
initially at track 50 and ending track 199, calculate the number of moves
using FCFS, SSTF, Elevator (SCAN) and C-LOOK algorithm.
4 Given the following queue 98, 183, 37, 122, 14, 124, 65, 67 with head L3 CO5
initially at track 53 and ending track 199, calculate the number of moves
using FCFS, SSTF, Elevator (SCAN) and C-LOOK algorithm.
5 Given the memory partitions of 100k, 500k, 200k, 300k, and 600k apply L3 CO5
First fit, Worst fit and Best fit algorithm to place 212k, 417k, 112k, 426k.
6 A hypothetical main memory can store only 3 frames simultaneously. The L3 CO4
sequence in which the pages will be required is given below:
7, 0, 1, 2, 0, 3, 0, 4, 2, 3, 0, 3, 2, 1, 2, 0, 1, 7, 0, 1 (twenty operations).
Indicate the sequence in which the three frames will be filled in
i) FIFO
ii) Optimal page replacement
iii) Least recently used methods of page replacement.
Indicate number of page faults in each case. Which is the most efficient
among them?
7 Consider the page reference string: L3 CO4
1, 0, 7, 1, 0, 2, 1, 2, 3, 0, 3, 2, 4, 0, 3, 6, 2, 1 for a memory with 3 frames.
Determine the number of page faults using FIFO, optimal and LRU
replacement algorithms. Which algorithm is most efficient?
8 For the following page reference calculate the page faults that occur L3 CO4
using FIFO and LRU for 3 and 4 page frames respectively. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 4, 3,
5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 5.
9 For the following page reference string : L3 CO4
1, 2, 3, 4, 2, 1, 5, 6, 2, 1, 2, 3, 7, 6, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 6.
How many page faults would occur for the following page replacement
algorithms assuming 3 and 5 frames.
i) LRU ii) Optimal