Operating Systems: Virtualization, Concurrency & Persistence

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Intermediate

477 Lessons

40h

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Explanations

Adaptive Learning

This course includes

116 Playgrounds

39 Quizzes

This course includes

116 Playgrounds

39 Quizzes

Course Overview

When it comes to operating systems, there are three main concepts: virtualization, concurrency, and persistence. These concepts lay the foundation for understanding how an operating system works. In this extensive course, you'll cover each of those in its entirety. You'll start by covering the basics of CPU virtualization and memory such as: CPU scheduling, process virtualization, and API virtualization. You will then move on to concurrency concepts where you’ll focus heavily on locks, semaphores, and how ...Show More

TAKEAWAY SKILLS

Operating Systems

Virtualization

Concurrency

Course Content

Introduction

This chapter lays the foundation for understanding operating systems by introducing core concepts such as virtualization, concurrency, and persistence.

A Dialogue on the Course

Introduction to Operating Systems

Virtualization: Processes

This chapter explores process virtualization in operating systems, including process creation, states, the API, and the data structures used to manage them.

A Dialogue on Virtualization Introduction to Processes The Abstraction: A Process Process API Process Creation: A Little More Detail Processes States Data Structures Summary Simulator Exercise Quiz on Processes

Virtualization: Process API

This chapter dives into the UNIX system Process API and examines crucial system calls like fork(), wait(), and exec(), and their roles in process management.

Introduction to Process API The fork() System Call The wait() System Call Finally, The exec() System Call Why? Motivating the API Process Control and Users Useful Tools Summary Exercise Quiz on Process API

Virtualization: Direct Execution

In this chapter, you will learn about direct execution in operating systems and explore its basic techniques, limitations, and concurrency concerns.

Introduction to Direct Execution Basic Technique: Limited Direct Execution Problem #1: Restricted Operations Problem #2: Switching Between Processes Worried About Concurrency?Summary Exercise Quiz on Direct Execution

Virtualization: CPU Scheduling

This chapter explores CPU scheduling in operating systems, covering algorithms like FIFO, SJF, STCF, and Round Robin, and their effects on responsiveness.

Introduction to CPU Scheduling Workload Assumptions and Scheduling Metrics First In, First Out (FIFO)Shortest Job First (SJF)Shortest Time-to-Completion First (STCF)A New Metric: Response Time Round Robin Incorporating I/O Summary Simulator Exercise Quiz on CPU Scheduling

Virtualization: Multi-Level Feedback

10 Lessons

This chapter covers the Multi-Level Feedback Queue (MLFQ) algorithm, how it manages processes, handles starvation, and potential tuning opportunities.

Virtualization: Lottery Scheduling

13 Lessons

This chapter teaches you about lottery scheduling, its ticketing mechanisms, implementation details, and how it compares to stride scheduling and Linux CFS.

Virtualization: Multi-CPU Scheduling

12 Lessons

This chapter explores multi-CPU scheduling, architectures, synchronization, and cache affinity and compares single-queue vs. multi-queue scheduling approaches.

Virtualization: Address Space

8 Lessons

This chapter covers the concept of address space in operating systems, its historical context, and the goals of memory virtualization in modern systems.

10.

Virtualization: Memory API

10 Lessons

Learn about the Memory API and how it interacts with the operating system. This chapter covers common errors and other essential calls for memory management.

11.

Virtualization: Address Translation

10 Lessons

Discover how address translation works with a practical example, and learn about dynamic relocation and the crucial role of hardware support in this process.

12.

Virtualization: Segmentation

11 Lessons

This chapter covers segmentation as a memory management technique, covering base/bounds logic, hardware support, code sharing, and operating system challenges.

13.

Virtualization: Free Space Management

9 Lessons

Discover the role of free space management in virtualization. This chapter explores key assumptions, memory allocation methods, and management strategies.

14.

Virtualization: Introduction to Paging

10 Lessons

This chapter introduces paging, a fundamental memory management scheme, and explores its mechanics, page table structure, and performance considerations.

15.

Virtualization: Translation Lookaside Buffers

11 Lessons

In this chapter, you will learn about Translation Lookaside Buffers (TLBs) and explore their operation, contents, and challenges, such as context switches.

16.

Virtualization: Advanced Page Tables

10 Lessons

This chapter dives into advanced page table techniques such as larger pages, hybrid approaches, multi-level structures, inverted page tables, and disk swapping.

17.

Virtualization: Swapping: Mechanisms

11 Lessons

This chapter teaches you about swapping mechanisms, space utilization, page faults, memory pressure handling, and the page fault control flow.

18.

Virtualization: Swapping: Policies

16 Lessons

In this chapter, you will learn about various page swapping policies, such as FIFO, Random, and LRU, and how to handle dirty pages and thrashing.

19.

Virtualization: Complete VM Systems

14 Lessons

This chapter explores complete virtual memory systems, such as VAX/VMS and Linux, covering their address spaces, page tables, security, and other features.

20.

Concurrency: Concurrency and Threads

12 Lessons

This chapter introduces concurrency and threads, explains their need, explores their benefits, challenges, scheduling issues, and the need for synchronization.

21.

Concurrency: Thread API

10 Lessons

This chapter explores the Thread API, covering thread creation and completion, along with key synchronization mechanisms like locks and condition variables.

22.

Concurrency: Locks

20 Lessons

In this chapter, you will learn about locks as a concurrency primitive, covering basic concepts, implementation techniques, and low-level mechanisms.

23.

Concurrency: Locked Data Structures

8 Lessons

Learn to design and implement thread-safe data structures, including concurrent counters, linked lists, queues, and hash tables, using locking mechanisms.

24.

Concurrency: Conditional Variables

10 Lessons

This chapter explores conditional variables for thread synchronization, covering their routines, classic producer/consumer problems, and common use cases.

25.

Concurrency: Semaphores

13 Lessons

This chapter covers semaphores for thread synchronization, their definition, their use as locks, the producer/consumer problem, and classic examples.

26.

Concurrency: Concurrency Bugs

11 Lessons

This chapter focuses on concurrency bugs, including deadlocks and non-deadlock issues, highlighting prevention, detection, and effective programming strategies.

27.

Concurrency: Event-Based Concurrency

12 Lessons

This chapter explores event-based concurrency, covering event loops, select() and poll() APIs, asynchronous I/O, state management challenges, and limitations.

28.

Persistence: I/O Devices

13 Lessons

This chapter dives into I/O devices, covering device communication protocols, interrupts, DMA for efficient data transfer, and the role of device drivers.

29.

Persistence: Hard Disk Drives

13 Lessons

In this chapter, you will learn how hard disk drives work, the underlying architecture, interface, performance factors, and disk scheduling algorithms.

30.

Persistence: Redundant Disk Arrays (RAID)

14 Lessons

This chapter dives into RAID technology, covering different RAID levels, their fault tolerance mechanisms, performance trade-offs, and parity techniques.

31.

Persistence: Files and Directories

19 Lessons

This chapter covers file system basics, including file and directory operations, hard and symbolic links, permission management, and file system mounting.

32.

Persistence: File System Implementation

12 Lessons

This chapter explores file system implementation, organization, key data structures (inodes, directories), free space management, and data access.

33.

Persistence: Fast File System

11 Lessons

The chapter details the development and innovations of the Fast File System (FFS) in optimizing disk performance and file management within operating systems.

34.

Persistence: FSCK and Journaling

10 Lessons

Learn how operating systems maintain file system integrity. You will also explore the File System Checker and the benefits of journaling for data protection.

35.

Persistence: Log-Structured File System

17 Lessons

In this chapter, you’ll explore log-structured file systems, covering their design principles, implementation details, garbage collection, and crash recovery.

36.

Persistence: Flash-based SSDs

16 Lessons

This chapter covers Flash-based SSDs’ internal workings, performance characteristics, organization, wear-leveling, garbage collection, and costs.

37.

Persistence: Data Integrity and Protection

14 Lessons

This chapter explores data integrity and protection in storage systems, covering failure modes, error detection, integrity issues, and mitigation strategies.

38.

Distribution: Distributed Systems

10 Lessons

This chapter introduces distributed systems, covering communication basics, building reliable communication, and high-level abstractions like RPC.

39.

Distribution: Network File System (NFS)

14 Lessons

Learn how NFS provides a distributed file system with its stateless design, the NFSv2 protocol, handling server failures, and client-side caching mechanisms.

40.

Distribution: Andrew File System (AFS)

13 Lessons

This chapter explores the Andrew File System (AFS) and its evolution from Version 1 to 2, addressing challenges like cache consistency and crash recovery.

Course Author

Trusted by 1.4 million developers working at companies

Anthony Walker

@_webarchitect_

Evan Dunbar

ML Engineer

Carlos Matias La Borde

Software Developer

Souvik Kundu

Front-end Developer

Vinay Krishnaiah

Software Developer

Eric Downs

Musician/Entrepeneur

Kenan Eyvazov

DevOps Engineer

Souvik Kundu

Front-end Developer

Eric Downs

Musician/Entrepeneur

Anthony Walker

@_webarchitect_

Evan Dunbar

ML Engineer

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