Operating System in Resource Management

• In a simple word, one can say that an Operating System is a collection of software programs and hardware utilities and acts as an interface between the user and computer.

• One of the main functions of OS is resource management.

• In resource management, an operating system collects all the resources in the network environment and allocates the resources to efficiently request the process.

• To do this efficiently OS act as a Resource Manager.

The Role of OS as a Resource Manager

• A computer system holds various resources like processors, memories, timers, disks, printers, and many others.

• The OS manages these resources and allocates them to particular programs.

• As a resource manager, OS provides controlled allocation of the processors, memories, and I/O devices among various programs.

• Therefore OS is also called a Resource Allocator, which is one of the main features of an OS.

• In the computer system, multiple user programs are running simultaneously.

• The CPU itself is one kind of resource and the OS decides how much processor time should be given for the execution of a particular user program.

• OS also manages memory and I/O devices when multiple users are working simultaneously.

• The main goal of the OS is to keep the track of which programs are using which resources, to grant resource requests, account for usage, and to resolve conflicting requests from different programs and users.

• An OS is the one form of the control program.

• This control program controls the execution of user programs to prevent any errors and improper use of computer system resources.

• Resource management includes sharing of resources in two ways as follows:

  • In-time
  • In-space

• When a resource is shared in time, different programs can take the chance to use it.

• The first one gets the chance to use the resource, then the second, then another, likewise.

• For example, CPU and printer are timely shared resources, where OS decides who will use it and for how much time duration.

• The best example of in-time sharing is CPU Scheduling on OS.

• In that, OS fixes the time slot for the CPU, First one of the processes gets the CPU, when the time slot expires, the CPU switch to the next process in the ready queue. In this example, the CPU acts as a time resource.

• The other kind of resource sharing is in-space sharing, in this, the users share the space of resource.

• For example, both primary and secondary memories are space shared, where OS allocates them to the user program and keeps the track of it.

• The best example of in-space sharing is when the main memory consists of several processes at a time so that the processes can share the resources.

• The main difference between "in time" sharing resources and "in space" sharing resources is "in time" resources are not divided into units, whereas "in space" sharing resources are divided into units.