CPU Scheduling

Basic Concepts
Maximum CPU utilization
obtained with
multiprogramming

CPU–I/O Burst Cycle –

Process execution
consists of a cycle of
CPU execution and I/O
wait

CPU burst followed by

I/O burst

CPU burst distribution is

of main concern
Histogram of CPU-burst Times
CPU Scheduler
● Short-term scheduler selects from among the
processes in ready queue, and allocates the CPU to one
of them
● Queue may be ordered in various ways
● CPU scheduling decisions may take place when a process:
1. Switches from running to waiting state
2. Switches from running to ready state
3. Switches from waiting to ready
4. Terminates
● Scheduling under 1 and 4 is non-preemptive
● All other scheduling is preemptive
● Consider access to shared data
● Consider preemption while in kernel mode
● Consider interrupts occurring during crucial OS activities
Preemptive Vs. Non Preemptive
Scheduling
Dispatcher
Dispatcher module gives control of the CPU
to the process selected by the short-term
scheduler; this involves:
◦ switching context
◦ switching to user mode
◦ jumping to the proper location in the user program
to restart that program

Dispatch latency – time it takes for the

dispatcher to stop one process and start
another running
Scheduling Criteria
CPU utilization – keep the CPU as busy as possible

Throughput – # of processes that complete their

execution per time unit

Turnaround time – amount of time to execute a

particular process
Turnaround time (TAT)=Completion time – Arrival time

Waiting time – amount of time a process has been

waiting in the ready queue

Response time – amount of time it takes from when a

request was submitted until the first response is
produced, not output (for time-sharing environment)
Scheduling Algorithm Optimization
Criteria

Max CPU utilization

Max throughput
Min turnaround time
Min waiting time
Min response time
First-Come, First-Served (FCFS) Scheduling

Process Burst Time

P1 24
P2 3
P3 3
Suppose that the processes arrive in the order:
P1 , P2 , P3

The Gantt Chart for the schedule is:

P1 P2 P3

0 24 27 30

Waiting time for P1 = 0; P2 = 24; P3 = 27

Average waiting time: (0 + 24 + 27)/3 = 17
 FCFS Scheduling (Cont.)
Suppose that the processes arrive in the order:
P2 , P3 , P1
The Gantt chart for the schedule is:

P2 P3 P1

0 3 6 30

Waiting time for P1 = 6; P2 = 0; P3 = 3

Average waiting time: (6 + 0 + 3)/3 = 3
Much better than previous case
Convoy effect - short process behind long process
◦ Consider one CPU-bound and many I/O-bound processes
Shortest-Job-First (SJF)
Scheduling
Associate with each process the length of
its next CPU burst
◦ Use these lengths to schedule the process with
the shortest time

SJF is optimal – gives minimum average

waiting time for a given set of processes
◦ The difficulty is knowing the length of the next
CPU request
◦ Could ask the user
Example of SJF
ProcessArriva l Time Burst Time
P1 0.0 6
P2 2.0 8
P3 4.0 7
P4 5.0 3
SJF scheduling chart
P4 P1 P3 P2

0 3 9 16 24

Average waiting time = (3 + 16 + 9 + 0) / 4 = 7

Determining Length of Next CPU
Burst
 
Prediction of the Length of the
Next CPU Burst

Figure 6.3 shows an exponential average with Alpha= 1/2

and T0 = 10.
Priority Scheduling
A priority number (integer) is associated with each
process
The CPU is allocated to the process with the highest
priority (smallest integer ≡ highest priority)
◦ Preemptive
◦ Nonpreemptive
SJF is priority scheduling where priority is the
inverse of predicted next CPU burst time
Problem ≡ Starvation – low priority processes may
never execute
Solution ≡ Aging – as time progresses increase the
priority of the process
 Example of Priority Scheduling

ProcessA arri Burst TimeT Priority

P1 10 3
P2 1 1
P3 2 4
P4 1 5
P5 5 2
Priority scheduling Gantt Chart

P2 P5 P1 P3 P4

0 1 6 16 18 19

Average waiting time = 8.2 msec

Round Robin (RR)
Each process gets a small unit of CPU time (time
quantum q), usually 10-100 milliseconds. After this
time has elapsed, the process is preempted and added to
the end of the ready queue.
If there are n processes in the ready queue and the time
quantum is q, then each process gets 1/n of the CPU
time in chunks of at most q time units at once. No
process waits more than (n-1)q time units.
Timer interrupts every quantum to schedule next process
Performance
◦ q large ⇒ FIFO
◦ q small ⇒ q must be large with respect to context switch,
otherwise overhead is too high
Example of RR with Time Quantum = 4

Process Burst Time

P1 24
P2 3
P3 3
The Gantt chart is:

Completion time = P1=30; P2=7; P3=10

TAT =P1= (30-0); P2=(7-4); P3=(10-7)
Avg. TAT=
Multilevel Queue
Process is assigned to one queue based on memory size,
priority, process type.

Ready queue is partitioned into separate queues, eg:

◦ foreground (interactive)
◦ background (batch)

Each queue has its own scheduling algorithm:

◦ foreground – RR
◦ background – FCFS
Scheduling must be done between the queues:
◦ Fixed priority scheduling; (i.e., serve all from foreground then
from background). Possibility of starvation.
◦ Time slice – each queue gets a certain amount of CPU time which
it can schedule amongst its processes; i.e., 80% to foreground in
RR
◦ 20% to background in FCFS
Multilevel Queue Scheduling
Multilevel Feedback Queue
Idea is to separate process according to CPU burst
time
If a process uses too much CPU time, it is moved to
low priority
If a process waits too long (aging) in low priority then
it is moved to high priority

Multilevel-feedback-queue scheduler defined by the

following parameters:
◦ number of queues
◦ scheduling algorithms for each queue
◦ method used to determine when to upgrade a process
◦ method used to determine when to demote a process
◦ method used to determine which queue a process will enter
when that process needs service
Example of Multilevel Feedback
Queue
Three queues:
◦ Q0 – RR with time quantum 8
milliseconds
◦ Q1 – RR time quantum 16 milliseconds
◦ Q2 – FCFS

Scheduling
◦ A new job enters queue Q0 which is
served FCFS
● When it gains CPU, job receives 8
milliseconds
● If it does not finish in 8 milliseconds,
job is moved to queue Q1
◦ At Q1 job is again served FCFS and
receives 16 additional milliseconds
● If it still does not complete, it is
preempted and moved to queue Q2
Multiple-Processor Scheduling
CPU scheduling more complex when multiple
CPUs are available
Homogeneous processors within a
multiprocessor
Asymmetric multiprocessing – only one
processor accesses the system data structures,
alleviating the need for data sharing
Symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) – each
processor is self-scheduling, all processes in
common ready queue, or each has its own
private queue of ready processes
Multiple-Processor
Scheduling
Processor affinity – process has affinity for
processor on which it is currently running
soft affinity: When an operating system has a
policy of attempting to keep a process running
on the same processor—but not guaranteeing
that it will do so known as soft affinity.
hard affinity: allowing a process to specify a
subset of processors on which it may run.
Multiple-Processor Scheduling – Load
Balancing

If SMP, need to keep all CPUs loaded for

efficiency

Load balancing attempts to keep workload

evenly distributed

Push migration – periodic task checks load

on each processor, and if found pushes task
from overloaded CPU to other CPUs

Pull migration – idle processors pulls waiting

task from busy processor
Real-Time CPU Scheduling

Soft real-time systems – no

guarantee as to when critical
real-time process will be
scheduled
Hard real-time systems –
task must be serviced by its
deadline
Two types of latencies affect
performance
1. Interrupt latency – time from
arrival of interrupt to start of
routine that services
interrupt
2. Dispatch latency – time for
schedule to take current
process off CPU and switch
to another