Syllabus

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Syllabus
College of Information Systems and Technology POS/355 Version 8 Introduction to Operational Systems
Copyright 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved.

Course Description This course provides an introduction to operating systems. Topics covered include operating system concepts, program execution, and operating system internals such as memory, processor, device, and file management. A variety of operating systems are compared and contrasted. Policies Faculty and students/learners will be held responsible for understanding and adhering to all policies contained within the following two documents: University policies: You must be logged into the student website to view this document. Instructor policies: This document is posted in the Course Materials forum.

University policies are subject to change. Be sure to read the policies at the beginning of each class. Policies may be slightly different depending on the modality in which you attend class. If you have recently changed modalities, read the policies governing your current class modality. Course Materials Stallings, W. (2009). Operating systems: Internals and design principles (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. Supplemental Resources: Silberschatz, A., Galvin, P.B., & Gagne, G. (2009). Operating system concept (8th ed.). Indianapolis, IN Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Element K. (2010). Configuring Microsoft Windows XP Professional. Element K. (2010). Fundamentals of Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure. Element K (2010). Microsoft Windows VistaTM: Level 1. Element K (2010). Microsoft Windows VistaTM: Level 2. Element K. (2010). UNIX and Linux: Fundamentals. Article References: Pronk, T. E., Pimentel, A. D., Roos, M., & Breit, T. M. (2007, November/December). Taking the example of computer systems engineering for the analysis of biological cell systems. BioSystems, 90(3), 623. Zhu, Y., Ding, Y., Wanggen, L., & Kemp, G. (2009). A proposed modularized DNA computer, based on biochips. ACM/SIGEVO Summit on Genetic and Evolutionary Computation, 773-780. Ornes, S. (2009, January). Brainlike device could accelerate computing. Discover, 30(1), 56. Polakovic, J., & Stefani, J.-B. (2008, June). Architecting reconfigurable component-based operating systems. Journal of Systems Architecture, 54(6), 562. Elerath, J. (2009, June). Hard-disk drives: The good, the bad, and the ugly. Communications of the ACM, 52(6), 38. Thibodeau, P. (2008, February 18). Mainframes fight to keep corporate IT crown. Computerworld, 42(8), 12. Brooks, J. (2009, May 18). XP mode advantage. eWeek, 26(9), 40. Vizard, M. (2009, January/February). Bridging the server divide. Baseline, (92), 15. Stallman, R. (2009, June). Why "open source" misses the point of free software. Communications of the ACM, 52(6), 31. Strohmeyer, R. (2008, July). True or false: Linux is immune to malware and viruses. PC World, 26(7), 117. Yalta, T. A., & Lucchetti, R. (2008, March). The GNU/Linux platform and freedom respecting software for economists. Journal of Applied Econometrics, 23(2), 279. All electronic materials are available on the student website.

Week One: Computer System

Details
Objectives Readings 1.1 Identify and define components of a computer system. Read Ch. 1, Computer System Overview, of Operating Systems: Internals and Design Principles. Read Ch. 2, Operating System Overview, of Operating Systems:

Due

Points

Internals and Design Principles. Read this weeks Electronic Reserve Readings. Participation Discussion Questions Learning Team Instructions Participate in class discussion. Respond to weekly discussion questions. Create the Learning Team Charter. The Learning Team will prepare an 8-12 page paper that compares and contrasts Windows XP, Windows 2003, and Linux. In addition, the Learning Team will prepare a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation of the project. The paper and presentation are due in Week Five. Day 7 4

Week Two: Operating Systems

Details
Objectives 2.1 Identify and define components of an operating system (OS) 2.2 Explain memory management. 2.3 Explain processor management. Read Ch. 3, Process Description and Control, of Operating Systems: Internals and Design Principles. Read Ch. 7, Memory Management, of Operating Systems: Internals and Design Principles. Read Ch. 8, Virtual Memory, of Operating Systems: Internals and Design Principles. Read Ch. 9, Uniprocessor Scheduling, of Operating Systems: Internals and Design Principles. Read Ch. 10, Multiprocessor and Real-Time Scheduling, of Operating Systems: Internals and Design Principles. Read this weeks Electronic Reserve Readings. Participate in class discussion. Respond to weekly discussion questions. Begin work on the Operating System Analysis. Individual Huffman Trucking Paper Outline the important features of Windows XP. Day 7 15 Day 7 5 Day 7 4

Due

Points

Readings

Participation Discussion Questions Learning Team Instructions

Write a 1-2 page paper describing the operating systems used by Huffman Trucking. Address the following questions in your paper: Why do you think these operating systems were chosen? What are the implications of the operating systems that are in use by Huffman Trucking? You can access the Huffman Trucking website from the Virtual Organizations Portal. (Hint: Look at network diagrams.)

Week Three: Operation Systems

Details
Objectives 3.1 Explain device management. 3.2 Explain file management. 3.3 Define the role of main frames. Read Ch. 11, I/O Management and Disk Scheduling, of Operating Systems: Internals and Design Principles. Read Ch. 12, File Management, of Operating Systems: Internals and Design Principles. Read this weeks Electronic Reserve Readings. Participate in class discussion. Respond to weekly discussion questions. Continue work on the Operating System Analysis. Individual PC/Mainframe Paper Outline the important features of Windows 2003. Day 7 15 Day 7 5 Day 7 4

Due

Points

Readings

Participation Discussion Questions Learning Team Instructions

Write a 2-3 page paper comparing and contrasting PCs and mainframes. It will be necessary to research this topic outside your course readings.

Week Four: Windows Server

Details
Objectives Readings 4.1 Explain the basics of the Windows Server operating system. Read Ch. 4, Threads, SMP, and Microkernels, of Operating Systems: Internals and Design Principles. Read Ch. 5, Concurrency: Mutual Exclusion and Synchronization, of Operating Systems: Internals and Design Principles. Read Ch. 6, Concurrency: Deadlock and Starvation, of Operating Systems: Internals and Design Principles. Read this weeks Electronic Reserve Readings. Participate in class discussion. Respond to weekly discussion questions. Continue work on the Operating System Analysis. Individual Operating Systems Analysis Paper Outline the important features of Linux. Begin work on the Microsoft PowerPoint presentation. Day 7 20 Day 7 5 Day 7 4

Due

Points

Participation Discussion Questions Learning Team Instructions

Write a 2-4 page paper describing operating systems that are common on the Internet. It is necessary to research this topic outside your course readings.

Week Five: UNIX

Details
Objectives Readings 5.1 Explain the basics of the UNIX operating system. 5.2 Compare and contrast Windows XP, Windows 2003, and Linux. Read Ch. 16, Distributed Processing, Client/Server, and Clusters, of Operating Systems: Internals and Design Principles. Read this weeks Electronic Reserve Readings. Participate in class discussion. Respond to weekly discussion questions. Complete work on the Operating System Analysis. Complete and submit the 8-12 page paper that compares and contrasts Windows XP, Windows 2003, and Linux. Complete and submit the Microsoft PowerPoint presentation. Day 7 15 Day 7 4

Due

Points

Participation Discussion Questions Learning Team Learning Team Project

Week One Discussion Questions What are some of the many considerations in selecting the correct information system to use for trading futures and stocks? Is service-oriented architecture (SOA) a new solution to information technology, or is it a new name for the rehash of providing the user with what the user wants? Explain. Based on the article by Pronk, et al. (2007), especially Figure 1, what are the general functions of processors, software, and networks? What is the classical (von Neumann) architecture of a computer system? Based on the article by Zhu, et al. (2009), what components or modules of a standard electronic computer system might be engineered into a bio-chip? What problem in the development of future electronic computer does the developing bio-chip technology address? Week Two Discussion Questions Do you agree or disagree that throughput and capacity are determining factors for effectiveness of a system more so than processor speed? Why or why not? What security issues must be resolved now which cannot wait for the next version of Windows to arrive? Are we looking at a patch or a workaround to solve the present issues? Based on Ornes (2009) article, what are the improvements that a memristor might have over current physical and electronic storage devices? Is a memristor a green technology? Based on the article by Polakovic and Stefani (2008), what are the main requirements to reconfigure software on the fly? How do the authors define a computer component?

Week Three Discussion Questions Based on Eleraths (2009) article, what are the two main categories of hard disk drive failure? How does SMART technology work, and what does it mean when limits are exceeded? Based on Thibodeaus (2008) article, what are the advantages and disadvantages of the use of mainframes? Week Four Discussion Questions Does a new software product always provide a fundamental improvement to the system where we install the new software product? What could some of the gains include? Based on the article by Jason Brooks (2009), what capability will XP Mode in the Windows 7 operating system add to PCs? What computer system hardware resource(s) may need to be enhanced to use this capability? Based on the article by Michael Vizard (2009), why is the Hyper-V virtualization technology available in Windows Server 2008 an important resource for many businesses IT environments? What role does SUSE Linux play? Week Five Discussion Questions Why or why not would you agree that Novell partnering with Linux will now present a viable alternative to Microsoft in the business world? Because there are alternatives between Microsoft, Linux, and Macintosh, what would make an individual choose one alternative over the other? Based on Stallmans (2009) article, what is the difference between the terms freeware and open-source software? Which of these two terms will you use in the future? Explain your preference for the term. Based on the article by Robert Strohmeyer (2008), is malware a threat in an online Linux OS environment? What factor might influence the threat of malware to Linux systems that run web servers? Based on Yalta and Lucchettis (2008) article, what are the advantages and disadvantages of adopting GNU/Linux? Copyright
University of Phoenix is a registered trademark of Apollo Group, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Microsoft, Windows, and Windows NT are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other company and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Use of these marks is not intended to imply endorsement, sponsorship, or affiliation. Edited in accordance with University of Phoenix editorial standards and practices.

John A. Stewart Certified Advanced Facilitator University of Phoenix Online Faculty stewartj@email.phoenix.edu john.stewart@mindshift.com 201-981-3651