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Interrupt Storm
In operating systems, an interrupt storm is an event during which a processor receives an inordinate number of interrupts that consume the majority of the processor's time. Interrupt storms are typically caused by hardware devices that do not support interrupt rate limiting. Background Because interrupt processing is typically a non- preemptible task in time-sharing operating systems, an interrupt storm will cause sluggish response to user input, or even appear to freeze the system completely. This state is commonly known as '' live lock''. In such a state, the system is spending most of its resources processing interrupts instead of completing other work. To the end-user, it does not appear to be processing anything at all as there is often no output. An interrupt storm is sometimes mistaken for thrashing, since they both have similar symptoms (unresponsive or sluggish response to user input, little or no output). Common causes include: misconfigured or faulty hardware, faulty d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operating System
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also include accounting software for cost allocation of processor time, mass storage, printing, and other resources. For hardware functions such as input and output and memory allocation, the operating system acts as an intermediary between programs and the computer hardware, although the application code is usually executed directly by the hardware and frequently makes system calls to an OS function or is interrupted by it. Operating systems are found on many devices that contain a computer from cellular phones and video game consoles to web servers and supercomputers. The dominant general-purpose personal computer operating system is Microsoft Windows with a market share of around 74.99%. macOS by Apple Inc. is in second place (14.84%), and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apollo Guidance Computer
The Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) was a digital computer produced for the Apollo program that was installed on board each Apollo command module (CM) and Apollo Lunar Module (LM). The AGC provided computation and electronic interfaces for guidance, navigation, and control of the spacecraft. The AGC was the first computer based on silicon integrated circuits. The computer's performance was comparable to the first generation of home computers from the late 1970s, such as the Apple II, TRS-80, and Commodore PET. The AGC has a 16-bit word length, with 15 data bits and one parity bit. Most of the software on the AGC is stored in a special read-only memory known as core rope memory, fashioned by weaving wires through and around magnetic cores, though a small amount of read/write core memory is available. Astronauts communicated with the AGC using a numeric display and keyboard called the DSKY (for "display and keyboard", pronounced "DIS-kee"). The AGC and its DSKY user interface wer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Non-maskable Interrupt
In computing, a non-maskable interrupt (NMI) is a hardware interrupt that standard interrupt-masking techniques in the system cannot ignore. It typically occurs to signal attention for non-recoverable hardware errors. Some NMIs may be masked, but only by using proprietary methods specific to the particular NMI. An NMI is often used when response time is critical or when an interrupt should never be disabled during normal system operation. Such uses include reporting non-recoverable hardware errors, system debugging and profiling, and handling of special cases like system resets. Modern computer architectures typically use NMIs to handle non-recoverable errors which need immediate attention. Therefore, such interrupts should not be masked in the normal operation of the system. These errors include non-recoverable internal system chipset errors, corruption in system memory such as parity and ECC errors, and data corruption detected on system and peripheral buses. On some systems, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inter-processor Interrupt
An inter-processor interrupt (IPI), also known as a ''shoulder tap'', is a special type of interrupt by which one processor may interrupt another processor in a multiprocessor system if the interrupting processor requires action from the other processor. Actions that might be requested include: * flushes of memory management unit caches, such as translation lookaside buffers, on other processors when memory mappings are changed by one processor; * stopping when the system is being shut down by one processor. * Notify a processor that higher priority work is available. * Notify a processor of work that cannot be done on all processors due to, e.g., ** asymmetric access to I/O channels ** special features on some processors Mechanism The M65MP option of OS/360 used the Direct Control feature of the S/360 to generate an interrupt on another processor; on S/370 and its successors, including z/Architecture, the SIGNAL PROCESSOR instruction provides a more formalized interface. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Broadcast Radiation
A broadcast storm or broadcast radiation is the accumulation of broadcast and multicast traffic on a computer network. Extreme amounts of broadcast traffic constitute a "broadcast storm". It can consume sufficient network resources so as to render the network unable to transport normal traffic. A packet that induces such a storm is occasionally nicknamed a Chernobyl packet. Causes Most commonly the cause is a switching loop in the Ethernet network topology (i.e. two or more paths exist between switches). As broadcasts and multicasts are forwarded by switches out of every port, the switch or switches will repeatedly rebroadcast broadcast messages and flood the network. Since the layer-2 header does not support a time to live (TTL) value, if a frame is sent into a looped topology, it can loop forever. In some cases, a broadcast storm can be instigated for the purpose of a denial of service (DOS) using one of the packet amplification attacks, such as the smurf attack or fraggle atta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Interrupt Handler
In computer systems programming, an interrupt handler, also known as an interrupt service routine or ISR, is a special block of code associated with a specific interrupt condition. Interrupt handlers are initiated by hardware interrupts, software interrupt instructions, or software exceptions, and are used for implementing device drivers or transitions between protected modes of operation, such as system calls. The traditional form of interrupt handler is the hardware interrupt handler. Hardware interrupts arise from electrical conditions or low-level protocols implemented in digital logic, are usually dispatched via a hard-coded table of interrupt vectors, asynchronously to the normal execution stream (as interrupt masking levels permit), often using a separate stack, and automatically entering into a different execution context (privilege level) for the duration of the interrupt handler's execution. In general, hardware interrupts and their handlers are used to handle high-pri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NAPI
New API (also referred to as NAPI) is an interface to use interrupt mitigation techniques for networking devices in the Linux kernel. Such an approach is intended to reduce the overhead of packet receiving. The idea is to defer incoming message handling until there is a sufficient amount of them so that it is worth handling them all at once. Motivation A straightforward method of implementing a network driver is to interrupt the kernel by issuing an interrupt request (IRQ) for each and every incoming packet. However, servicing IRQs is costly in terms of processor resources and time. Therefore, the straightforward implementation can be very inefficient in high-speed networks, constantly interrupting the kernel with the thousands of packets per second. Overall performance of the system as well as network throughput can suffer as a result. Polling (computer science), Polling is an alternative to interrupt-based processing. The kernel can periodically check for the arrival of inco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
FreeBSD
FreeBSD is a free and open-source Unix-like operating system descended from the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), which was based on Research Unix. The first version of FreeBSD was released in 1993. In 2005, FreeBSD was the most popular open-source BSD operating system, accounting for more than three-quarters of all installed and permissively licensed BSD systems. FreeBSD has similarities with Linux, with two major differences in scope and licensing: FreeBSD maintains a complete system, i.e. the project delivers a kernel, device drivers, userland utilities, and documentation, as opposed to Linux only delivering a kernel and drivers, and relying on third-parties for system software; FreeBSD source code is generally released under a permissive BSD license, as opposed to the copyleft GPL used by Linux. The FreeBSD project includes a security team overseeing all software shipped in the base distribution. A wide range of additional third-party applications may be installe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Interrupt Latency
In computing, interrupt latency refers to the delay between the start of an Interrupt Request (IRQ) and the start of the respective Interrupt Service Routine (ISR). For many operating systems, devices are serviced as soon as the device's interrupt handler is executed. Interrupt latency may be affected by microprocessor design, interrupt controllers, interrupt masking, and the operating system's (OS) interrupt handling methods. Background There is usually a trade-off between interrupt latency, throughput, and processor utilization. Many of the techniques of CPU and OS design that improve interrupt latency will decrease throughput and increase processor utilization. Techniques that increase throughput may increase interrupt latency and increase processor utilization. Lastly, trying to reduce processor utilization may increase interrupt latency and decrease throughput. Minimum interrupt latency is largely determined by the interrupt controller circuit and its configuration. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Packet (information Technology)
In telecommunications and computer networking, a network packet is a formatted unit of data carried by a packet-switched network. A packet consists of control information and user data; the latter is also known as the ''payload''. Control information provides data for delivering the payload (e.g., source and destination network addresses, error detection codes, or sequencing information). Typically, control information is found in packet headers and trailers. In packet switching, the bandwidth of the transmission medium is shared between multiple communication sessions, in contrast to circuit switching, in which circuits are preallocated for the duration of one session and data is typically transmitted as a continuous bit stream. Terminology In the seven-layer OSI model of computer networking, ''packet'' strictly refers to a protocol data unit at layer 3, the network layer. A data unit at layer 2, the data link layer, is a ''frame''. In layer 4, the transport layer, the data u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polling (computer Science)
Polling, or polled operation, in computer science, refers to actively sampling the status of an external device by a client program as a synchronous activity. Polling is most often used in terms of input/output (), and is also referred to as polled or software-driven . A good example of hardware implementation is a watchdog timer. Description Polling is the process where the computer or controlling device waits for an external device to check for its readiness or state, often with low-level hardware. For example, when a printer is connected via a parallel port, the computer waits until the printer has received the next character. These processes can be as minute as only reading one bit. This is sometimes used synonymously with 'busy-wait' polling. In this situation, when an operation is required, the computer does nothing other than check the status of the device until it is ready, at which point the device is accessed. In other words, the computer waits until the device is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
