Question

1. Difference between sector sparing and sector slipping is

A) sector sparing uses spare sectors while sector slipping does not.

B) sector sparing results in copying of a single sector while sector slipping may result in copying of multiple sectors.

C) sector sparing can help recover from hard errors while sector slipping cannot.

D) sector slipping can help recover from hard errors while sector sparing cannot.

2. Which of the following is FALSE about swap space use?

A) Swap space may be used to hold an entire process image.

B) Swap space may be used to store only pages that have been pushed out of main memory.

C) Swap space may be used to store the file system.

D) Swap space can be a dedicated swap partition, a swap file, or a combination of swap partitions and swap files.

3. In a swap map in Linux

A) counter value 0 indicates that the page slot is occupied by a swapped page.

B) counter value 5 indicates that the page slot is occupied and the page is shared by five processes.

C) counter value -1 indicates that the page slot is available.

D) counter value -5 indicates that the page slot was occupied by a page that was shared by five processes, and is now available.

4. Which of the following is FALSE about Storage Area Networks?

A) SANs make it possible for clusters of servers to share the same storage.

B) SANs use storage protocols rather than network protocols.

C) Allocation of storage to hosts is static.

D) Multiple hosts can attach to the same SAN.

5. Which of the following is TRUE about a serial port controller and a fibre channel (FC) bus controller?

A) Both FC bus controller and serial port controller are often implemented as separate circuit boards.

B) A serial-port controller is a simple device controller, while an FC bus controller is complex.

C) Both FC bus controller and serial port controller are used in PCs.

D) All of the above.

6. In memory-mapped I/O

A) main memory of the computing device is used for communicating with the I/O devices using the standard I/O instructions.

B) main memory of the computing device is used for communicating with the I/O devices using the special I/O instructions.

C) address space of the computing device is used for communicating with the I/O devices using the standard I/O instructions.

D) address space of the computing device is used for communicating with the I/O devices using the special I/O instructions.

7. A control register in an I/O device control

A) is written by the host to send output.

B) is written by the host to choose half-duplex communication.

C) is read by the host to get input.

D) contains status bits that can be read by the host.

8. In polling I/O, the main inefficiency comes from

A) the hardware controller when it notifies the CPU that the device is ready for service.

B) the basic polling operation that may be comprised of several CPU instructions.

C) polling when it is attempted repeatedly yet rarely finds a device ready for service.

D) the slow data transfer rate between a device and the host.

9. Interrupt chaining

A) allows CPU to defer processing of low-priority interrupts without masking all interrupts.

B) splits interrupt management between first level and second level interrupt handlers.

C) is used to handle interrupts but not exceptions.

D) is a compromise between the overhead of a huge interrupt table and the inefficiency of dispatching to a single interrupt handler.

10. In DMA-based I/O,

A) CPU is relieved from data transfer and is interrupted after every word has been transferred to initiate the next word transfer.

B) cycle stealing can slow down the CPU computation, but off-loading the data-transfer work to a DMA controller generally improves the total system performance.

C) interrupt mechanism is not used.

D) data is transferred to/from a single block of memory, but not to/from multiple blocks.

Answer 1

1. B. sector sparing results in copying of a single sector while sector slipping may result in copying of multiple sectors.

2. B.  Swap space may be used to store only pages that have been pushed out of main memory.

4. B.  SANs use storage protocols rather than network protocols.

5. D. All of the above.

6. C.  address space of the computing device is used for communicating with the I/O devices using the standard I/O instructions.

7. D. contains status bits that can be read by the host.

8. C.  polling when it is attempted repeatedly yet rarely finds a device ready for service.

9. A. allows CPU to defer processing of low-priority interrupts without masking all interrupts.

10. A. CPU is relieved from data transfer and is interrupted after every word has been transferred to initiate the next word transfer.