Windows NT Operating

System

Junhua Duan
Aug. 26th, 1999

What is an operating
system?
An operating system is a computer
program that provides an
environment in which other
computer programs can run,
allowing them to easily take
advantage of the processor and of
I/O devices such as disks.

Services Provided by
Operating System
Hardware Shielding
Resources Sharing

Windows NT Models
Layered Model
Client/Server Model
Object Model
Symmetric Multiprocessing

Layered Model
Application
Program

Application
Program

System Services

File System

Memory and I/O Device Management

Processor Scheduling

Hardware

User Mode
Kernel Mode

Client/Server Model
Client
Application

Memory
Server

Process
Server

Network
Server

File
Server

kernel

Send
Repl
y

Hardware

Display
Server

Windows NTs Client/Server

Structure
Win32
Client

OS/2
Client

Win32
Subsystem

OS/2
Subsystem

Executive
Kernel

Hardware

POSIX
Client

POSIX
Subsystem

Object Model
An object is a data structure whose
physical format is hidden behind a
type definition. It embodies a set of
formal properties and is manipulated
by a set of services.
Windows NT uses objects to represent
system resources. Any system
resource that can be shared by more
than one process is implemented as
an object and manipulated by using
object services.

Symmetric
Multiprocessing
Memory

Processor A

Processor B

Operating
System

User
Thread
User
Thread

User
Thread

User
Thread
Operating
System

I/O Devices(Monitor,Mouse,Keyboard)

Asymmetric
Multiprocessing
Memory

Processor A

Processor B
User
Thread

Operating
System

User
Thread

User
Thread

I/O Devices(Monitor,Mouse,Keyboard)

Windows NT Structure
Protected Subsystems
NT Executive

Protected Subsystem
Environment subsystem
Integral subsystem

Executive Components
Object Manager
Security Reference Manager
Process Manager
Virtual Memory Manager
I/O and File System
Kernel
Hardware abstraction layer(HAL)

Main Features
Extensibility
Portability
Reliability
Compatibility

Extensibility
Protected subsystems
Modular Structure
Object representation of resources
Loadable drivers
RPC facility

Portability
Portable C
Processor isolation
Platform isolation

Reliability
Structured exception handling
Modular design
New NT file system
C2 security architecture
Virtual memory

Compatibility
Program compatibility
File System compatibility

Conclusion
Windows NT is a symmetric
multiprocessing operating system
which support multiple operating
system environments. It has a
Windows graphical user interface and
runs Win32, 16-bit Windows, MS-DOS,
POSIX, and OS/2 program. It employs
advanced operating system principles
such as virtual memory, preemptive
multitasking, structured exception
handling, and operating system
objects. It is secure, powerful, reliable,