Question: The VAX / VMS operating system makes use of four processor access modes to facilitate theprotection and sharing of system resources among processes. The access
The VAXVMS operating system makes use of four processor access modes to facilitate theprotection and sharing of system resources among processes. The access mode determines:Instruction execution privileges: What instructions the processor may executeMemory access privileges: Which locations in virtual memory the current instruction may accessThe four modes are as follows:Kernel: Executes the kernel of the VMS operating system, which includes memory management,interrupt handling, and IO operations.Executive: Executes many of the OS service calls, including file and record disk and tapemanagement routines.Supervisor: Executes other OS services, such as responses to user commands.User: Executes user programs, plus utilities such as compilers, editors, linkers, and debuggers.A process executing in a lessprivileged mode often needs to call a procedure that executes in amoreprivileged mode; for example, a user program requires an operating system service. Thiscall is achieved by using a changemode CHM instruction, which causes an interrupt thattransfers control to a routine at the new access mode. A return is made by executing the REIreturn from exception or interrupt instruction.a A number of operating systems have two modes: kernel and user. What are the advantages anddisadvantages of providing four modes instead of two?b Can you make a case for even more than four modes?
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