Performance of Input/Output Systems

Abstract

An essential requirement of any computer system is its ability to communicate with the user by means of input/output (I/O) devices. However, as shown in chapter 1. the overall performance of the computer system is very dependent on the behaviour of the input/output peripherals. We considered the performance of individual jobs that may be input/output-limited or CPU-limited. However, in general, computer systems must be able to run a variety of jobs and the aim must be to achieve good utilisation of all the systems’ resources under the various conditions. Effective techniques for controlling the peripheral operations are therefore needed.