What is page fault?, Operating System

Assignment Help:

What is page fault?

In the computer storage technology a page fault is an exception which is raised by the memory management unit when a requested page isn't mapped in physical memory. This exception is passed on to the OS (operating system) which is able to then try to handle the exception by making the required page accessible at a location in physical memory.

For instance a page fault may take place when a program requests a page in memory and the system can't find it at the requested location. If the page is elsewhere in memory then the fault is called as a soft page fault. If the page should be retrieved from disk, the fault is called as a hard page fault.

Opposing to what its name might suggest a page fault is never a fatal error. Actually, it is a relatively normal occurrence in any OS operating system that utilizes virtual memory in order to increase the amount of memory available to programs. The term General Page Fault is habitually found printed on the screens of computers running a Microsoft Windows operating system when a serious error has take placed in the paging algorithms that handle an ordinary and generally harmless page fault. This kind of paging error takes place in the software handling the exception, and isn't directly related to the page fault itself, which take place in hardware.

Page faults by their extremely nature degrade a program's or operating system's performance and is able to cause thrashing.  Optimizing any or every program's memory usage and commonly making more physical memory available reduces the number of page faults that occur, and get better the program's or the entire system's performance.

 

 


Related Discussions:- What is page fault?

Ipc, Explain in detail about ipc in linux

Explain in detail about ipc in linux

Is disk scheduling useful in a single-user environment, Is disk scheduling,...

Is disk scheduling, other than FCFS scheduling, useful in a single-user environment? Explain your answer. In a single-user environment, the I/O queue usually is blank. Requests

Cpu, Some CPUs provide for more than two modes of operation. What are two p...

Some CPUs provide for more than two modes of operation. What are two possible uses of these multiple modes?

Virtualization, What factors are involved in choosing the host operating sy...

What factors are involved in choosing the host operating system?

What is co-operating scheduling?, What is co-operating scheduling? CPU ...

What is co-operating scheduling? CPU scheduling decisions may possibly place under the following four circumstances: 1.      When process switches from the running state to

Define the dosexit function used in the os/2, Define the DosExit Function u...

Define the DosExit Function used in the OS/2 DosExit(action, resultCode)  DosExit function is to be called when a thread or process is finished executing. If EXIT_THREAD is

Define lru page replacement algorithm, Define LRU Page Replacement Algorith...

Define LRU Page Replacement Algorithm LRU policy: LRU expands to least currently use. This policy suggests which we re- move a page whose last usage is farthest from current ti

Explain about interprocess communication, Explain about interprocess commun...

Explain about interprocess communication The cooperating processes communicate with each other via an interprocess communication facility. IPC gives a mechanism to permit proce

Briefly explain process management in windows 2000., Briefly explain proces...

Briefly explain process management in Windows 2000. The Windows 2000 process manager provides for deleting, creating and using threads and processes. It has no knowledge about

Write Your Message!

Captcha
Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd