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authormo khan <mo@mokhan.ca>2021-04-25 16:11:55 -0600
committermo khan <mo@mokhan.ca>2021-04-25 16:11:55 -0600
commit66b928a4b61fed870d9d3b7932ad6db36820ec2c (patch)
tree8ae4000ea682282405666d783790bc72686c8c2f
parenta5f06e6bc5dc1f8df6b9b4d6724cf0a57b298832 (diff)
Describe SSTF request starvation problem
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@@ -208,7 +208,23 @@ Your answer for each question should be about 150 words. (100 marks total)
1. What are the factors influencing the selection of a disk-scheduling algorithm? (8 marks)
1. Explain the disadvantage(s) of the SSTF scheduling algorithm. (8 marks)
- Starvation
+ The Shortest Seek Time First algorithm will choose the next cylinder to read
+ from that is closest to the current head position. This ensures that the
+ distance that the head has to travel is minimized and allows for access to
+ nearby data quickly.
+
+ However, if multiple requests are added to the queue that all reside near
+ each other this could cause other requests that are further away to starve.
+
+ For example, if a request is added to a cylinder near the current head
+ position. Then a request is added far away from the head position. Then
+ a larger number of requests are placed that are near the current head
+ position. This could cause the second request to starve while requests
+ that came in later get served sooner. If more and more requests continue
+ to be added to the queue that are deemed to have a shorter seek from
+ the current head then the program waiting for the second request may
+ eventually give up or have severe performance penalties.
+
1. Explain the concepts of a bus and a daisy chain. Indicate how these concepts are related. (8 marks)
1. What are the three reasons that buffering is performed? (6 marks)