Operating Systems Concepts
The intent of this Operating Systems Concepts Knowledge Unit is to provide students with an understanding of the roles of an operating system, its basic functions, and the services provided by the operating system.
Topics
- File Systems
- Privileged and non-privileged states
- Application processes and threads
- Memory (real, virtual, and management)
- Files systems
- Virtualization / hypervisors
- Creation and operation of virtualization technology
- Fundamental security design principles as applied to an OS
- Access controls (models and mechanisms)
- Domain separation, process isolation, resource encapsulation, least privilege
Outcomes
- Describe the role and basic functions of an operating system, and how operating systems interact with hardware and software applications.
- Identify and describe basic security issues of operating systems.
KSA-T
Below are the Knowledge, Skills, Abilities and Tasks (KSA-T) identified as being required to perform this work role.
Learn More about the KAS-T's.
ID |
DESCRIPTION |
K0116 |
Knowledge of file extensions (e.g., .dll, .bat, .zip, .pcap, .gzip). |
K0224 |
Knowledge of system administration concepts for operating systems such as but not limited to Unix/Linux, IOS, Android, and Windows operating systems. |
K0060 |
Knowledge of operating systems. |
K0610 |
Knowledge of virtualization products (VMware, Virtual PC). |
K0130 |
Knowledge of virtualization technologies and virtual machine development and maintenance. |
K0097 |
Knowledge of the characteristics of physical and virtual data storage media. |
K0294 |
Knowledge of IT system operation, maintenance, and security needed to keep equipment functioning properly. |
K0033 |
Knowledge of host/network access control mechanisms (e.g., access control list, capabilities lists). |
K0065 |
Knowledge of policy-based and risk adaptive access controls. |
K0007 |
Knowledge of authentication, authorization, and access control methods. |
ID |
DESCRIPTION |
S0073 |
Skill in using virtual machines. (e.g., Microsoft Hyper-V, VMWare vSphere, Citrix XenDesktop/Server, Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, etc.). |
S0007 |
Skill in applying host/network access controls (e.g., access control list). |
S0031 |
Skill in developing and applying security system access controls. |