Updated: 11 December 1998

OpenVMS Programming Concepts Manual

When the SYS$EXPREG system service adds pages to a region, it adds them in the normal direction of growth for the region. The return address array, if requested, indicates the order in which the pages were added. For example:

• If the program region is expanded, the starting virtual address is smaller than the ending virtual address.
• If the control region is expanded, the starting virtual address is larger than the ending virtual address.

The addresses returned indicate the first byte in the first page that was added or deleted and the last byte in the last page that was added or deleted.

When input address arrays are specified for the Create and Delete Virtual Address Space (SYS$CRETVA and SYS$DELTVA, respectively) system services, these services add or delete pages beginning with the address specified in the first longword and ending with the address specified in the second longword.

The order in which the pages are added or deleted does not have to be in the normal direction of growth for the region. Moreover, because these services add or delete only whole pages, they ignore the low-order 9 bits of the specified virtual address (the low-order 9 bits contain the byte offset within the page). The virtual addresses returned indicate the byte offsets.

Table 21-1 shows some sample virtual addresses in hexadecimal that may be specified as input to SYS$CRETVA or SYS$DELTVA and shows the return address arrays if all pages are successfully added or deleted.

Table 21-1 Sample Virtual Address Arrays on VAX Systems

Input Array			Output Array
Start	End	Region	Start	End	Number of Pages
1010	1670	P0	1000	17FF	4
1450	1451	P0	1400	15FF	1
1200	1000	P0	1000	13FF	2
1450	1450	P0	1400	15FF	1
7FFEC010	7FFEC010	P1	7FFEC1FF	7FFEC000	1
7FFEC010	7FFEBCA0	P1	7FFEC1FF	7FFEBC00	3

Note that if the input virtual addresses are the same, as in the fourth and fifth items in Table 21-1, a single page is added or deleted. The return address array indicates that the page was added or deleted in the normal direction of growth for the region.

21.5.3 Page Ownership and Protection

Each page in the virtual address space of a process is owned by the access mode that created the page. For example, pages in the program region that are initially provided for the execution of an image are owned by user mode. Pages that the image creates dynamically are also owned by user mode. Pages in the control region, except for the pages containing the user stack, are normally owned by more privileged access modes.

Only the owner access mode or a more privileged access mode can delete the page or otherwise affect it. The owner of a page can also indicate, by means of a protection code, the type of access that each access mode will be allowed.

The Set Protection on Pages (SYS$SETPRT) system service changes the protection assigned to a page or group of pages. The protection is expressed as a code that indicates the specific type of access (none, read-only, read/write) for each of the four access modes (kernel, executive, supervisor, user). Only the owner access mode or a more privileged access mode can change the protection for a page.

When an image attempts to access a page that is protected against the access attempted, a hardware exception called an access violation occurs. When an image calls a system service, the service probes the pages to be used to determine whether an access violation would occur if the image attempts to read or write one of the pages. If an access violation would occur, the service exits with the status code SS$_ACCVIO.

Because the memory management services add, delete, or modify a single page at a time, one or more pages can be successfully changed before an access violation is detected. If the retadr argument is specified in the service call, the service returns the addresses of pages changed (added, deleted, or modified) before the error. If no pages are affected, that is, if an access violation would occur on the first page specified, the service returns a value of -1 in both longwords of the return address array.

If the retadr argument is not specified, no information is returned.

21.5.4 Working Set Paging

When a process is executing an image, a subset of its pages resides in physical memory; these pages are called the working set of the process. The working set includes pages in both the program region and the control region. The initial size of a process's working set is usually defined by the process's working set default (WSDEFAULT) quota. The maximum size of a process's working set is normally defined by the process's working set quota (WSQUOTA). When ample memory is available, a process's working-set upper growth limit can be expanded by its working set extent (WSEXTENT).

When the image refers to a page that is not in memory, a page fault occurs and the page is brought into memory, replacing an existing page in the working set. If the page that is going to be replaced is modified during the execution of the image, that page is written into a paging file on disk. When this page is needed again, it is brought back into memory, again replacing a current page from the working set. This exchange of pages between physical memory and secondary storage is called paging.

The paging of a process's working set is transparent to the process. However, if a program is very large or if pages in the program image that are used often are being paged in and out frequently, the overhead required for paging may decrease the program's efficiency. The SYS$ADJWSL, SYS$PURGWS, and SYS$LKWSET system services allow a process, within limits, to counteract these potential problems.

SYS$ADJWSL System Service

The Adjust Working Set Limit (SYS$ADJWSL) system service increases or decreases the maximum number of pages that a process can have in its working set. The format for this routine is as follows:

SYS$ADJWSL ([pagcnt],[wsetlm])

Use the pagcnt argument to specify the number of pages to add or subtract from the current working set size. The new working set size is returned in wsetlm.

SYS$PURGWS System Service

The Purge Working Set (SYS$PURGWS) system service removes one or more pages from the working set.

SYS$LKWSET System Service

The Lock Pages in Working Set (SYS$LKWSET) system service makes one or more pages in the working set ineligible for paging by locking them in the working set. Once locked into the working set, those pages remain until they are explicitly unlocked with the Unlock Pages in Working Set (SYS$ULWSET) system service or until program execution ends. The format is as follows:

SYS$LKWSET (inadr ,[retadr] ,[acmode])

Specifying a Range of Addresses

Use the inadr argument to specify the range of addresses to be locked. The range of addresses of the pages actually locked are returned in the retadr argument.

Specifying the Access Mode

Use the acmode argument to specify the access mode to be associated with the pages you want locked.

21.5.5 Process Swapping

The operating system balances the needs of all the processes currently executing, providing each with the system resources it requires on an as-needed basis. The memory management routines balance the memory requirements of the process. Thus, the sum of the working sets for all processes currently in physical memory is called the balance set.

When a process whose working set is in memory becomes inactive---for example, to wait for an I/O request or to hibernate---the entire working set or part of it may be removed from memory to provide space for another process's working set to be brought in for execution. This removal from memory is called swapping.

The working set may be removed in two ways:

• Partially---Also called swapper trimming. Pages are removed from the working set of the target process so that the number of pages in the working set is fewer, but the working set is not swapped.
• Entirely---Called swapping. All pages are swapped out of memory.

When a process is swapped out of the balance set, all the pages (both modified and unmodified) of its working set are swapped, including any pages that had been locked in the working set.

A privileged process may lock itself in the balance set. While pages can still be paged in and out of the working set, the process remains in memory even when it is inactive. To lock itself in the balance set, the process issues the Set Process Swap Mode (SYS$SETSWM) system service, as follows:

$SETSWM_S SWPFLG=#1

This call to SYS$SETSWM disables process swap mode. You can also disable swap mode by setting the appropriate bit in the STSFLG argument to the Create Process (SYS$CREPRC) system service; however, you need the PSWAPM privilege to alter process swap mode.

A process can also lock particular pages in memory with the Lock Pages in Memory (SYS$LCKPAG) system service. These pages are not part of the process's working set, but they are forced into the process's working set. When pages are locked in memory with this service, the pages remain in memory even when the remainder of the process's working set is swapped out of the balance set. These remaining pages stay in memory until they are unlocked with SYS$ULKPAG. SYS$LCKPAG can be useful in special circumstances, for example, for routines that perform I/O operations to devices without using the operating system's I/O system.

You need the PSWAPM privilege to issue SYS$LCKPAG or SYS$ULKPAG.

21.5.6 Sections

A section is a disk file or a portion of a disk file containing data or instructions that can be brought into memory and made available to a process for manipulation and execution. A section can also be one or more consecutive page frames in physical memory or I/O space; such sections, which require you to specify page frame number (PFN) mapping, are discussed in Section 21.5.6.15.

Sections are either private or global (shared).

• Private sections are accessible only by the process that creates them. A process can define a disk data file as a section, map it into its virtual address space, and manipulate it.
• Global sections can be shared by more than one process. One copy of the global section resides in physical memory, and each process sharing it refers to the same copy. A global section can contain shareable code or data that can be read, or read and written, by more than one process. Global sections are either temporary or permanent and can be defined for use within a group or on a systemwide basis. Global sections can be either mapped to a disk file or created as a global page-file section.

When modified pages in writable disk file sections are paged out of memory during image execution, they are written back into the section file rather than into the paging file, as is the normal case with files. (However, copy-on-reference sections are not written back into the section file.)

The use of disk file sections involves these two distinct operations:

• The creation of a section defines a disk file as a section and informs the system what portions of the file contain the section.
• The mapping of a section makes it available to a process and establishes the correspondence between virtual blocks in the file and specific addresses in the virtual address space of a process.

The Create and Map Section (SYS$CRMPSC) system service creates and maps a private section or a global section. Because a private section is used only by a single process, creation and mapping are simultaneous operations. In the case of a global section, one process can create a permanent global section and not map to it; other processes can map to it. A process can also create and map a global section in one operation.

The following sections describe the creation, mapping, and use of disk file sections. In each case, operations and requirements that are common to both private sections and global sections are described first, followed by additional notes and requirements for the use of global sections. Section 21.5.6.9 discusses global page-file sections.

21.5.6.1 Creating Sections

To create a disk file section, follow these steps:

1. Open or create the disk file containing the section.
2. Define which virtual blocks in the file comprise the section.
3. Define the characteristics of the section.

Before you can use a file as a section, you must open it using OpenVMS Record Management Services (RMS). The following example shows the OpenVMS RMS file access block ($FAB) and $OPEN macros used to open the file and the channel specification to the SYS$CRMPSC system service necessary for reading an existing file:

#include <rms.h> #include <rmsdef.h> #include <string.h> #include <secdef.h> struct FAB secfab; main() { unsigned short chan; unsigned int status, retadr[1], pagcnt=1, flags; char *fn = "SECTION.TST"; /* Initialize FAB fields */ secfab = cc$rms_fab; secfab.fab$l_fna = fn; secfab.fab$b_fns = strlen(fn); secfab.fab$l_fop = FAB$M_CIF; secfab.fab$b_rtv = -1; /* Create a file if none exists */ status = SYS$CREATE( &secfab, 0, 0 ); if ((status & 1) != 1) LIB$SIGNAL( status ); flags = SEC$M_EXPREG; chan = secfab.fab$l_stv; status = SYS$CRMPSC(0, &retadr, 0, 0, 0, 0, flags, chan, pagcnt, 0, 0, 0); if ((status & 1) != 1) LIB$SIGNAL( status ); }

In this example, the file options parameter (FOP) indicates that the file is to be opened for user I/O; this parameter is required so that OpenVMS RMS assigns the channel using the access mode of the caller. OpenVMS RMS returns the channel number on which the file is accessed; this channel number is specified as input to SYS$CRMPSC (chan argument). The same channel number can be used for multiple create and map section operations.

The option RTV=--1 tells the file system to keep all of the pointers to be mapped in memory at all times. If this option is omitted, SYS$CRMPSC requests the file system to expand the pointer areas, if necessary. Storage for these pointers is charged to the BYTLM quota, which means that opening a badly fragmented file can fail with an EXBYTLM failure status. Too many fragmented sections may cause the byte limit to be exceeded.

The file may be a new file that is to be created while it is in use as a section. In this case, use the $CREATE macro to open the file. If you are creating a new file, the file access block (FAB) for the file must specify an allocation quantity (ALQ parameter).

You can also use SYS$CREATE to open an existing file; if the file does not exist, it is created. The following example shows the required fields in the FAB for the conditional creation of a file:

GBLFAB: $FAB FNM=<GLOBAL.TST>, - ALQ=4, - FAC=PUT,- FOP=<UFO,CIF,CBT>, - SHR=<PUT,UPI> . . . $CREATE FAB=GBLFAB

When the $CREATE macro is invoked, it creates the file GLOBAL.TST if the file does not currently exist. The CBT (contiguous best try) option requests that, if possible, the file be contiguous. Although section files are not required to be contiguous, better performance can result if they are.

21.5.6.3 Defining the Section Extents

After the file is opened successfully, SYS$CRMPSC can create a section either from the entire file or from certain portions of it. The following arguments to SYS$CRMPSC define the extents of the file that comprise the section:

• pagcnt (page count). This argument is required. It indicates the number of virtual blocks that will be mapped. These blocks correspond to pages in the section.
• vbn (virtual block number). This argument is optional. It defines the number of the virtual block in the file that is the beginning of the section. If you do not specify this argument, the value 1 is passed (the first virtual block in the file is the beginning of the section). If you have specified physical page frame number (PFN) mapping, the vbn argument specifies the starting PFN. The system does not allow you to specify a virtual block number outside of the file.

The flags argument to SYS$CRMPSC defines the following section characteristics:

• Whether it is a private section or a global section. The default is to create a private section.
• How the pages of the section are to be treated when they are copied into physical memory or when a process refers to them. The pages in a section can be either or both of the following:
  • Read/write or read-only
  • Created as demand-zero pages or as copy-on-reference pages, depending on how the processes are going to use the section and whether the file contains any data (see Section 21.5.6.10)
• Whether the section is to be mapped to a disk file or to specific physical page frames (see Section 21.5.6.15).

Table 21-2 shows the flag bits that must be set for specific characteristics.

Table 21-2 Flag Bits to Set for Specific Section Characteristics on VAX Systems

	Section to Be Created
Correct Flag Combinations	Private	Global	PFN Private	PFN Global	Shared Memory
SEC$M_GBL	0	1	0	1	1
SEC$M_CRF	Optional	Optional	0	0	0
SEC$M_DZRO	Optional	Optional	0	0	Optional
SEC$M_WRT	Optional	Optional	Optional	Optional	Optional
SEC$M_PERM	Not used	Optional	Optional	1	1
SEC$M_SYSGBL	Not used	Optional	Not used	Optional	Optional
SEC$M_PFNMAP	0	0	1	1	0
SEC$M_EXPREG	Optional	Optional	Optional	Optional	Optional
SEC$M_PAGFIL	0	Optional	0	0	0

When you specify section characteristics, the following restrictions apply:

• Global sections cannot be both demand-zero and copy-on-reference.
• Demand-zero sections must be writable.
• Shared memory private sections are not allowed.

If the section is a global section, you must assign a character string name (gsdnam argument) to it so that other processes can identify it when they map it. The format of this character string name is explained in Section 21.5.6.6.

The flags argument specifies the following types of global sections:

• Group temporary (the default)
• Group permanent
• System temporary
• System permanent

Group global sections can be shared only by processes executing with the same group number. The name of a group global section is implicitly qualified by the group number of the process that created it. When other processes map it, their group numbers must match.

A temporary global section is automatically deleted when no processes are mapped to it, but a permanent global section remains in existence even when no processes are mapped to it. A permanent global section must be explicitly marked for deletion with the Delete Global Section (SYS$DGBLSC) system service.

You need the user privileges PRMGBL and SYSGBL to create permanent group global sections or system global sections (temporary or permanent), respectively.

A system global section is available to all processes in the system.

Optionally, a process creating a global section can specify a protection mask (prot argument), restricting all access or a type of access (read, write, execute, delete) to other processes.

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