Inside Solaris™ 9

Scheduling Priorities

All processes have assigned to them an execution priority—an integer value that is dynamically computed and updated on the basis of several different factors. Whenever the CPU is free, the scheduler selects the most favored process to resume executing. The process selected is the one with the lowest-priority number because lower numbers are defined as more favored than higher ones. Multiple processes at the same priority level are placed in the run queue for that priority level. Whenever the CPU is free, the scheduler starts the processes at the head of the lowest-numbered non-empty run queue. When the process at the top of a run queue stops executing, it goes to the end of the line and the next process moves up to the ...