<s>
In	O
computing	O
,	O
a	O
system	B-General_Concept
resource	I-General_Concept
,	O
or	O
simple	O
resource	O
,	O
is	O
any	O
physical	B-Architecture
or	O
virtual	O
component	O
of	O
limited	O
availability	O
within	O
a	O
computer	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Virtual	O
system	B-General_Concept
resources	I-General_Concept
include	O
files	B-Operating_System
(	O
concretely	O
file	B-Application
handles	I-Application
)	O
,	O
network	B-Architecture
connections	O
(	O
concretely	O
network	B-Protocol
sockets	I-Protocol
)	O
,	O
and	O
memory	B-General_Concept
areas	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Managing	O
resources	O
is	O
referred	O
to	O
as	O
resource	O
management	O
,	O
and	O
includes	O
both	O
preventing	O
resource	O
leaks	O
(	O
not	O
releasing	O
a	O
resource	O
when	O
a	O
process	O
has	O
finished	O
using	O
it	O
)	O
and	O
dealing	O
with	O
resource	B-General_Concept
contention	I-General_Concept
(	O
when	O
multiple	O
processes	O
wish	O
to	O
access	O
a	O
limited	O
resource	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Computing	B-General_Concept
resources	I-General_Concept
are	O
used	O
in	O
cloud	B-Architecture
computing	I-Architecture
to	O
provide	O
services	O
through	O
networks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
resources	O
,	O
notably	O
memory	B-General_Concept
and	O
storage	O
space	O
,	O
have	O
a	O
notion	O
of	O
"	O
location	O
"	O
,	O
and	O
one	O
can	O
distinguish	O
contiguous	O
allocations	O
from	O
non-contiguous	O
allocations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
allocating	O
1	O
GB	O
of	O
memory	B-General_Concept
in	O
a	O
single	O
block	O
,	O
versus	O
allocating	O
it	O
in	O
1,024	O
blocks	O
each	O
of	O
size	O
1	O
MB	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
latter	O
is	O
known	O
as	O
fragmentation	B-Architecture
,	O
and	O
often	O
severely	O
impacts	O
performance	O
,	O
so	O
contiguous	O
free	O
space	O
is	O
a	O
subcategory	O
of	O
the	O
general	O
resource	O
of	O
storage	O
space	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Compressible	O
resources	O
,	O
generally	O
throughput	O
ones	O
such	O
as	O
CPU	B-General_Concept
and	O
network	B-Architecture
bandwidth	O
,	O
can	O
be	O
throttled	O
benignly	O
:	O
the	O
user	O
will	O
be	O
slowed	O
proportionally	O
to	O
the	O
throttling	O
,	O
but	O
will	O
otherwise	O
proceed	O
normally	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Other	O
resources	O
,	O
generally	O
storage	O
ones	O
such	O
as	O
memory	B-General_Concept
,	O
cannot	O
be	O
throttled	O
without	O
either	O
causing	O
failure	O
(	O
if	O
a	O
process	O
cannot	O
allocate	O
enough	O
memory	B-General_Concept
,	O
it	O
typically	O
cannot	O
run	O
)	O
or	O
severe	O
performance	O
degradation	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
due	O
to	O
thrashing	B-General_Concept
(	O
if	O
a	O
working	O
set	O
does	O
not	O
fit	O
into	O
memory	B-General_Concept
and	O
requires	O
frequent	O
paging	O
,	O
progress	O
will	O
slow	O
significantly	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
distinction	O
is	O
not	O
always	O
sharp	O
;	O
as	O
mentioned	O
,	O
a	O
paging	O
system	O
can	O
allow	O
main	O
memory	B-General_Concept
(	O
primary	O
storage	O
)	O
to	O
be	O
compressed	O
(	O
by	O
paging	O
to	O
hard	B-Device
drive	I-Device
(	O
secondary	O
storage	O
)	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
some	O
systems	O
allow	O
discardable	O
memory	B-General_Concept
for	O
caches	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
compressible	O
without	O
disastrous	O
performance	O
impact	O
.	O
</s>
