File System Enhancements

Improved UFS Direct I/O Concurrency

The performance of direct I/O, which is used by database applications to access unbuffered filesystem data, has been improved by allowing concurrent read access and write access to regular UFS files.  

For more information on direct I/O concurrency, see “Improved UFS Direct I/O Concurrency” in the Solaris 8 System Administration Supplement.

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UFS Snapshots (fssnap)

UFS Snapshots provides the new fssnap command for backing up a file system while the file system is mounted. A snapshot is a temporary image of a file system, intended for backup operations. Previously, the documentation recommended that, when you use the ufsdump command, you bring the system to single-user mode to keep the file system inactive during a backup.

For more information on UFS Snapshots, see “Creating UFS Snapshots” in the Solaris 8 System Administration Supplement.

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Updated mkfs Command

The mkfs command has been updated to improve performance when you create file systems. Improved mkfs performance is often 10 times faster than in previous Solaris releases. Performance improvements are seen on systems when you create both large and small file systems. However, the biggest mkfs performance improvements occur on systems with high-capacity or high-speed disks.

Further information is provided in the System Administration Guide: Basic Administration in the Solaris 9 System Administrator Collection. For instructions on how to access Solaris 9 documentation, see Early Access in this document.

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