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System Administration Guide: Devices and File Systems     Oracle Solaris 10 8/11 Information Library
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Document Information

About This Book

1.  Managing Removable Media (Overview)

2.  Managing Removable Media (Tasks)

3.  Accessing Removable Media (Tasks)

4.  Writing CDs and DVDs (Tasks)

5.  Managing Devices (Overview/Tasks)

6.  Dynamically Configuring Devices (Tasks)

7.  Using USB Devices (Overview)

8.  Using USB Devices (Tasks)

9.  Using InfiniBand Devices (Overview/Tasks)

10.  Managing Disks (Overview)

11.  Administering Disks (Tasks)

12.  SPARC: Setting Up Disks (Tasks)

13.  x86: Setting Up Disks (Tasks)

14.  Configuring Oracle Solaris iSCSI Targets and Initiators (Tasks)

15.  The format Utility (Reference)

16.  Managing File Systems (Overview)

What's New in Oracle Solaris File Systems?

File System Monitoring Tool (fsstat)

Oracle Solaris ZFS File System

Enhancements to UFS File System Utilities (fsck, mkfs, and newfs)

Automatic Search for Backup Superblocks

fsck Reports When it Needs to be Rerun

New fsck Messages Regarding Extended Attributes

Better Handling of Duplicate Blocks or Fragments

Where to Find File System Management Tasks

Overview of File Systems

Types of Oracle Solaris File Systems

Oracle Solaris Disk-Based File Systems

The Universal Disk Format (UDFS) File System

Network-Based File Systems

Virtual File Systems

CacheFS File System

NFS Version 4 and CacheFS Compatibility Issues

Temporary File System

The Loopback File System

Process File System

Additional Virtual File Systems

Platform-Specific Libraries

Extended File Attributes

Swap Space

Commands for UFS File System Administration

How File System Commands Determine the File System Type

Manual Pages for Generic and Specific File System Commands

Default Oracle Solaris File Systems

UFS File System

UFS File System Features

Planning UFS File Systems

Support of Multiterabyte UFS File Systems

Features of Multiterabyte UFS File Systems

Limitations of Multiterabyte UFS File Systems

Where to Find Multiterabyte UFS Tasks

UFS Logging

UFS Snapshots

UFS Direct Input/Output (I/O)

Overview of Mounting and Unmounting File Systems

The Mounted File System Table

The Virtual File System Table

The NFS Environment

NFS Version 4

Automounting (autofs)

Determining a File System's Type

How to Determine a File System's Type

17.  Creating and Mounting File Systems (Tasks)

18.  Using The CacheFS File System (Tasks)

19.  Configuring Additional Swap Space (Tasks)

20.  Checking UFS File System Consistency (Tasks)

21.  UFS File System (Reference)

22.  Backing Up and Restoring UFS File Systems (Overview)

23.  Backing Up UFS Files and File Systems (Tasks)

24.  Using UFS Snapshots (Tasks)

25.  Restoring UFS Files and File Systems (Tasks)

26.  UFS Backup and Restore Commands (Reference)

27.  Copying Files and File Systems (Tasks)

28.  Managing Tape Drives (Tasks)

Index

Default Oracle Solaris File Systems

The ZFS or UFS file system is hierarchical, starting with the root directory (/) and continuing downwards through a number of directories. The Oracle Solaris installation process enables you to install a default set of directories and uses a set of conventions to group similar types of files together.

For a brief overview of Oracle Solaris file systems and directories, see filesystem(5).

The following table provides a summary of the default Oracle Solaris file systems.

Table 16-2 The Default Oracle Solaris File Systems

File System or Directory
File System Type
Description
root (/)
UFS or ZFS
The top of the hierarchical file tree. The root (/) directory contains the directories and files that are critical for system operation, such as the kernel, the device drivers, and the programs used to boot the system. The root (/) directory also contains the mount point directories where local and remote file systems can be attached to the file tree.
/usr
UFS or ZFS
System files and directories that can be shared with other users. Files that run only on certain types of systems are in the /usr file system or directory (for example, SPARC executables). Files that can be used on all types of systems, such as the man pages, might be placed in the /usr/share directory.
/export/home or /home
NFS, UFS, or ZFS
The mount point for user home directories, which store user work files. By default, the /home directory is an automounted file system. On stand-alone systems, the /home directory might be a UFS file system or a ZFS file system.
/var
UFS or ZFS
System files and directories that are likely to change or grow over the life of the local system. These include system logs, such as vi and ex backup files.
/opt
NFS, UFS or ZFS
Optional mount point for third-party software. On some systems, the /opt directory might be a UFS file system or ZFS file system.
/tmp
TMPFS
Temporary files, which are removed each time the system is booted or the /tmp file system is unmounted.
/proc
PROCFS
A list of active processes, by process number.
/etc/mnttab
MNTFS
A virtual file system that provides read-only access to the table of mounted file systems for the local system.
/var/run
TMPFS
A memory-based file system for storing temporary files that are not needed after the system is booted.
/system/contract
CTFS
A virtual file system that maintains contract information.
/system/object
OBJFS
A virtual file system that is used by debuggers to access information about kernel symbols without having to access the kernel directly.

The root (/) and /usr file systems are required to run a system. Some of the most basic commands in the /usr file system (like mount) are also included in the root (/) file system. As such, they are available when the system boots or is in single-user mode, and /usr is not mounted.