Most file system types included in the SunOS release 4 software are also included in the SunOS release 5.7 software. There is one exception: The translucent file system (TFS) type has been withdrawn from the SunOS release 5.7 software. Table 9-2 summarizes file-system type availability in the SunOS release 4 and SunOS release 5.7 environment.
Table 9-2 Summary of File System Types
Category |
Name |
Description |
SunOS release 4 |
SunOS release 5.7 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Disk-based |
UNIX file system |
Yes |
Yes |
|
CD-ROM file system |
Yes |
Yes |
||
PC file system |
Yes |
Yes |
||
NFS |
Sun's distributed computing file system |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Device special file system |
Yes |
Yes |
||
/tmp temporary file system |
Yes |
Yes |
||
Loopback file system |
Yes |
Yes |
||
Translucent file system |
Yes |
No |
||
|
Process access file system |
No |
Yes |
|
|
File descriptor file system |
No |
Yes |
|
|
FIFO/Pipe file system |
No |
Yes |
|
|
Name file system |
No |
Yes |
|
|
Swap file system |
No |
Yes |
|
|
Cache file system |
No |
For more information on file systems, see the proc(4) and fd(4) man pages and System Administration Guide, Volume I.
The Cache File System can be used to improve performance of remote file systems or slow devices such as CD-ROMs. When a file system is cached, the data read from the remote file system or CD-ROM is stored in a cache on the local system.
In the SunOS release 5.7 software, SWAPFS is the default swap device when the system boots or you create additional swap space. This swap device uses physical memory as swap space, but also requires physical swap space on a disk.
In SunOS release 4 systems, the default physical swap device depends on the system configuration. Standalone systems default to sd0b and diskless systems get their swap files from the bootparam server. The SunOS release 5.7 software uses the swap file as the default dump device instead of specifying a file on disk.