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System Administration Guide: Devices and File Systems Oracle Solaris 11 Express 11/10 |
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)
9. Using InfiniBand Devices (Overview/Tasks)
11. Administering Disks (Tasks)
12. SPARC: Adding a Disk (Tasks)
13. x86: Adding a Disk (Tasks)
14. Configuring iSCSI Storage Devices With COMSTAR
15. Configuring and Managing the Solaris Internet Storage Name Service (iSNS)
17. The format Utility (Reference)
18. Managing File Systems (Overview)
File System Monitoring Tool (fsstat)
Oracle Solaris ZFS File System
Where to Find File System Management Tasks
Commands for UFS File System Administration
How File System Commands Determine the File System Type
Manual Pages for Generic and Specific File System Commands
64-bit: Support of Multiterabyte UFS File Systems
Features of Multiterabyte UFS File Systems
Limitations of Multiterabyte UFS File Systems
Mounting and Unmounting File Systems
Determining a File System's Type
How to Determine a File System's Type
19. Creating ZFS, UFS, TMPFS, and LOFS File Systems (Tasks)
20. Mounting and Unmounting File Systems (Tasks)
21. Configuring Additional Swap Space (Tasks)
22. Copying Files and File Systems (Tasks)
A file system is a structure of directories that is used to organize and store files. The term file system is used to describe the following:
A particular type of file system: disk-based, network-based, or virtual
The entire file tree, beginning with the root (/) directory
The data structure of a disk slice or other media storage device
A portion of a file tree structure that is attached to a mount point on the main file tree so that the files are accessible
Usually, you know from the context which meaning is intended.
The Oracle Solaris OS uses the virtual file system (VFS) architecture, which provides a standard interface for different file system types. The VFS architecture enables the kernel to handle basic operations, such as reading, writing, and listing files. The VFS architecture also makes it easier to add new file systems.
The Oracle Solaris OS supports three types of file systems:
Disk-based
Network-based
Virtual
To identify the file system type, see Determining a File System's Type.
Disk-based file systems are stored on physical media such as hard disks, DVDs, and diskettes. Disk-based file systems can be written in different formats. The available formats are described in the following table.
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Each type of disk-based file system is customarily associated with a particular media device, as follows:
UFS with hard disk
HSFS with CD-ROM
PCFS with diskette
UDF with DVD
However, these associations are not restrictive. For example, CD-ROMs and diskettes can have UFS file systems created on them.
For information about creating a UDFS file system on removable media, see How to Create a File System on Removable Media.
The UDF file system is the industry-standard format for storing information on DVD (Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) optical media.
The UDF file system is provided as dynamically loadable 32-bit and 64-bit modules, with system administration utilities for creating, mounting, and checking the file system on both SPARC and x86 platforms. The Solaris UDF file system works with supported ATAPI and SCSI DVD drives, CD-ROM devices, and disk and diskette drives. In addition, the Solaris UDF file system is fully compliant with the UDF 1.50 specification.
The UDF file system provides the following features:
Ability to access the industry-standard CD-ROM and DVD-ROM media when they contain a UDF file system
Flexibility in exchanging information across platforms and operating systems
A mechanism for implementing new applications rich in broadcast-quality video, high-quality sound, and interactivity using the DVD video specification based on UDF format
The following features are not included in the UDF file system:
Support for write-once media, (CD-RW), with either the sequential disk-at-once recording and incremental recording
UFS components such as quotas, ACLs, transaction logging, file system locking, and file system threads, which are not part of the UDF 1.50 specification
The UDF file system requires the following:
At least the Solaris 7 11/99 release
Supported SPARC or x86 platform
Supported CD-ROM or DVD-ROM device
The Solaris UDF file system implementation provides the following:
Support for industry-standard read/write UDF version 1.50
Fully internationalized file system utilities
Network-based file systems can be accessed from the network. Typically, network-based file systems reside on one system, typically a server, and are accessed by other systems across the network.
With NFS, you can administer distributed resources (files or directories) by exporting them from a server and mounting them on individual clients. For more information, see The NFS Environment.
Virtual file systems are memory-based file systems that provide access to special kernel information and facilities. Most virtual file systems do not use file system disk space. Also, some virtual file systems, such as the temporary file system (TMPFS), use the swap space on a disk.
The temporary file system (TMPFS) uses local memory for file system reads and writes. Typically, using memory for file system reads and writes is much faster than using a UFS file system. Using TMPFS can improve system performance by saving the cost of reading and writing temporary files to a local disk or across the network. For example, temporary files are created when you compile a program. The OS generates a much disk activity or network activity while manipulating these files. Using TMPFS to hold these temporary files can significantly speed up their creation, manipulation, and deletion.
Files in TMPFS file systems are not permanent. These files are deleted when the file system is unmounted and when the system is shut down or rebooted.
TMPFS is the default file system type for the /tmp directory in the Oracle Solaris OS. You can copy or move files into or out of the /tmp directory, just as you would in a UFS file system.
The TMPFS file system uses swap space as a temporary backing store. If a system with a TMPFS file system does not have adequate swap space, two problems can occur:
The TMPFS file system can run out of space, just as regular file systems do.
Because TMPFS allocates swap space to save file data (if necessary), some programs might not execute because of insufficient swap space.
For information about creating TMPFS file systems, see Chapter 19, Creating ZFS, UFS, TMPFS, and LOFS File Systems (Tasks). For information about increasing swap space, see Chapter 21, Configuring Additional Swap Space (Tasks).
The loopback file system (LOFS) lets you create a new virtual file system so that you can access files by using an alternative path name. For example, you can create a loopback mount of the root (/) directory on /tmp/newroot. This loopback mounts make the entire file system hierarchy appear as if it is duplicated under /tmp/newroot, including any file systems mounted from NFS servers. All files will be accessible either with a path name starting from root (/), or with a path name that starts from /tmp/newroot.
For information on how to create LOFS file systems, see Chapter 19, Creating ZFS, UFS, TMPFS, and LOFS File Systems (Tasks).
The process file system (PROCFS) resides in memory and contains a list of active processes, by process number, in the /proc directory. Information in the /proc directory is used by commands such as ps. Debuggers and other development tools can also access the address space of the processes by using file system calls.
The /proc directory does not require administration.
These additional types of virtual file systems are listed for your information. They do not require administration.
The mount output on an x86 system might include a loopback mount of a libc_hwcap library, a hardware-optimized implementation of libc. This libc implementation is intended to optimize the performance of 32-bit applications.
This loopback mount requires no administration and consumes no disk space.
The UFS, NFS, and TMPFS file systems have been enhanced to include extended file attributes. Extended file attributes enable application developers to associate specific attributes to a file. For example, a developer of an application used to manage a windowing system might choose to associate a display icon with a file. Extended file attributes are logically represented as files within a hidden directory that is associated with the target file.
You can use the runat command to add attributes and execute shell commands in the extended attribute namespace. This namespace is a hidden attribute directory that is associated with the specified file.
To use the runat command to add attributes to a file, you first have to create the attributes file.
$ runat filea cp /tmp/attrdata attr.1
Then, use the runat command to list the attributes of the file.
$ runat filea ls -l
For more information, see the runat(1) man page.
Many Solaris file system commands have been modified to support file system attributes by providing an attribute-aware option. Use this option to query, copy, or find file attributes. For more information, see the specific man page for each file system command.
The Oracle Solaris OS uses some disk slices for temporary storage rather than for file systems. These slices are called swap slices, or swap space. Swap space is used for virtual memory storage areas when the system does not have enough physical memory to handle current processes.
Since many applications rely on swap space, you should know how to plan for, monitor, and add more swap space, when needed. For an overview about swap space and instructions for adding swap space, see Chapter 21, Configuring Additional Swap Space (Tasks).