Default Oracle Solaris File Systems

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Oracle Solaris ZFS, a revolutionary new file system, provides simple administration, transactional semantics, end-to-end data integrity, and immense scalability.

The ZFS 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.

In addition, ZFS provides the following administration features:

Device management support
Persistent snapshots and cloning features
Quotas that can be set for file systems
ACL-based access control
Storage pool space reservations for file systems
Support for Oracle Solaris systems that have zones installed

For more information about using ZFS, see Managing ZFS File Systems in Oracle Solaris 11.2 .

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 1-1 The Default Oracle Solaris File Systems

File System or Directory	File System Type	Description
root (`/`)	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`	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` 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 or ZFS	The mount point for user home directories, which store user work files. By default, the `/home` directory is an automounted file system.
`/var`	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 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.
`/system/volatile`	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.