LINUX FILE SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATION TOPIC 4.0

LINUX DIRECTORY STRUCTURE DIRECTORY STRUCTURE ABSOLUTE PATHNAME RELATIVE PATHNAME

ABSOLUTE PATHNAME Tells about the complete path to a certain file or directory is. All absolute file names start with a slash because the slash indicates the root directory and then followed by the filesystem tree directory by directory. We use the slash not only for indicating the root directory, but also for separating the directories on the path. This is different from windows where we use a backslash for separating the directories.

RELATIVE PATHNAME It starts from the working directory. This is why you need some special symbols for indicating the relative positions in the filesystem. These symbols are a dot (.) and two dots (..) and they mean the working directory and the parent directory respectively.

WINDOWS vs LINUX FILE SYSTEM In Linux there is a single hierarchical directory structure. In Windows, there are typically many partitions with directories under these partitions. In Linux, everything starts from the root directory, represented by '/', and then expands into sub-directories. In Windows, it had various partitions and then directories under those partitions unlike Windows, Linux is case sensitive

LINUX DIRECTORIES DIRECTORYCONTENTS /bin/contains binaries of useful commands and shells /dev/contains files that communicate with hardware /etc/contains system configuration files /home/contains home directories for users /lib/contains shared libraries (Windows equivalent is.dll files) /mnt/contains - mountpoints /root/home directory of the root user /sbin/contains all binary files essential to the running of Linux /tmp/files that are required temporarily /usr/ contains all user binaries including programs like telnet, ftp, etc. /var/contains spooling data like mail

FILE SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION ext2 File systems The ext2 or second extended filesystem is a file system for the Linux kernel. It was initially designed by Rémy Card as a replacement for the extended file system (ext). ext2 was the default filesystem in Debian and Red Hat Linux

FILE SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION ext3 File systems The ext3 or third extended filesystem is a journaled file system that is commonly used by the Linux kernel. It is the default file system for many popular Linux distributions.

FILE SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION ReiserFS File systems is a general-purpose, journaled file system designed and implemented by a team at Namesys led by Hans Reiser. ReiserFS is currently supported on Linux. Introduced in version of the Linux kernel it was the first journaling file system to be included in the standard kernel. ReiserFS is the default file system on the Elive, Xandros, Linspire, GoboLinux, SUSE and Yoper Linux distributions.

FILE SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION XFS File systems is a high-performance journaling file system created by Silicon Graphics, originally for their IRIX operating system and later ported to the Linux kernel. XFS is particularly proficient at handling large files and at offering smooth data transfers.

FILE SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION VFAT File systems Short for Virtual File Allocation Table, a virtual installable files system driver used in Windows for Workgroups and Windows 95. VFAT operates in protected mode serves as an interface between applications and the File Allocation Table (FAT).