Overview Of File Systems In Linux; Terminology; Major File Systems In Linux - Novell LINUX ENTERPRISE SERVER 11 - STORAGE ADMINISTRATION GUIDE 2-23-2010 Administration Manual

Overview of File Systems in Linux

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SUSE Linux Enterprise Server ships with a number of different file systems from which to choose,
including Ext3, Ext2, ReiserFS, and XFS. Each file system has its own advantages and
disadvantages. Professional high-performance setups might require a different choice of file system
than a home user's setup. To meet the requirements of high-performance clustering scenarios, SUSE
Linux Enterprise Server includes OCFS2 (Oracle Cluster File System 2) in the High-Availability
Storage Infrastructure (HASI) release.
Section 1.1, "Terminology," on page 13
Section 1.2, "Major File Systems in Linux," on page 13
Section 1.3, "Other Supported File Systems," on page 18
Section 1.4, "Large File Support in Linux," on page 19
Section 1.5, "Additional Information," on page 19

1.1 Terminology

metadata
A data structure that is internal to the file system. It assures that all of the on-disk data is
properly organized and accessible. Essentially, it is "data about the data." Almost every file
system has its own structure of metadata, which is on reason that the file systems show
different performance characteristics. It is extremely important to maintain metadata intact,
because otherwise all data on the file system could become inaccessible.
inode
A data structure on a file system that contains various information about a file, including size,
number of links, pointers to the disk blocks where the file contents are actually stored, and date
and time of creation, modification, and access.
journal
In the context of a file system, a journal is an on-disk structure containing a type of log in
which the file system stores what it is about to change in the file system's metadata. Journaling
greatly reduces the recovery time of a file system because it has no need for the lengthy search
process that checks the entire file system at system startup. Instead, only the journal is
replayed.

1.2 Major File Systems in Linux

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server offers a variety of file systems from which to choose. This section
contains an overview of how these file systems work and which advantages they offer.
It is very important to remember that no file system best suits all kinds of applications. Each file
system has its particular strengths and weaknesses, which must be taken into account. In addition,
even the most sophisticated file system cannot replace a reasonable backup strategy.
Overview of File Systems in Linux
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