Chapter 10:
File-System Interface
Chapter 10: File-System Interface
File Concept
Access Methods
Directory Structure
File-System Mounting
File Sharing
Protection
Objectives
To explain the function of file systems
To describe the interfaces to file
systems
To discuss file-system design tradeoffs,
including access methods, file sharing,
file locking, and directory structures
To explore file-system protection
File Concept
Contiguous logical address space
Types:
Data
numeric
character
binary
Program (executable)
File Structure
None - sequence of words, bytes
Simple record structure
Lines
Fixed length
Variable length
Complex Structures
Formatted document
Relocatable load file
Can simulate last two with first method by
inserting appropriate control characters
Who decides:
Operating system
Program
File Attributes
Name – only information kept in human-
readable form
Identifier – unique tag (number) identifies file
within file system
Type – needed for systems that support
different types
Location – pointer to file location on device
Size – current file size
Protection – controls who can do reading,
writing, executing
Time, date, and user identification – data for
protection, security, and usage monitoring
Information about files are kept in the
File Operations
File is an abstract data type
Create
Write
Read
Reposition within file (seek)
Delete
Truncate
Open(Fi) – search the directory structure
on disk for entry Fi, and move the content
of entry to memory
Close (Fi) – move the content of entry Fi in
memory to directory structure on disk
Open Files
Several pieces of data are needed to
manage open files:
File pointer: pointer to last read/write
location, per process that has the file
open
File-open count: counter of number of
times a file is open – to allow removal of
data from open-file table when last
processes closes it
Disk location of the file: cache of data
access information
Access rights: per-process access mode
information
Open File Locking
Provided by some operating systems and
file systems
Mediates access to a file
Mandatory or advisory:
Mandatory – access is denied depending
on locks held and requested
Advisory – processes can find status of
locks and decide what to do
File Locking Example – Java API
import [Link].*;
import [Link].*;
public class LockingExample {
public static final boolean EXCLUSIVE = false;
public static final boolean SHARED = true;
public static void main(String arsg[]) throws IOException {
FileLock sharedLock = null;
FileLock exclusiveLock = null;
try {
RandomAccessFile raf = new
RandomAccessFile("[Link]", "rw");
// get the channel for the file
FileChannel ch = [Link]();
// this locks the first half of the file - exclusive
exclusiveLock = [Link](0, [Link]()/2,
EXCLUSIVE);
/** Now modify the data . . . */
// release the lock
[Link]();
File Locking Example –
Java API (Cont.)
// this locks the second half of the
file - shared
sharedLock =
[Link]([Link]()/2+1, [Link](),
SHARED);
/** Now read the data . . . */
// release the lock
[Link]();
} catch ([Link] ioe) {
[Link](ioe);
}finally {
if (exclusiveLock != null)
[Link]();
if (sharedLock != null)
[Link]();
}
}
File Types – Name, Extension
Access Methods
Sequential Access
read next
write next
reset
no read after last write
(rewrite)
Direct Access
read n
write n
position to n
read next
write next
rewrite n
n = relative block number
Sequential-access File
Simulation of Sequential Access on
Direct-access File
Example of Index and Relative Files
Directory Structure
A collection of nodes containing
information about all files
Directory
Files F1 F2 F3 F4
Fn
Both the directory structure and the files
reside on disk
Backups of these two structures are kept on
Disk Structure
Disk can be subdivided into partitions
Disks or partitions can be RAID protected
against failure
Disk or partition can be used raw – without
a file system, or formatted with a file
system
Partitions also known as minidisks, slices
Entity containing file system known as a
volume
Each volume containing file system also
tracks that file system’s info in device
directory or volume table of contents
As well as general-purpose file systems
A Typical File-system Organization
Operations Performed on Directory
Search for a file
Create a file
Delete a file
List a directory
Rename a file
Traverse the file system
Organize the Directory
(Logically) to Obtain
Efficiency – locating a file quickly
Naming – convenient to users
Two users can have same name
for different files
The same file can have several
different names
Grouping – logical grouping of files
by properties, (e.g., all Java
programs, all games, …)
Single-Level Directory
A single directory for all users
Naming problem
Grouping problem
Two-Level Directory
Separate directory for each user
Path name
Can have the same file name for
different user
Efficient searching
No grouping capability
Tree-Structured Directories
Tree-Structured Directories (Cont.)
Efficient searching
Grouping Capability
Current directory (working
directory)
cd /spell/mail/prog
type list
Tree-Structured Directories (Cont)
Absolute or relative path name
Creating a new file is done in current directory
Delete a file
rm <file-name>
Creating a new subdirectory is done in current
directory
mkdir <dir-name>
Example: if in current directory /mail
mkdir count
mail
prog copy prtexpcount
Deleting “mail” deleting the entire
subtree rooted by “mail”
Acyclic-Graph Directories
Have shared subdirectories and
files
Acyclic-Graph Directories (Cont.)
Two different names (aliasing)
If dict deletes list dangling pointer
Solutions:
Backpointers, so we can delete all pointers
Variable size records a problem
Backpointers using a daisy chain
organization
Entry-hold-count solution
New directory entry type
Link – another name (pointer) to an existing
file
Resolve the link – follow pointer to locate
the file
General Graph Directory
General Graph Directory (Cont.)
How do we guarantee no cycles?
Allow only links to file not
subdirectories
Garbage collection
Every time a new link is added
use a cycle detection algorithm
to determine whether it is OK
File System Mounting
A file system must be
mounted before it can be
accessed
A unmounted file system
(i.e., Fig. 11-11(b)) is
mounted at a mount point
(a) Existing (b) Unmounted Partition
Mount Point
File Sharing
Sharing of files on multi-user systems
is desirable
Sharing may be done through a
protection scheme
On distributed systems, files may be
shared across a network
Network File System (NFS) is a
common distributed file-sharing
method
File Sharing – Multiple Users
User IDs identify users, allowing
permissions and protections to be
per-user
Group IDs allow users to be in
groups, permitting group access
rights
File Sharing – Remote File Systems
Uses networking to allow file system access
between systems
Manually via programs like FTP
Automatically, seamlessly using distributed file
systems
Semi automatically via the world wide web
Client-server model allows clients to mount remote
file systems from servers
Server can serve multiple clients
Client and user-on-client identification is
insecure or complicated
NFS is standard UNIX client-server file sharing
protocol
CIFS is standard Windows protocol
Standard operating system file calls are
translated into remote calls
File Sharing – Failure Modes
Remote file systems add new
failure modes, due to network
failure, server failure
Recovery from failure can
involve state information about
status of each remote request
Stateless protocols such as
NFS include all information in
each request, allowing easy
recovery but less security
File Sharing – Consistency Semantics
Consistency semantics specify how multiple users
are to access a shared file simultaneously
Similar to Ch 7 process synchronization
algorithms
Tendto be less complex due to disk I/O and
network latency (for remote file systems
Andrew File System (AFS) implemented complex
remote file sharing semantics
Unix file system (UFS) implements:
Writes to an open file visible immediately to
other users of the same open file
Sharing file pointer to allow multiple users to
read and write concurrently
AFS has session semantics
Writes only visible to sessions starting after
the file is closed
Protection
File owner/creator should be able to control:
what can be done
by whom
Types of access
Read
Write
Execute
Append
Delete
List
Access Lists and Groups
Mode of access: read, write, execute
Three classes of users
RWX
a) owner access 7 111
RWX
b) group access 6 110
RWX
c) public access 1 001
Ask manager to create a group (unique name),
say G, and add some users to the group.
For a particular file (say game) or subdirectory,
define an appropriate access.
owner group public
chmod 761 game
Attach a group to a file
chgrp G game
Windows XP Access-Control
List Management
A Sample UNIX Directory Listing
End of Chapter 10
