File-System Interface
File-System Interface
File Concept
Access Methods
Directory Structure
File Sharing
Protection
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File Concept
Contiguous logical address space
Types:
Data
numeric
character
binary
Program
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File Structure
Sequence of words, bytes
Simple record structure
Lines
Fixed length
Variable length
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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 directory structure,
which is maintained on the disk
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File Operations
File is an abstract data type
Create
Write
Read
Reposition within file
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
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File Types – Name, Extension
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Access Methods
Sequential Access
read next
write next
reset
rewrite
Direct Access
read n
write n
position to n
read next
write next
rewrite n
n = relative block number
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Sequential-access File
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Simulation of Sequential Access on a Direct-
access File
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Example of Index and Relative
Files
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Directory Structure
A collection of nodes containing information about all files
Directory
Files
F1 F2 F4
F3
Fn
Both the directory structure and the files reside
on disk
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A Typical File-system Organization
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Operations Performed on Directory
Search for a file
Create a file
Delete a file
List a directory
Rename a file
Traverse the file system
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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, …)
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Single-Level Directory
A single directory for all users
Naming problem
Grouping problem
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Two-Level Directory
Separate directory for each user
Path name
Can have the same file name for different user
Efficient searching
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Tree-Structured Directories
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Tree-Structured Directories (Cont)
Efficient searching
Grouping Capability
Current directory (working directory)
cd /spell/mail/prog
type list
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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 prt expcount
Deleting “mail” deleting the entire subtree rooted
by “mail”
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Acyclic-Graph Directories
Have shared subdirectories and files
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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
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General Graph Directory
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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
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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
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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
Distributed Information Systems (distributed naming services)
such as LDAP, DNS, NIS, Active Directory implement unified
access to information needed for remote computing
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Protection
File owner/creator should be able to control:
what can be done
by whom
Types of access
Read
Write
Execute
Append
Delete
List
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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
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