Operating
Systems:
Internals
and
Design Lecture 10
Principles File Management
By Joram M. Makasa
Files
Data collections created by users
The File System is one of the most important parts of the OS to a user
Desirable properties of files:
Long-term existence
• files are stored on disk or other secondary storage and do not disappear when a user logs off
Sharable between processes
• files have names and can have associated access permissions that permit controlled sharing
Structure
• files can be organized into hierarchical or more complex structure to reflect the relationships among
files
File Systems
Provide a means to store data organized as files as well as a collection of
functions that can be performed on files
Maintain a set of attributes associated with the file
Typical operations include:
Create
Delete
Open
Close
Read
Write
File Structure
Four terms are
commonly used when
discussing files:
Field Record File Database
Structure Terms
Field File
basic element of data collection of similar records
contains a single value treated as a single entity
fixed or variable length may be referenced by name
access control restrictions
Database usually apply at the file level
collection of related data
relationships among elements
Record
of data are explicit collection of related fields that can
designed for use by a number be treated as a unit by some
of different applications application program
consists of one or more types fixed or variable length
of files
File Management System
Objectives
A file management system is that set of system software that provides services
to
users and applications in the use of files with following objectives:
Meet the data management needs of the user
Guarantee that the data in the file are valid
Optimize performance
Provide I/O support for a variety of storage device types
Minimize the potential for lost or destroyed data
Provide a standardized set of I/O interface routines to user processes
Provide I/O support for multiple users in the case of multiple-user systems
Needs of users:Minimal User
Requirements
Each user:
• should be able to create, delete, read, write and modify files
1
• may have controlled access to other users’ files
2
• may control what type of accesses are allowed to the files
3
• should be able to restructure the files in a form appropriate to the problem
4
• should be able to move data between files
5
• should be able to back up and recover files in case of damage
6
• should be able to access his or her files by name rather than by numeric identifier
7
Device Drivers
Lowest level
Communicates directly with peripheral devices
Responsible for starting I/O operations on a device
Processes the completion of an I/O request
Considered to be part of the operating system
Basic File System
Also referred to as the physical I/O level
Primary interface with the environment outside the computer system
Deals with blocks of data that are exchanged with disk or tape systems
Concerned with the placement of blocks on the secondary storage
device
Concerned with buffering blocks in main memory
Considered part of the operating system
Basic I/O Supervisor
Responsible for all file I/O initiation and termination
Control structures that deal with device I/O, scheduling, and file status
are maintained
Selects the device on which I/O is to be performed
Concerned with scheduling disk and tape accesses to optimize
performance
I/O buffers are assigned and secondary memory is allocated at this level
Part of the operating system
Logical I/O
Provides
general-
Enables users purpose record
and I/O capability Maintains
applications to basic data
access records about file
Access Method
Level of the file system closest to the user
Provides a standard interface between applications and the file
systems and devices that hold the data
Different access methods reflect different file structures and different
ways of accessing and processing the data
Identify and
locate the Records
selected as
file Appropriate to
the file
structure
Only authorized users are allowed access
File Organization and Access
File organization is the logical structuring of the records as determined
by the way in which they are accessed
In choosing a file organization, several criteria are important:
short access time
ease of update
economy of storage
simple maintenance
reliability
Priority of criteria depends on the application that will use the file
File Organization Types
The pile
The
The direct, or sequential file
hashed, file
Five of the common
file organizations are:
The indexed
The indexed
sequential file
file
The Pile
Least complicated form of
file organization
Data are collected in the
order they arrive
Each record consists of one
burst of data
Purpose is simply to
accumulate the mass of data
and save it
Record access is by
exhaustive search
The Sequential
File
Most common form of file
structure
A fixed format is used for
records
Key field uniquely identifies
the record
Typically used in batch
applications
Only organization that is easily
stored on tape as well as disk
Indexed
Sequential File
Adds an index to the file to
support random access
Adds an overflow file
Greatly reduces the time
required to access a single
record
Multiple levels of indexing
can be used to provide
greater efficiency in access
Indexed File
Records are accessed only through
their indexes
Variable-length records can be
employed
Exhaustive index contains one entry
for every record in the main file
Partial index contains entries to
records where the field of interest
exists
Used mostly in applications where
timeliness of information is critical
Examples would be airline
reservation systems and inventory
control systems
Direct or Hashed File
Access directly any block of a known address
Makes use of hashing on the key value
Often used where:
Examples are:
very rapid access is required
fixed-length records are used • directories
records are always accessed one • pricing tables
at a time • schedules
• name lists
B-Trees
A balanced tree structure with all branches of equal length
Standard method of organizing indexes for databases
Commonly used in OS file systems
Provides for efficient searching, adding, and deleting of items
every node has at most 2d – 1 keys
and 2d children or, equivalently, 2d
pointers
B-Tree every node, except for the root, has
at least d – 1 keys and d pointers, as
Characteristics a result, each internal node, except
the root, is at least half full and has
at least d children
the root has at least 1 key and 2
A B-tree is characterized by its children
minimum degree d and satisfies all leaves appear on the same level
the following properties: and contain no information. This is
a logical construct to terminate the
tree; the actual implementation may
differ.
a nonleaf node with k pointers
contains k – 1 keys
Table 12.1
Information
Elements of a
File Directory
(Table can be found on page 537 in textbook)
Operations Performed
on a Directory
List
To understand the requirements for a file structure, it is helpful to
Upd
Cre Del
consider the types of operations that may be performed on the directory:
Sea dire ate
ate ete direc
rch ctor
files files tory
y
Two-Level Scheme
There is one Master directory has an
entry for each user
directory for each directory providing
user and a master address and access control
directory information
Names must be
Each user directory
unique only within
is a simple list of
the collection of files
the files of that user of a single user
File Sharing
Two issues arise when allowing files to be shared among a number of users:
management of
access rights
simultaneous access
Access Rights
None Appending
the user would not be allowed to
read the user directory that includes the user can add data to the file
the file but cannot modify or delete any
of the file’s contents
Knowledge
the user can determine that the file Updating
exists and who its owner is and can
then petition the owner for
the user can modify, delete, and
additional access rights add to the file’s data
Execution Changing protection
the user can load and execute a the user can change the access
program but cannot copy it rights granted to other users
Reading
Deletion
the user can read the file for any
purpose, including copying and the user can delete the file from
execution the file system
User Access Rights
Owner Specific Users User Groups All
usually the all users who
initial creator have access
of the file individual
a set of users to this
users who system
who are not
has full rights are
individually
designated
defined these are
by user ID
may grant public files
rights to others
Record Blocking
1) Fixed-Length Blocking – fixed-
Blocks are the unit of I/O length records are used, and an
with secondary storage integral number of records are
for I/O to be stored in a block
performed records Internal fragmentation – unused
must be organized as space at the end of each block
blocks
2) Variable-Length Spanned Blocking
– variable-length records are used and
are packed into blocks with no unused
space
Given the size of a block, 3) Variable-Length Unspanned
three methods of blocking Blocking – variable-length records
can be used: are used, but spanning is not
employed
File Allocation
On secondary storage, a file consists of a collection of blocks
The operating system or file management system is responsible for
allocating blocks to files
The approach taken for file allocation may influence the approach taken
for free space management
Space is allocated to a file as one or more portions (contiguous set of
allocated blocks)
File allocation table (FAT)
data structure used to keep track of the portions assigned to a file
Preallocation vs
Dynamic Allocation
A preallocation policy requires that the maximum size of a file be
declared at the time of the file creation request
For many applications it is difficult to estimate reliably the maximum
potential size of the file
tends to be wasteful because users and application programmers tend to
overestimate size
Dynamic allocation allocates space to a file in portions as needed
Portion Size
In choosing a portion size there is a trade-off between efficiency from
the point of view of a single file versus overall system efficiency
Items to be considered:
1) contiguity of space increases performance, especially for
Retrieve_Next operations, and greatly for transactions running in
a transaction-oriented operating system
2) having a large number of small portions increases the size of
tables needed to manage the allocation information
3) having fixed-size portions simplifies the reallocation of space
4) having variable-size or small fixed-size portions minimizes waste
of unused storage due to overallocation
Alternatives
Two major alternatives:
Blocks
Variable, large contiguous • small fixed portions provide
portions greater flexibility
• provides better performance • they may require large tables
• the variable size avoids or complex structures for
waste their allocation
• the file allocation tables are • contiguity has been
small abandoned as a primary goal
• blocks are allocated as needed
Table 12.2
File Allocation Methods
Free Space Management
Just as allocated space must be managed, so must the unallocated space
To perform file allocation, it is necessary to know which blocks are
available
A disk allocation table is needed in addition to a file allocation table
Bit Tables
This method uses a vector containing one bit for each block on the disk
Each entry of a 0 corresponds to a free block, and each 1 corresponds to
a block in use
Advantages:
•works well with any file allocation method
•it is as small as possible
Chained Free Portions
The free portions may be chained together by using a pointer and length
value in each free portion
Negligible space overhead because there is no need for a disk allocation
table
Suited to all file allocation methods
Disadvantages:
•leads to fragmentation
•every time you allocate a block you need to read the block first to recover the pointer to the new first free block before writing data to that block
Indexing
Treats free space as a file and uses an index table as it would for file
allocation
For efficiency, the index should be on the basis of variable-size
portions rather than blocks
This approach provides efficient support for all of the file allocation
methods
Free Block List
Each block is assigned
a number sequentially
the list of the numbers of all free blocks is maintained in a
reserved portion of the disk
Volumes
A collection of addressable sectors in secondary
memory that an OS or application can use for data
storage
The sectors in a volume need not be consecutive on
a physical storage device
they need only appear that way to the OS or application
A volume may be the result of assembling and
merging smaller volumes
UNIX File In the UNIX file system, six types
of files are distinguished:
Management
Regular, or ordinary
• contains arbitrary data in zero or more data blocks
Directory
• contains a list of file names plus pointers to associated inodes
Special
• contains no data but provides a mechanism to map physical devices to file names
Named pipes
• an interprocess communications facility
Links
• an alternative file name for an existing file
Symbolic links
• a data file that contains the name of the file it is linked to
Inodes
All types of UNIX files are administered by the OS by means of inodes
An inode (index node) is a control structure that contains the key
information needed by the operating system for a particular file
Several file names may be associated with a single inode
an active inode is associated with exactly one file
each file is controlled by exactly one inode
File Allocation
File allocation is done on a block basis
Allocation is dynamic, as needed, rather than using preallocation
An indexed method is used to keep track of each file, with part of the
index stored in the inode for the file
In all UNIX implementations the inode includes a number of direct
pointers and three indirect pointers (single, double, triple)
Table 12.3
Capacity of a FreeBSD File with 4 kByte Block Size
Volume Structure
A UNIX file
system resides Boot block Superblock Inode table Data blocks
on a single
logical disk or
disk partition
and is laid out contains contains
storage
space
with the code attributes collection
available
required to and of inodes
for data
following boot the information for each
files and
operating about the file
elements: system file system
subdirector
ies
Primary Object Types in VFS
Superblock Object Dentry Object
•represents a specific •represents a specific
mounted file system directory entry
Inode Object File Object
•represents an open
•represents a
file associated with
specific file a process
Windows File System
The developers of Windows NT designed a new file system, the New
Technology File System (NTFS) which is intended to meet high-end
requirements for workstations and servers
Key features of NTFS:
recoverability
security
large disks and large files
multiple data streams
journaling
compression and encryption
hard and symbolic links
NTFS Volume
and File Structure
NTFS makes use of the following disk storage concepts:
•the smallest physical storage unit on the disk
Sector •the data size in bytes is a power of 2 and is almost
always 512 bytes
•one or more contiguous sectors
Cluster •the cluster size in sectors is a power of 2
•a logical partition on a disk, consisting of one or more clusters and used by
Volume a file system to allocate space
•can be all or a portion of a single disk or it can extend across multiple disks
•the maximum volume size for NTFS is 264 bytes
Table 12.4
Windows NTFS Partition and Cluster Sizes
Master File Table (MFT)
The heart of the Windows file system is the MFT
The MFT is organized as a table of 1,024-byte rows, called records
Each row describes a file on this volume, including the MFT itself,
which is treated as a file
Each record in the MFT consists of a set of attributes that serve to define
the file (or folder) characteristics and the file contents
Table 12.5
Windows NTFS File and Directory Attribute Types
SQLite
Most widely deployed SQL database engine in the world
Based on the Structured Query Language (SQL)
Designed to provide a streamlined SQL-based database management system
suitable for embedded systems and other limited memory systems
The full SQLite library can be implemented in under 400 KB
In contrast to other database management systems, SQLite is not a separate
process that is accessed from the client application
the library is linked in and thus becomes an integral part of the
application program
Summary
File structure Secondary storage management
File management systems File allocation
Free space management
File organization and access
Volumes
The pile
Reliability
The sequential file
UNIX file management
The indexed sequential file
Inodes
The indexed file File allocation
The direct or hashed file Directories
B-Trees Volume structure
File directories Linux virtual file system
Contents Superblock object
Structure Inode object
Naming Dentry object
File sharing File object
Access rights Caches
Simultaneous access Windows file system
Key features of NTFS
Record blocking
NTFS volume and file structure
Android file management
Recoverability
File system
