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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