Edit: It is always good to go back to basics now and again
Originally posted October 15, 2019 on AIXchange
The IBM Knowledge Center’s overview of AIX file systems is handy as both a refresher and introduction.
On Twitter, Soumya Menon (@soumya_159) linked to this IBM Knowledge Center overview of AIX file systems, excerpted below:
“A file system is a hierarchical structure (file tree) of files and directories.
This type of structure resembles an inverted tree with the roots at the top and branches at the bottom. This file tree uses directories to organize data and programs into groups, allowing the management of several directories and files at one time.
A file system resides on a single logical volume. Every file and directory belongs to a file system within a logical volume. Because of its structure, some tasks are performed more efficiently on a file system than on each directory within the file system. For example, you can back up, move, or secure an entire file system. You can make an point-in-time image of a JFS file system or a JFS2 file system, called a snapshot.
… To be accessible, a file system must be mounted onto a directory mount point. When multiple file systems are mounted, a directory structure is created that presents the image of a single file system. It is a hierarchical structure with a single root. This structure includes the base file systems and any file systems you create. You can access both local and remote file systems using the mount command. This makes the file system available for read and write access from your system.
… Some of the most important system management tasks have to do with file systems, specifically:
- Allocating space for file systems on logical volumes
- Creating file systems
- Making file system space available to system users
- Monitoring file system space usage
- Backing up file systems to guard against data loss if the system fails
- Maintaining file systems in a consistent state”
There’s much more, of course. Read the whole thing, and maybe check out some of the related overviews―including docs on managing, configuring and maintaining file systems―that are linked at the bottom of the page. Also be sure to open the table of contents (its appearance may vary depending on the browser being used) for links to a host of other topics:
Workload manager
Device nodes
Device location codes
Device drivers
Setting up an iSCSI offload adapter
PCI hot plug management
Multiple Path I/O
Targeted device configuration
Tape drives
USB device support
Caching storage data
Login names, system IDs, and passwords
Common Desktop Environment
Live Partition Mobility with Host Ethernet Adapters
Relocating an adapter for DLPAR
Loopback device
Files Reference
IBM Hyperconverged Systems
AIX on KVM
Installing
Networking
Operating system management
Performance tuning
Printing
Programming for AIX
Security
System management
Technical reference
Troubleshooting
IBM Workload Partitions for AIX
We may take the basics for granted, but it never hurts to get a refresher on these topics.