Chapter 10.
B:
File-System Implementation
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“Operating System Concepts”, 10th eds, 2018. ©2022
File-System Structure
File structure
Logical storage unit
Collection of related information
File system resides on secondary storage (e.g., disks)
Provided user interface to storage, mapping logical to physical
Provides efficient and convenient access to disk by allowing data to be
stored, located, and retrieved easily
Disk provides in-place rewrite and random access
I/O transfers performed in blocks of sectors (usually 512 bytes)
File control block (FCB) – storage structure consisting of information
about a file
Device driver controls the physical device
File system is organized into layers
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Layered File System
Layering useful for reducing complexity and
redundancy, but adds overhead and can
decrease performance
Device drivers manage I/O devices at the I/O control
layer
E.g., Given commands like “read drive1, cylinder
72, track 2, sector 10, into memory location 1060”
outputs low-level hardware specific commands to
hardware controller
Basic file system given command like “retrieve block
123” translates to device driver
Also manages memory buffers and caches
(allocation, freeing, replacement)
Buffers hold data in transit
Caches hold frequently used data
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Layered File System
File organization module understands files, logical
address, and physical blocks
Translates logical block # to physical block #
Manages free space, disk allocation
Logical file system manages metadata information
Translates file name into file number, file handle,
location by maintaining file control blocks (i.e.,
inodes in UNIX)
Directory management
Protection
Logical layers can be implemented by any coding
method according to OS designer
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File-System Implementation
We have system calls at the API level, but how do we implement their
functions?
On-disk and in-memory structures
Boot control block contains info needed by system to boot OS from
that volume
Needed if volume contains OS, usually first block of volume
Volume control block (e.g., superblock, master file table) contains
volume details
Total # of blocks, # of free blocks, block size, free block pointers or array
Directory structure organizes the files
Names and inode numbers, master file table
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File-System Implementation (Cont.)
MBR
Boot sector Partition control block i-nodesFCB’s
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File-System Implementation (Cont.)
Per-file File Control Block (FCB) contains many details about the
file
typically inode number, permissions, size, dates
NTFS stores into in master file table using relational DB structures
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In-Memory File System Structures
Mount table storing file system mounts, mount points, file system
types
System-wide open-file table contains a copy of the FCB of each file
and other info
Per-process open-file table contains pointers to appropriate entries in
system-wide open-file table as well as other info
The following figure illustrates the necessary file system structures
provided by the operating systems
Figure (a) refers to opening a file
Figure (b) refers to reading a file
Plus buffers hold data blocks from secondary storage
Open returns a file handle for subsequent use
Data from read copied to specified user process memory address
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In-Memory File System Structures
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Directory Implementation
Linear list of file names with pointer to the data blocks
Simple to program
Time-consuming to execute
4 Linear search time
4 Could keep ordered alphabetically via linked list or use B+ tree
Hash Table – linear list with hash data structure
Decreases directory search time
Collisions – situations where two file names hash to the same location
Only good if entries are fixed size, or use chained-overflow method
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Allocation Methods – Contiguous
An allocation method refers to how disk blocks are allocated for files
Contiguous allocation – each file occupies set of contiguous blocks
Best performance in most cases
Simple – only starting location (block #) and length (number of blocks)
are required
Problems include finding space for file, knowing file size, external
fragmentation, need for compaction off-line (downtime) or on-line
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Contiguous Allocation
Mapping from logical to physical
LA/512
Block to be accessed = Q + starting address
Displacement into block = R
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Extent-Based Systems
Many newer file systems (e.g., Veritas File System) use a modified
contiguous allocation scheme
Extent-based file systems allocate disk blocks in extents
An extent is a contiguous block of disks
Extents are allocated for file allocation
A file consists of one or more extents
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Allocation Methods - Linked
Linked allocation – each file is a linked list of blocks
File ends at nil pointer
No external fragmentation
Each block contains pointer to next block
No compaction, external fragmentation
Free space management system called when new block needed
Improve efficiency by clustering blocks into groups but increases internal
fragmentation
Reliability can be a problem
Locating a block can take many I/Os and disk seeks
File Allocation Table (FAT) variation
Beginning of volume has table, indexed by block number
Much like a linked list, but faster on disk and cacheable
New block allocation simple
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Linked Allocation
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File-Allocation Table (FAT)
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Allocation Methods – Indexed
Indexed allocation
Each file has its own index block(s) of pointers to its data blocks
Logical view
index table
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Example of Indexed Allocation
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Indexed Allocation (Cont.)
Need index table
Random access
Dynamic access without external fragmentation, but have overhead
of index block
E.g., Mapping from logical to physical in a file of maximum size of 256K
bytes and block size of 512 bytes. We need only 1 block for index table
Q = displacement into index table
R = displacement into block Q
LA/512
R
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Combined Scheme: UNIX UFS
Suppose that on a computer, the OS uses i-nodes
and each disk block is 4KB.
Assume that an i-node contains 12 direct block
numbers (disk addresses) and the block numbers
for one indirect block, one double indirect block,
and one triple indirect block. Assume also that a
block number is 4 bytes.
What is the largest possible file on that computer
(assuming the disk is large enough)?
4K bytes per
block, 32-bit
addresses
More index
blocks than can
be addressed
with 32-bit file
pointer
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File (user view)
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Free-Space Management
File system maintains free-space list to track available blocks/clusters
(Using term “block” for simplicity)
Bit vector or bit map (n blocks)
0 1 2 n-1
…
1 Þ block[i] free
bit[i] =
0 Þ block[i] occupied
Block number calculation
(number of bits per word)* (number of 0-value words) + offset of first 1 bit
CPUs have instructions to return offset within word of first “1” bit
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Free-Space Management (Cont.)
Bit map requires extra space
Example:
block size = 4KB = 212 bytes
disk size = 240 bytes (1 terabyte)
n = 240/212 = 228 bits (or 32MB)
if clusters of 4 blocks -> 8MB of memory
Easy to get contiguous files
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Linked Free Space List on Disk
Linked list (free list)
Cannot get contiguous space
easily
No waste of space
No need to traverse the entire
list (if # free blocks recorded)
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Free-Space Management (Cont.)
Grouping
Modify linked list to store address of next (n-1) free blocks in first free
block, plus a pointer to next block that contains free-block-pointers (like
this one)
Counting
Because space is frequently contiguously used and freed, with
contiguous-allocation allocation, extents, or clustering
4 Keep address of first free block and count of following free blocks
4 Free space list then has entries containing addresses and counts
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Free-Space Management (Cont.)
Grouping
0 1 2 3
Modify linked list to store address of 4 5 6 7
next (n) free blocks in first free block,
plus a pointer to next block that 8 9 10 11
contains free-block-pointers (like this 12 13 14 15
one)
16 17 18 19
Grouping, n = 3 20 21 22 23
Block 2 stores 3, 4, 5 24 25 26 27
Block 5 stores 8, 9, 10 28 29 30 31
Block 10 stores 11, 12, 13
Block 13 stores 17, 28, 25
Block 25 stores 26, 27
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Free-Space Management (Cont.)
Counting
0 1 2 3
Because space is frequently 4 5 6 7
contiguously used and freed, with
contiguous-allocation allocation, 8 9 10 11
extents, or clustering 12 13 14 15
4 Keep address of first free block and 16 17 18 19
count of following free blocks
20 21 22 23
4 Free space list then has entries 24 25 26 27
containing addresses and counts
28 29 30 31
start count
2 4
8 6
17 2
25 3
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Efficiency and Performance
Efficiency dependent on:
Disk allocation and directory algorithms
Types of data kept in file’s directory entry
Pre-allocation or as-needed allocation of metadata structures
Fixed-size or varying-size data structures
Performance
Keeping data and metadata close together
Buffer cache – separate section of main memory for frequently used
blocks
Synchronous writes sometimes requested by apps or needed by OS
4 No buffering / caching – writes must hit disk before acknowledgement
4 Asynchronous writes more common, buffer-able, faster
Free-behind and read-ahead – techniques to optimize sequential access
Reads frequently slower than writes
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Recovery
Consistency checking – compares data in directory structure with
data blocks on disk, and tries to fix inconsistencies
Can be slow and sometimes fails
Use system programs to back up data from disk to another storage
device (magnetic tape, other magnetic disk, optical)
Recover lost file or disk by restoring data from backup
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Log Structured File Systems
Log structured (or journaling) file systems record each metadata
update to the file system as a transaction
All transactions are written to a log
4 A transaction is considered committed once it is written to the log
(sequentially)
4 Sometimes to a separate device or section of disk
4 However, the file system may not yet be updated
The transactions in the log are asynchronously written to the file system
structures
When the file system structures are modified, the transaction is removed
from the log
If the file system crashes, all remaining transactions in the log must
still be performed
Faster recovery from crash, removes chance of inconsistency of
metadata
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The Apple File System
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Summary
Most file systems reside on secondary storage, which is designed to
hold a large amount of data permanently. The most common
secondary-storage medium is the disk, but the use of NVM devices is
increasing.
Storage devices are segmented into partitions to control media use
and to allow multiple, possibly varying, file systems on a single
device. These file systems are mounted onto a logical file system
architecture to make them available for use.
File systems are often implemented in a layered or modular structure.
The lower levels deal with the physical properties of storage devices
and communicating with them. Upper levels deal with symbolic file
names and logical properties of files.
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Summary (Cont.)
The various files within a file system can be allocated space on the
storage device in three ways: through contiguous, linked, or indexed
allocation. Contiguous allocation can suffer from external
fragmentation. Direct access is very inefficient with linked allocation.
Indexed allocation may require substantial overhead for its index
block.
These algorithms can be optimized in many ways. Contiguous space
can be enlarged through extents to increase flexibility and to
decrease external fragmentation. Indexed allocation can be done in
clusters of multiple blocks to increase throughput and to reduce the
number of index entries needed. Indexing in large clusters is similar
to contiguous allocation with extents.
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Summary (Cont.)
Free-space allocation methods also influence the efficiency of disk-
space use, the performance of the file system, and the reliability of
secondary storage. The methods used include bit vectors and linked
lists. Optimizations include grouping, counting, and the FAT, which
places the linked list in one contiguous area.
Directory-management routines must consider efficiency,
performance, and reliability. A hash table is a commonly used
method, as it is fast and efficient. Unfortunately, damage to the table
or a system crash can result in inconsistency between the directory
information and the disk’s contents.
A consistency checker can be used to repair damaged file-system
structures. Operating-system backup tools allow data to be copied to
magnetic tape or other storage devices, enabling the user to recover
from data loss or even entire device loss due to hardware failure,
operating system bug, or user error.
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Summary (Cont.)
Due to the fundamental role that file systems play in system
operation, their performance and reliability are crucial. Techniques
such as log structures and caching help improve performance, while
log structures and RAID improve reliability. The WAFL file system is
an example of optimization of performance to match a specific I/O
load.
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End of Chapter 10.B.
Some slides from the Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne,
“Operating System Concepts”, 10th eds, 2018. ©2022