Operating Systems: Concurrent and Distributed Software Design

6.6. Modern file system design

In Sections 6.4–6.5 we have examined the interfaces that the file manage-ment subsystem presents to applications and the way in which these can be built over a disk that provides block storage. These implementation techniques were used directly in early computer systems but they have significant disadvant-ages in terms of flexibility, performaznce and robustness to system crashes or disk failures. In this section we will study the techniques that a modern design employs.

6.6.1. Logical volume management

Basic file systems maintain a one-to-one relationship with physical disks; each disk has a separate root directory, separate metadata table and separate storage management information. Such designs are natural for ...