VxFS System Administrator's Guide

Preface

Audience

The VERITAS® File System System Administrator's Guide is for system administrators who configure and maintain UNIX systems with the VERITAS File System (referred to as VxFS® or vxfs). This guide assumes that the reader has:

a basic understanding of system administration
a working knowledge of the UNIX system
a general understanding of file systems

Scope

This guide provides information on the most important aspects of VERITAS File System administration.

Note: This guide is intended for use with both the VxFS and VxFS Advanced feature set. However, some of the material in this guide is not applicable if the VxFS Advanced feature set is not installed.

Organization

Chapter 1, "The VERITAS File System," introduces the features and characteristics of the VERITAS File System.
Chapter 2, "Disk Layout," describes the VxFS disk layouts. The various components of each layout are described and illustrated.
Chapter 3, "Extent Attributes," describes the extent attributes available with VxFS.
Chapter 4, "Online Backup," describes the online backup facility of the VERITAS File System.
Chapter 5, "Performance and Tuning," describes ways to optimize and efficiently use a VERITAS File System for an application. Information on selecting mount options is included.
Chapter 6, "Application Interface," describes ways to optimize and efficiently use an application on the VERITAS File System. This chapter also details cache advisories and provides information about extent sizes and reservation of space for a file.
Chapter 7, "Quotas," describes how to use quotas to limit file and data resources for specific users.
Appendix A, "Kernel Messages," lists VxFS kernel error messages in numerical order, and provides an explanation and suggestion for handling each problem.
"Glossary," contains a list of terms and definitions relevant to VxFS.

Using This Guide

For an overview of VxFS, its features and relevant concepts, read Chapter 1, "The VERITAS File System," Chapter 2, "Disk Layout," and Chapter 3, "Extent Attributes."

For information on optimizing system and application performance, read Chapter 5, "Performance and Tuning," and Chapter 6, "Application Interface."

Chapter 4, "Online Backup," and the remaining chapters describe the major features of VxFS and explains how to use them.

Appendix A, "Kernel Messages" contains explanations of kernel error messages that might be displayed.

The "Glossary" defines terms related VxFS.

See the online manual pages for detailed information about VxFS commands and utilities.

Note: This guide assumes that the VERITAS File System has been properly installed on the system. Since this guide is intended for use with both the VxFS and VxFS Advanced feature set, it is important to ensure that the correct set is properly installed on your system.

Conventions

The following table describes the typographic conventions used in this guide.

Typeface	Usage	Examples
`courier`	Computer output; user input; names of commands, files, and directories	`$ You have mail.` The `cat` command displays files. `$ ls -a`
italics	New terms; document titles; words to be emphasized; variables to be substituted with a real name or value	`$ cat filename` Refer to the User's Guide for details.
bold	Glossary terms
Symbol	Usage
`%`	C shell prompt
`$`	Bourne/Korn shell prompt
`#`	Superuser prompt (all shells)

Typeface Usage Examples
courier Computer output; user input; names of commands, files, and directories $ You have mail.
The cat command displays files.
$ ls -a
italics New terms; document titles; words to be emphasized; variables to be substituted with a real name or value

$ cat filename
Refer to the User's Guide for details.

bold Glossary terms
Symbol Usage
% C shell prompt
$ Bourne/Korn shell prompt
# Superuser prompt (all shells)

Getting Help

For license information or information about VERITAS service packages, contact VERITAS Customer Support.

US Customers: 1-800-342-0652

International Customers: +1 (650) 335-8555

Fax: (650) 335-8428

VERITAS Customer Support can also be reached through electronic mail at:

support@veritas.com

VxFS System Administrator's Guide

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