Solaris 10 System Administration Part I
My Solaris 10 System Administration Part I notes.
Credits
My main source of information came from Oracle System Administration of Solaris 10 Part I from Oracle University (excellent training) & Solaris 10 man pages.
Solaris 10 OS Directory Hierarchy
File systems
Unix File System (UFS) is the default file system
Directory starts with root directory (/)
Solaris 10 OS includes alternate file system called zettabyte file system (ZFS)
Logically all directories fall below root directory (/)
Physically directories can be located on one or spread over multiple file systems
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Refer to filesystem man page for more information on file system organization.
$ man -s 5 filesystem
Important directories
| Directory | Notes |
| / | root of file system |
| /bin | symbolic link to /usr/bin & location for binary files of standard system commands |
| /dev | primary directory for logical device names & contents of directory are symbolic links to device files in /devices directory |
| /etc | directory holds host-specific config files & databases for system administration |
| /export | default directory for commonly shared file systems (like user home directories) |
| /home | default directory or mount point for user home directories |
| /kernel | |
| /lib | |
| /mnt | |
| /opt | |
| /platform | |
| /sbin | |
| /usr | |
| /var |
Important in-memory system directories
| /dev/fd | |
| /devices | |
| /etc/mnttab | |
| /etc/svc/volatile | |
| /proc | |
| /system/contract | |
| /system/object | |
| /tmp | directory for temporary files (cleared during boot sequence) |
| /var/run |
Subdirectories of note under /dev
| /dev/dsk | block disk devices |
| /dev/fd | file descriptors |
| /dev/md | logical volume management metadisk drives |
| /dev/pts | pseudo terminal devices |
| /dev/rdsk | raw disk devices |
| /dev/rmt | raw magnetic devices |
| /dev/term | serial devices |
Important subdirectories under /etc
| /etc/acct | config info for accounting system |
| /etc/cron.d | config info for cron utility |
| /etc/default | default info for various programs |
| /etc/inet | config files for network services |
| /etc/init.d | scripts for starting & stopping services |
| /etc/lib | |
| /etc/lp | config info for printer subsystem |
| /etc/mail | config info for mail subsystem |
| /etc/nfs | config file for NFS server logging |
| /etc/opt | config info for optional packages |
| /etc/rc#.d | legacy scripts that are executed when entering or leaving a specific run level |
| /etc/security | controls files for Role Based Access Control & security privileges |
| /etc/skel | default shell initialization files for new users |
| /etc/svc | Service Management Facility database & log files |
Important subdirectories of /usr
| /usr/bin | standard system commands |
| /usr/ccs | C-compilation programs & libraries |
| /usr/demo | demo programs & data |
| /usr/dt | Java Desktop System (JDS) software directory or mount point |
| /usr/include | Header files |
| /usr/jdk | directory contains Java technology programs & libraries |
| /usr/kernel | loadable kernel modules not generally required during boot process |
| /usr/lib | architecture-dependent databases, libraries, & binaries that are not invoked directly by user |
| /usr/opt | config info for optional packages |
| /usr/sbin | sys admin coomands |
| /usr/spool | symbolic link to /var/spool directory |
Important subdirectories of /var
| /var/adm | log files for syslog, system accounting, etc |
| /var/crash | crash dump storage |
| /var/spool | spool files storage |
| /var/svc | Service Management Facility control files and logs |
| /var/tmp | long term storage of temp files (survives reboot) |
File components
Generally a file name is associated with an inode & an inode provides access to data blocks.
<insert figure of relationship>
file names
File names are objects frequently used to manage files. A file must have a name that is associated with an inode.
inodes
Inodes are objects that Solaris OS uses to maintain info about a file. In general an inode contains:
- file info = file owner, permissions, & size
- pointers to data blocks associated with file content
inodes are numbered & each file system contains its own inode list
At UFS creation a new inode list is created
data blocks
data blocks are units of disk space that store data
Regular files, directories, & symbolic links make use of data blocks
Device files do not hold data therefore do not use data blocks
ZFS uses the following data structures: dnode data structure: the data structure contains pointers to data blocks znode data structure: this data structure contains info about file (owner, permissions, & size)
Dnode & znode data structures are called metadata & stored dynamically by ZFS. ZFS implements ZFS POSIX layer (ZPL) which is a primary interface for ZFS. ZPL allows commands you use with UFS to work with ZFS. ZFS emulates UFS inode number mechanism
Identifying file types
Solaris has four main file types:
| regular or ordinary files | store one or more types of data |
| directories | store one or more types of data |
| symbolic links | store one or more types of data |
| device files | does not store data |
Use ls command to distinguish different file types