Chapter 7: A Filesystem Primer

Overview

Everything in Linux is configured as a file. In Chapter 06 , you worked with regular files and links to other files. As you learned, directories are just special types of files. In addition, hardware device drivers and partitions are represented by files. The organizational system for Linux files is known as the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS).

Filesystems are typically mounted on specific partitions. Linux servers often include several filesystems on different partitions. You can create partitions with fdisk or Disk Druid, and format them to one of several standards. When you document the result in /etc/fstab , during the boot process Linux mounts the partitions as specified.

When you divide a hard drive into different partitions, you lose some flexibility; it isn t easy to expand the space available to a dedicated filesystem such as /home . The Logical Volume Management (LVM) system makes it possible to expand the size of a filesystem. This chapter covers the following topics: