Summary

In this chapter, we examined how files and filesystems work in Linux. Files are organized in a distinct structure known as the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS). Different directories in the FHS have different functions; you can mount many of these directories on their own partitions.

The basic Linux partition management utility is fdisk . With this utility, you can manage the empty space on existing or newly installed hard drives . You can create and size new partitions, and set or change them for different Linux formats.

Once you have a new partition, you can format it with the mkfs command. It s easy to format a partition to the Red Hat Linux standard format, the ext3 filesystem. Just use the mkfs -j command. You can even convert an existing ext2 partition to an ext3 partition by using the tunefs -j command. Red Hat Linux uses fsck to troubleshoot partitions on a regular basis.

The key filesystem configuration file is /etc/fstab , which defines how different partitions are mounted and checked.

Now with Logical Volume Management, you can vary the size of a partition based on the way you configure partitions into volume groups.

Now that you understand the basics of filesystems, the next chapter continues our exploration of the shell. You ll learn all the details you need to make the shell work effectively for you.