Operatin

g
Systems
:
Internals Chapter 12
and File Management
Design Eighth Edition
Principle By William Stallings

s
 Files
 Data collections created by users
 The File System is one of the most important parts of the
OS to a user
 Desirable properties of files:
Long-term existence
• files are stored on disk or other secondary storage and do not disappear when a
user logs off
Sharable between
processes
• files have names and can have associated access permissions that permit
controlled sharing
Structure
• files can be organized into hierarchical or more complex structure to reflect the
relationships among files
 File Systems
 Provide a means to store data organized as files as well as
a collection of functions that can be performed on files
 Maintain a set of attributes associated with the file
 Typical operations include:
 Create
 Delete
 Open
 Close
 Read
 Write
 File Structure

Four terms are

commonly used
when discussing
files:

Field Record File Databas

e
 Structure Terms
Field File
 basic element of data  collection of similar
records
 contains a single value
 treated as a single entity
 fixed or variable length
 may be referenced by
Database name
 access control
 collection of related
data Record
restrictions usually apply
at the file level
 relationships among  collection of related fields
elements of data are that can be treated as a
explicit unit by some application
 designed for use by a program
number of different  fixed or variable length
applications
 File Management
System Objectives
 Meet the data management needs of the user
 Guarantee that the data in the file are valid
 Optimize performance
 Provide I/O support for a variety of storage device types
 Minimize the potential for lost or destroyed data
 Provide a standardized set of I/O interface routines to
user processes
 Provide I/O support for multiple users in the case of
multiple-user systems
 Minimal User
Requirements
 Each user:
• should be able to create, delete, read, write and modify files
1

• may have controlled access to other users’ files

2

• may control what type of accesses are allowed to the files

3
• should be able to restructure the files in a form appropriate to the
4 problem

• should be able to move data between files

5

• should be able to back up and recover files in case of damage

6
• should be able to access his or her files by name rather than by
7 numeric identifier
 Device Drivers
 Lowest level
 Communicates directly with peripheral devices
 Responsible for starting I/O operations on a
device
 Processes the completion of an I/O request
 Considered to be part of the operating system
 Basic File System
 Also referred to as the physical I/O level
 Primary interface with the environment outside the
computer system
 Deals with blocks of data that are exchanged with disk
or tape systems
 Concerned with the placement of blocks on the
secondary storage device
 Concerned with buffering blocks in main memory
 Considered part of the operating system
 Basic I/O Supervisor
 Responsible for all file I/O initiation and termination
 Control structures that deal with device I/O, scheduling,
and file status are maintained
 Selects the device on which I/O is to be performed
 Concerned with scheduling disk and tape accesses to
optimize performance
 I/O buffers are assigned and secondary memory is
allocated at this level
 Part of the operating system
 Logical I/O

Provides
general-
Enables purpose
users and record I/O
capability Maintains
applications basic data
to access about file
records
 Access Method
 Level of the file system closest to the user
 Provides a standard interface between applications
and the file systems and devices that hold the data
 Different access methods reflect different file
structures and different ways of accessing and
processing the data
File Organization and Access
 File organization is the logical structuring of the records as
determined by the way in which they are accessed
 In choosing a file organization, several criteria are important:
 short access time
 ease of update
 economy of storage
 simple maintenance
 reliability

 Priority of criteria depends on the application that will use the

file
File Organization Types
The pile

The
The direct, sequential
or hashed, file
file

Five of the
common file
organizations are:
The
The indexed
indexed sequential
file file
 The Pile
 Least complicated form
of file organization
 Data are collected in
the order they arrive
 Each record consists of
one burst of data
 Purpose is simply to
accumulate the mass
of data and save it
 Record access is by
exhaustive search
 The
Sequential
File
 Most common form of
file structure
 A fixed format is used
for records
 Key field uniquely
identifies the record
 Typically used in batch
applications
 Only organization that is
easily stored on tape as
well as disk
Indexed
Sequential File
 Adds an index to the
file to support
random access
 Adds an overflow file
 Greatly reduces the
time required to
access a single record
 Multiple levels of
indexing can be used
to provide greater
efficiency in access
Indexed File
 Records are accessed only
through their indexes
 Variable-length records can be
employed
 Exhaustive index contains one
entry for every record in the
main file
 Partial index contains entries to
records where the field of
interest exists
 Used mostly in applications
where timeliness of information
is critical
 Examples would be airline
reservation systems and
inventory control systems
 Direct or Hashed File
 Access directly any block of a known
address
 Makes use of hashing on the key
value Examples are:
 Often used where: • directories
 very rapid access is required • pricing tables
 fixed-length records are used • schedules
 records are always accessed • name lists
one at a time
 Table 12.1

Information
Elements of
a File
Directory

(Table can be found on page 537 in textbook)

Operations Performed
on a Directory
 To understand the requirements for a file structure, it is
helpful to consider the types of operations that may be
performed on the directory:

List Update
Create Delete
Search director director
files files
y y
 Two-Level Scheme
Master directory
has an entry for
There is one each user Each user
directory for directory directory is a
each user and a providing address simple list of the
master directory and access files of that user
control
information
Names must be
File system can
unique only within
easily enforce
the collection of
access restriction
files of a single
on directories
user
 File Sharing
Two issues arise
when allowing
files to be
shared among a
number of users:

management
of
access rights
simultaneous
access
 Access
Rights
 None  Appending
 the user would not be allowed
to read the user directory that
 the user can add data to the
includes the file file but cannot modify or
delete any of the file’s
 Knowledge contents
 the user can determine that
the file exists and who its
 Updating
owner is and can then petition  the user can modify, delete,
the owner for additional access and add to the file’s data
rights
 Execution
 Changing protection
 the user can load and execute  the user can change the
a program but cannot copy it access rights granted to
 Reading
other users
 the user can read the file for  Deletion
any purpose, including copying
and execution
 the user can delete the file
from the file system
User Access Rights
Specifi User
Owner c Group All
usually the Users s
initial all users
creator of who have
the file access to
individual a set of
this system
users who users who
has full
are are not
rights
designated individually
by user ID defined
may grant these are
rights to public files
others
 Access Matrix
(user,filename,rights)
Access Control List
(user,rights)
 Capability Lists
(filename,rights)
 Record Blocking
1) Fixed-Length Blocking –
 Blocks are the unit of fixed-length records are used,
I/O with secondary and an integral number of
records are stored in a block
storage
 for I/O to be Internal fragmentation –
performed records unused space at the end of
each block
must be organized
as blocks 2) Variable-Length Spanned
Blocking – variable-length
records are used and are packed
into blocks with no unused space

3) Variable-Length Unspanned
 Given the size of a Blocking – variable-length
block, three methods of records are used, but spanning
blocking can be used: is not employed
 File Allocation
 On secondary storage, a file consists of a collection of
blocks
 The operating system or file management system is
responsible for allocating blocks to files
 The approach taken for file allocation may influence the
approach taken for free space management
 Space is allocated to a file as one or more portions
(contiguous set of allocated blocks)
 File allocation table (FAT)
 data structure used to keep track of the portions assigned
to a file
 Preallocation vs
Dynamic Allocation
 A preallocation policy requires that the maximum size of a
file be declared at the time of the file creation request
 For many applications it is difficult to estimate reliably the
maximum potential size of the file
 tends to be wasteful because users and application
programmers tend to overestimate size

 Dynamic allocation allocates space to a file in portions as

needed
 Alternatives
Two major alternatives:

Variable, large Blocks

contiguous • small fixed portions
portions provide greater flexibility
• provides better • they may require large
performance tables or complex
• the variable size avoids structures for their
allocation
waste • contiguity has been
• the file allocation tables
abandoned as a primary
are small goal
• blocks are allocated as
needed
 Table 12.2
File Allocation Methods
 CONTIGUOUS FILE
ALLOCATION
 Advantages:
 Both the Sequential and Direct Accesses are supported
by this.
 Extremely fast since the number of seeks are minimal
because of contiguous allocation of file blocks.
 Disadvantages
 Internal and external fragmentation. This makes it
inefficient in terms of memory utilization.
 Increasing file size is difficult because it depends on the
availability of contiguous memory at a particular
instance.
 LINKED FILE
ALLOCATION
 Advantages:
 flexible in terms of file size. File size can be increased easily since the
system does not have to look for a contiguous chunk of memory.
 Does not suffer from external fragmentation.
 Disadvantages:
 The file blocks are distributed randomly on the disk, a large number of seeks
are needed to access every block individually. This makes linked allocation
slower.
 It does not support random or direct access. We can not directly access the
blocks of a file. A block k of a file can be accessed by traversing k blocks
sequentially (sequential access ) from the starting block of the file via block
pointers.
 Pointers required in the linked allocation incur some extra overhead.
 INDEXED FILE
ALLOCATION
 Advantages
 Supports direct access to the blocks occupied by the file and
therefore provides fast access to the file blocks.
 It overcomes the problem of external fragmentation
 Disadvantages
 The pointer overhead for indexed allocation is greater than linked
allocation.
 For very small files, e.g. files that expand only 2-3 blocks, the
indexed allocation would keep one entire block (index block) for the
pointers which is inefficient in terms of memory utilization. However,
in linked allocation we lose the space of only 1 pointer per block.
 Summary
 File structure  Secondary storage
 File management systems management
 File organization and access  File allocation
 The pile
 The sequential file
 The indexed sequential file
 The indexed file
 The direct or hashed file
 File directories
 Contents
 Structure
 Naming
 File sharing
 Access rights
 Simultaneous access

 Exercises

 What is file allocation method used?

 Provide ONE (1) advantage of the method specified.
 Provide ONE(1) disadvantage of the method specified.
 Exercise

 Access matrix is a general model of access control as

exercised by a file or database management system .
Explain the term: access rights based on the Fig. above.
 Exercises
 Provide ONE (1) advantage and ONE(1) disadvantage of
 Contiguous file allocation
 Linked file allocation
 Indexed File allocation