Chapter 8

File Management

Understanding Operating Systems,

Fourth Edition
 Objectives

You will be able to describe:

• The fundamentals of file management and the
structure of the file management system
• File-naming conventions, including the role of
extensions
• The difference between fixed-length and variable-
length record format
• The advantages and disadvantages of contiguous,
noncontiguous, and indexed file storage techniques
• Comparisons of sequential and direct file access

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 2

 Objectives (continued)

You will be able to describe:

• The security ramifications of access control
techniques and how they compare
• The role of data compression in file storage

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 3

 File Management

• File Manager controls every file in system

• Efficiency of File Manager depends on:
– How system’s files are organized (sequential, direct,
or indexed sequential)
– How they’re stored (contiguously, noncontiguously,
or indexed)
– How each file’s records are structured (fixed-length
or variable-length)
– How access to these files is controlled

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 4

 The File Manager

• File Manager is the software responsible for

creating, deleting, modifying, and controlling
access to files
– Manages the resources used by files
• Responsibilities of File Managers:
– Keep track of where each file is stored
– Use a policy to determine where and how files will be
stored
• Efficiently use available storage space
• Provide efficient access to files

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 5

 The File Manager (continued)

• Responsibilities of File Managers: (continued)

– Allocate each file when a user has been cleared for
access to it, then record its use
– Deallocate file when it is returned to storage and
communicate its availability to others waiting for it

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 6

 The File Manager (continued)

• Definitions:
– Field: Group of related bytes that can be identified
by user with name, type, and size
– Record: Group of related fields
– File: Group of related records that contains
information used by specific application programs to
generate reports
• Sometimes called flat file; has no connections to other
files
– Database: Groups of related files that are
interconnected at various levels to give users
flexibility of access to the data stored
Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 7
 The File Manager (continued)

• Program files: Contain instructions

• Data files: Contain data
• Directories: Listings of filenames and their
attributes
• Every program and data file accessed by computer
system, and every piece of computer software, is
treated as a file
• File Manager treats all files exactly the same way
as far as storage is concerned

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 8

 Interacting with the File Manager

• User communicates with File Manager via specific

commands that may be:
– Embedded in the user’s program
• OPEN, CLOSE, READ, WRITE, and MODIFY
– Submitted interactively by the user
• CREATE, DELETE, RENAME, and COPY
• Commands are device independent
– User doesn’t need to know its exact physical location
on disk pack or storage medium to access a file

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 9

 Interacting with the File Manager
(continued)

• Each logical command is broken down into

sequence of low-level signals that
– Trigger step-by-step actions performed by device
– Supervise progress of operation by testing status
• Users don’t need to include in each program the
low-level instructions for every device to be used
• Users can manipulate their files by using a simple
set of commands (e.g., OPEN, CLOSE, READ,
WRITE, and MODIFY)

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 10

 Typical Volume Configuration

• Volume: Each secondary storage unit (removable

or non-removable)
– Each volume can contain many files called multifile
volumes
– Extremely large files are contained in many volumes
called multivolume files
• Each volume in system is given a name
– File Manager writes name & other descriptive info on
an easy-to-access place on each unit

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 11

 Typical Volume Configuration
(continued)

Figure 8.1: Volume descriptor, stored at the beginning of

each volume

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 12

 Typical Volume Configuration
(continued)

• Master file directory (MFD): Stored immediately

after volume descriptor and lists:
– Names and characteristics of every file in volume
• File names can refer to program files, data files,
and/or system files
– Subdirectories, if supported by File Manager
– Remainder of the volume used for file storage

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 13

 Typical Volume Configuration
(continued)

• Disadvantages of a single directory per volume

as supported by early operating systems:
– Long time to search for an individual file
– Directory space would fill up before the disk storage
space filled up
– Users couldn’t create subdirectories
– Users couldn’t safeguard their files from other users
– Each program in the directory needed a unique
name, even those directories serving many users

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 14

 About Subdirectories

Subdirectories:
• Semi-sophisticated File Managers create MFD
for each volume with entries for files and
subdirectories
• Subdirectory created when user opens account to
access computer
• Improvement from single directory scheme
• Still can’t group files in a logical order to improve
accessibility and efficiency of system

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 15

 About Subdirectories (continued)

Subdirectories:
• Today’s File Managers allow users to create
subdirectories (Folders)
– Allows related files to be grouped together
• Implemented as an upside-down tree
– Allows system to efficiently search individual
directories
• Path to the requested file may lead through several
directories

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 16

 About Subdirectories (continued)

Figure 8.2: File directory tree structure

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 17
 About Subdirectories (continued)

• File descriptor includes the following information:

– Filename
– File type
– File size
– File location
– Date and time of creation
– Owner
– Protection information
– Record size

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 18

 File Naming Conventions

• Absolute filename (complete filename): Long

name that includes all path info
• Relative filename: Short name seen in directory
listings and selected by user when file is created
• Length of relative name and types of characters
allowed is OS dependent
• Extension: Identifies type of file or its contents
– e.g., BAT, COB, EXE, TXT, DOC
• Components required for a file’s complete name
depend on the operating system

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 19

 File Organization

• All files composed of records that are of two types:

– Fixed-length records: Easiest to access directly
• Ideal for data files
• Record size critical
– Variable-length records: Difficult to access directly
• Don’t leave empty storage space and don’t truncate
any characters
• Used in files accessed sequentially (e.g., text files,
program files) or files using index to access records
• File descriptor stores record format

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 20

 File Organization (continued)

Figure 8.4: When data is stored in fixed-length fields (a),

data that extends beyond the fixed size is truncated.
When data is stored in a variable length record format (b),
the size expands to fit the contents, but it takes more time
to access.

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 21

 Physical File Organization

• The way records are arranged and the

characteristics of the medium used to store them
• On magnetic disks, files can be organized as:
sequential, direct, or indexed sequential
• Considerations in selecting a file organization
scheme:
– Volatility of the data
– Activity of the file
– Size of the file
– Response time

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 22

 Physical File Organization (continued)

• Sequential record organization: Records are

stored and retrieved serially (one after the other)
– Easiest to implement
– File is searched from its beginning until the requested
record is found
– Optimization features may be built into system to
speed search process
• Select a key field from the record
– Complicates maintenance algorithms
• Original order must be preserved every time records are
added or deleted

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 23

 Physical File Organization (continued)

• Direct record organization: Uses direct access

files; can be implemented only on direct access
storage devices
– Allows accessing of any record in any order without
having to begin search from beginning of file
– Records are identified by their relative addresses
(addresses relative to beginning of file)
• These logical addresses computed when records are
stored and again when records are retrieved
– Use hashing algorithms

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 24

 Physical File Organization (continued)

• Advantages of direct record organization:

– Fast access to records
– Can be accessed sequentially by starting at first
relative address and incrementing to get to next record
– Can be updated more quickly than sequential files
– No need to preserve order of the records, so adding or
deleting them takes very little time
• Disadvantages of direct record organization:
– Collision in case of similar keys

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 25

 Physical File Organization (continued)

• Indexed sequential record organization:

generates index file for record retrieval
– Combines best of sequential & direct access
– Divides ordered sequential file into blocks of equal
size
– Each entry in index file contains highest record key
and physical location of data block
– Created and maintained through ISAM software
– Advantage: Doesn’t create collisions

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 26

 Physical Storage Allocation

• File Manager must work with files not just as whole

units but also as logical units or records
• Records within a file must have the same format
but they can vary in length
• Records are subdivided into fields
• Record’s structure usually managed by application
programs and not OS
• File storage actually refers to record storage

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 27

 Physical Storage Allocation
(continued)

Figure 8.6: Types of records in a file

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 28
 Contiguous Storage
• Records stored one after another
– Advantages:
• Any record can be found once starting address and
size are known
• Direct access easy as every part of file is stored in
same compact area
– Disadvantages:
• Files can’t be expanded easily, and fragmentation

Figure 8.7: Contiguous storage

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 29

 Noncontiguous Storage
• Allows files to use any available disk storage space
• File’s records are stored in a contiguous manner if
enough empty space
• Any remaining records, and all other additions to
file, are stored in other sections of disk (extents)
– Linked together with pointers
– Physical size of each extent is determined by OS
(usually 256 bytes)

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 30

 Noncontiguous Storage (continued)
• File extents are linked in following ways:
• Linking at storage level:
– Each extent points to next one in sequence
– Directory entry consists of filename, storage location
of first extent, location of last extent, and total
number of extents, not counting first
• Linking at directory level:
– Each extent listed with its physical address, size,
and pointer to next extent
– A null pointer indicates that it's the last one

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 31

 Noncontiguous Storage (continued)
• Advantage of noncontiguous storage:
– Eliminates external storage fragmentation and need
for compaction
However:
– Does not support direct access because no easy
way to determine exact location of specific record

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 32

 Noncontiguous Storage (continued)

Figure 8.8: Noncontiguous file storage with linking taking place

at the storage level
Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 33
 Noncontiguous Storage (continued)

Figure 8.9: Noncontiguous

file storage with linking
taking place at the directory
level

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 34

 Indexed Storage

• Allows direct record access by bringing pointers

linking every extent of that file into index block
• Every file has its own index block
– Consists of addresses of each disk sector that make
up the file
– Lists each entry in the same order in which sectors
are linked
• Supports both sequential and direct access
• Doesn’t necessarily improve use of storage space
• Larger files may have several levels of indexes

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 35

 Indexed Storage (continued)

Figure 8.10: Indexed storage

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 36
 Access Methods

• Dictated by a file’s organization

• Most flexibility is allowed with indexed sequential
files and least with sequential
• File organized in sequential fashion can support
only sequential access to its records
– Records can be of fixed or variable length
• File Manager uses the address of last byte read to
access the next sequential record
• Current byte address (CBA) must be updated
every time a record is accessed

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 37

 Access Methods (continued)

Figure 8.11: (a) Fixed-length records

(b) Variable-length records

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 38

 Access Methods (continued)
• Sequential access:
– Fixed-length records:
• CBA = CBA + RL
– Variable-length records:
• CBA = CBA + N + RLk
• Direct access:
– Fixed-length records:
• CBA = (RN – 1) * RL; RN is desired record number
– Variable-length records:
• Virtually impossible because address of desired record
can’t be easily computed

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 39

 Access Methods (continued)

• Direct access:
– Variable-length records: (continued)
• File Manager must do sequential search through
records
• File Manager can keep table of record numbers and
their CBAs
• Indexed Sequential File:
– Can be accessed either sequentially or directly
– Index file must be searched for the pointer to the
block where the data is stored

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 40

 Levels in a File Management System

• Each level of file management system is

implemented by using structured and modular
programming techniques
• Each of the modules can be further subdivided into
more specific tasks
• Using the information of basic file system, logical
file system transforms record number to its byte
address
• Verification occurs at every level of the file
management system

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 41

 Levels in a File Management System
(continued)

Figure 8.12: File Management System

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 42
 Levels in a File Management System
(continued)

• Verification occurs at every level of the file

management system:
– Directory level: file system checks to see if the
requested file exists
– Access control verification module determines
whether access is allowed
– Logical file system checks to see if the requested
byte address is within the file’s limits
– Device interface module checks to see whether the
storage device exists

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 43

 Access Control Verification Module

• Each file management system has its own method

to control file access
• Types:
– Access control matrix
– Access control lists
– Capability lists
– Lockword control

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 44

 Access Control Matrix

• Easy to implement
• Works well for systems with few files & few users
• Results in space wastage because of null entries

Table 8.1: Access Control Matrix

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 45

 Access Control Lists
• Modification of access control matrix technique
• Each file is entered in list & contains names of users who

are allowed access to it and type of access permitted

Table 8.2: Access Control List

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 46

 Access Control Lists (continued)

• Contains the name of only those users who may

use file; those denied any access are grouped
under “WORLD”
• List is shortened by putting users into categories:
– SYSTEM: personnel with unlimited access to all files
– OWNER: Absolute control over all files created in
own account
– GROUP: All users belonging to appropriate group
have access
– WORLD: All other users in system

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 47

 Capability Lists

• Lists every user and the files to which each has access
• Can control access to devices as well as to files

Table 8.3: Capability Lists

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 48

 Lockwords

• Lockword: similar to a password but protects a

single file
• Advantages:
– Requires smallest amount of storage for file
protection
• Disadvantages:
– Can be guessed by hackers or passed on to
unauthorized users
– Generally doesn’t control type of access to file
• Anyone who knows lockword can read, write, execute,
or delete file

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 49

 Data Compression

• A technique used to save space in files

• Methods for data compression:
– Records with repeated characters: Repeated
characters are replaced with a code
• e.g., ADAMSbbbbbbbbbb => ADAMSb10
300000000 => 3#8
– Repeated terms: Compressed by using symbols to
represent most commonly used words
• e.g., in a university’s student database common words
like student, course, grade, & department could each
be represented with single character

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 50

 Data Compression (continued)
Front-end compression: Each entry takes a given
number of characters from the previous entry that they
have in common

Table 8.4: Front-end compression

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 51
Case Study: File Management in Linux

• All Linux files are organized in directories that are

connected to each other in a treelike structure
• Linux specifies five types of files used by the
system to determine what the file is to be used for
• Filenames can be up to 255 characters long and
contain alphabetic characters, underscores, and
numbers
• Filename can’t start with a number or a period and
can’t contain slashes or quotes

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 52

Case Study: File Management in Linux
(continued)

• Linux users can obtain file directories:

– By opening the appropriate folder on their desktops
– Using the command shell interpreter and typing
commands after the prompt
• Linux allows three types of file permissions: read
(r), write (w), and execute (x)
• Virtual File System (VFS) maintains an interface
between system calls related to files and the file
management code

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 53

Case Study: File Management in Linux
(continued)

Table 8.5: Types of Linux files

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 54
 Summary

• The File Manager controls every file in the system

• Processes user commands (read, write, modify,
create, delete, etc.) to interact with any other file
• Manages access control procedures to maintain the
integrity and security of the files under its control
• File Manager must accommodate a variety of file
organizations, physical storage allocation schemes,
record types, and access methods

Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 55

 Summary (continued)

• Each level of file management system is

implemented with structured and modular
programming techniques
• Verification occurs at every level of the file
management system
• Data compression saves space in files
• Linux specifies five types of files used by the
system
• VFS maintains an interface between system calls
related to files and the file management code
Understanding Operating Systems, Fourth Edition 56