Open System Services Management and Operations Guide (G06.25+, H06.03+)

Understanding the OSS File System
Open System Services Management and Operations Guide—527191-002
3-2
OSS Pathnames
OSS pathnames are logical names; they have no connection to storage devices. The
relationship of OSS files to disk volumes is illustrated in Figure 3-1.
In contrast, Guardian filenames that are not administered through the NonStop Storage
Management Foundation (SMF) are physical names: they mention physical storage
devices. A fully qualified Guardian filename includes the name of a system node, a
disk volume name, a subvolume name, and a name for the file itself. The relationship
of Guardian files to disk volumes is illustrated in Figure 3-2 on page 3-3.
The OSS file system allows a high degree of nesting: you can have subdirectories,
subsubdirectories, subsubsubdirectories, and so on. The Guardian environment allows
only three levels: volume, subvolume, and file ID.
In the Guardian environment, you cannot have a volume within a volume. In the OSS
environment, directories that are within directories are common.
Figure 3-1. OSS Files and Disk Volumes
/ (root)
/sdir1 /sdir2
/sdir1/a /sdir2/d
/sdir1/a/file1 /sdir1/a/file3 /sdir2/d/file2/sdir2/d/file1
/sdir1/a/file2
Root directory.
Directories in the root directory (subdirectories).
Directories in a subdirectory (also called subdirectories).
Any number of directories and files can be in a subdirectory.
Files.
Disk volume $VOL1 contains files from two directories.
Disk volume $VOL2 contains files from two directories.
Legend
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
4
3
$VOL1
/sdir1/a/file1
/sdir1/a/file2
/sdir2/d/file1
6
$VOL2
/sdir2/d/file2
/sdir1/a/file3
7
2
4
3
5
5 5 55
2
... ...
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