Veritas™ File System Programmer's Reference Guide - Solaris

Last Published:
Product(s): InfoScale & Storage Foundation (7.2)
Platform: Solaris
  1. Veritas File System software developer's kit
    1.  
      About the software developer's kit
    2. File System software developer's kit features
      1.  
        API library interfaces
      2.  
        File Change Log
      3.  
        Multi-volume support
      4.  
        Veritas File System I/O
    3.  
      Software developer's kit packages
    4.  
      Required libraries and header files
    5. Compiling environment
      1.  
        Recompiling with a different compiler
  2. File Change Log
    1. About the File Change Log file
      1.  
        Recorded changes
      2. Using the File Change Log file
        1.  
          Space usage
        2.  
          Full system scan reductions
        3.  
          File history traces
      3.  
        File Change Log logging activation
      4. File Change Log file layout
        1.  
          File Change Log superblock
        2.  
          File Change Log record
    2. Record types
      1.  
        Special records
      2.  
        Typical record sequences
    3. File Change Log tunables
      1.  
        How tunables handle File Change Log growth size
    4. Application programming interface for File Change Log
      1.  
        Ease of use
      2.  
        Backward compatibility
      3. API functions
        1.  
          Functions for accessing File Change Log records
        2.  
          Functions for seeking offsets and time stamps in the File Change Log
        3. vxfs_fcl_open
          1.  
            Return value
        4. vxfs_fcl_close
          1.  
            Parameters
        5. vxfs_fcl_getinfo
          1.  
            Return values
        6. vxfs_fcl_read
          1.  
            Parameters
          2.  
            Input
          3.  
            Output
          4.  
            Return values
        7. vxfs_fcl_getcookie
          1.  
            Parameters
        8. vxfs_fcl_seek
          1.  
            Parameters
          2.  
            Return values
        9. vxfs_fcl_seektime
          1.  
            Parameters
          2.  
            Return values
        10. vxfs_fcl_sync
          1.  
            Parameters
      4. File Change Log record
        1.  
          Defines
        2.  
          fcl_iostats structure
        3.  
          fcl_acsinfo structure
        4.  
          Record structure fields
      5. Copying File Change Log records
        1.  
          Index maintenance application
        2. Computing a usage profile
          1.  
            Initial setup
          2.  
            Sample steps
          3.  
            Off host processing
      6. Veritas File System and File Change Log upgrade and downgrade
        1.  
          Converting File Change Log version 3 files to version 4
        2.  
          Downgrading Veritas File System versions
    5. Reverse path name lookup
      1.  
        Inodes
      2.  
        vxfs_inotopath_gen
  3. Multi-volume support
    1.  
      About multi-volume support
    2.  
      Uses for multi-volume support
    3. Volume application programming interfaces
      1.  
        Administering volume sets
      2.  
        Querying the volume set for a file system
      3.  
        Modifying a volume within a file system
      4.  
        Encapsulationg and de-encapsulating a volume
    4. Allocation policy application programming interfaces
      1.  
        Directing file allocations
      2.  
        Creating and assigning policies
      3.  
        Querying the defined policies
      4.  
        Enforcing a policy
    5.  
      Data structures
    6. Using policies and application programming interfaces
      1.  
        Defining and assigning allocation policies
      2.  
        Using volume application programming interfaces
  4. Named data streams
    1.  
      About named data streams
    2.  
      Uses for named data streams
    3.  
      Named data streams application programming interface
    4.  
      Listing named data streams
    5.  
      Namespace for named data streams
    6.  
      Behavior changes in other system calls
    7.  
      Querying named data streams
    8.  
      Application programming interface
    9.  
      Command reference
  5. Veritas File System I/O
    1.  
      About Veritas File System I/O
    2.  
      Freeze and thaw
    3. Caching advisories
      1.  
        Direct I/O
      2.  
        Concurrent I/O
      3.  
        Unbuffered I/O
      4.  
        Other advisories
    4. Extents
      1. Extent attributes
        1.  
          Attribute specifics
      2.  
        Reservation: preallocating space to a file
      3.  
        Fixed extent size
      4.  
        Application programming interface for extent attributes
      5. Allocation flags
        1.  
          Allocation flags with reservation
        2.  
          Reservation trimming
        3.  
          Non-persistent reservation
        4.  
          No write beyond reservation
        5.  
          Contiguous reservation
        6.  
          Include reservation in the file size
        7.  
          Reading the grown part of the file
      6.  
        Allocation flags with fixed extent size
      7.  
        How to use extent attribute APIs
      8.  
        Setting fixed extent size
  6. Thin Reclamation
    1.  
      About Thin Storage
    2.  
      About Thin Reclamation
    3. Thin Reclamation application programming interface
      1.  
        vxfs_ts_reclaim return values

Fixed extent size

VxFS uses the I/O size of write requests and the default allocation policy for allocating space to a file. For some applications, the default allocation policy may not be optimal. Setting a fixed extent size on a file overrides the default allocation policies for that file. Applications can set a fixed extent size to match the application I/O size so that all new extents allocated to the file are of the fixed size. By using a fixed extent size, an application can reduce allocation attempts and guarantee optimal extent sizes for a file. With the fixed extent size attribute, an extending write operation will trigger VxFS to extend the previously allocated extent by the fixed extent size amount to maintain contiguity of the extent. If the last extent cannot be extended by the fixed extent size amount, a new disjoint extent is allocated. The size of a fixed extent should factor in the size of file I/O appropriate to the application. Do not use small fixed extent size to eliminate the advantage with extent-base allocation policies.

Another use of a fixed extent size occurs with sparse files. VxFS usually performs I/O in multiples of the system-defined page size. When allocating to a sparse file, VxFS allocates space in multiples of the page size according to the amount of page I/O in need of allocation. If the application always does sub-page I/O, the use of fixed extent size in multiples of the page size reduces allocations.

Applications should not use a large fixed extent size. Allocating a large fixed extent may fail due to the unavailability of an extent of that size, whereas smaller extents are more readily available for allocation.

Custom applications may also use fixed extent sizes for specific reasons, such as the need to align extents to cylinder or striping boundaries on disk.

The fixed extent size attribute is specified in units of file system block size. The attribute specifies the number of contiguous file system blocks to allocate for a new extent, or the number of contiguous blocks to allocate and append to the end of an existing extent. A file with this attribute has fixed size extents or larger extents that are a multiple of the fixed size extent.