On SPARC based systems, Solaris defines eight disk slices and
assigns to each a conventional use. These slices are numbered 0 through 7. The table
below summarizes the contents of the eight Solaris slices on a SPARC based
system.
|
Table 65 -
SPARC: Customary Disk Slices |
|||
|
Slice |
File System |
Usually Found on Client or Server Systems? |
Purpose |
|
0 |
root |
Both |
Holds files and directories that make up the operating system. |
|
1 |
swap |
Both |
Provides virtual memory, or swap space. Swap space is
used when running programs are too large to fit in a computer's memory. The
Solaris operating environment then "swaps" programs from memory to
the disk and back as needed. |
|
2 |
- |
both |
Refers to the entire disk, by convention. It is defined
automatically by the format
and the Solaris installation programs. The size of this slice should not be
changed. |
|
3 |
/export |
Server only |
Holds alternative versions of the operating system. These
alternative versions are required by client systems whose architectures
differ from that of the server. Clients with the same architecture type as
the server obtain executables from the /usr file system, usually slice 6. |
|
4 |
/export/swap |
Server only |
Provides virtual memory space for client systems. |
|
5 |
/opt |
Both |
Holds application software added to a system. If a slice is not
allocated for this file system during installation, the /opt
directory is put in slice 0. |
|
6 |
/usr |
Both |
Holds operating system commands-also known as executables-
designed to be run by users. This slice also holds documentation, system
programs (init
and syslogd,
for example) and library routines. |
|
7 |
/home
or /export/home |
Both |
Holds files created by users. |
On IA based
systems, disks are divided into fdisk partitions. An fdisk
partition is a section of the disk reserved for a particular operating
environment, such as Solaris.
Solaris places
ten slices, numbered 0-9, on a Solaris fdisk partition as shown in the following
table.
|
Table 66 - Customary Disk Slices |
|||
|
Slice |
File System |
Usually Found on Client or Server Systems? |
Purpose |
|
0 |
root |
Both |
Holds the files and directories that make up the operating
system. |
|
1 |
swap |
Both |
Provides virtual memory, or swap space. Swap space is
used when running programs are too large to fit in a computer's memory. The
Solaris operating environment then "swaps" programs from memory to
the disk and back as needed. |
|
2 |
- |
Both |
Refers to the entire disk, by convention. It is defined
automatically by the format
utility and the Solaris installation programs. The size of this slice should
not be changed. |
|
3 |
/export |
Server only |
Holds alternative versions of the operating system. These alternative
versions are required by client systems whose architectures differ from that
of the server. |
|
4 |
/export/swap |
Server only |
Provides virtual memory space for the client systems. |
|
5 |
/opt |
Both |
Holds application software added to a system. If a slice is not
allocated for this file system during installation, the /opt
directory is put in slice 0. |
|
6 |
/usr |
Both |
Holds operating system commands-also known as executables-that
are run by users. This slice also holds documentation, system programs (init and syslogd, for
example) and library routines. |
|
7 |
/home
or /export/home |
Both |
Holds files created by users. |
|
8 |
- |
Both |
Contains information necessary for Solaris to boot from the
hard disk. It resides at the beginning of the Solaris partition (although the
slice number itself does not indicate this), and is known as the boot slice. |
|
9 |
- |
Both |
Provides an area reserved for alternate disk blocks. Slice 9 is
known as the alternate sector slice. |