System Administration Guide: Devices and File Systems
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Commands for File System Administration

Most commands for file system administration have both a generic component and a file system–specific component. Whenever possible, you should use the generic commands, which call the file system–specific component. The following table lists the generic commands for file system administration. These commands are located in the /usr/sbin directory.

Table 17-1 Generic Commands for File System Administration

Command

Description

Man Page

clri

Clears inodes

clri(1M)

df

Reports the number of free disk blocks and files

df(1M)

ff

Lists file names and statistics for a file system

ff(1M)

fsck

Checks the integrity of a file system and repairs any damage found

fsck(1M)

fsdb

Debugs the file system

fsdb(1M)

fstyp

Determines the file system type

fstyp(1M)

labelit

Lists or provides labels for file systems when they are copied to tape (for use only by the volcopy command)

labelit(1M)

mkfs

Creates a new file system

mkfs(1M)

mount

Mounts local and remote file systems

mount(1M)

mountall

Mounts all file systems that are specified in the virtual file system table (/etc/vfstab)

mountall(1M)

ncheck

Generates a list of path names with their inode numbers

ncheck(1M)

umount

Unmounts local and remote file systems

mount(1M)

umountall

Unmounts all file systems that are specified in the virtual file system table (/etc/vfstab)

mountall(1M)

volcopy

Creates an image copy of a file system

volcopy(1M)

How File System Commands Determine the File System Type

The generic file system commands determine the file system type by following this sequence:

  1. From the -F option, if supplied.

  2. By matching a special device with an entry in the /etc/vfstab file (if the special device is supplied). For example, fsck first looks for a match against the fsck device field. If no match is found, the command then checks the special device field.

  3. By using the default specified in the /etc/default/fs file for local file systems and in the /etc/dfs/fstypes file for remote file systems.

Manual Pages for Generic and Specific File System Commands

Both the generic commands and specific commands have manual pages in the man pages section 1M: System Administration Commands. The manual pages for the generic file system commands provide information about generic command options only. The manual page for a specific file system command has information about options for that file system. To look at a manual page for a specific file system, append an underscore and the abbreviation for the file system type to the generic command name. For example, to see the specific manual page for mounting a UFS file system, type the following:

$ man mount_ufs
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