Distinction b/w file system and directory

kd9626 · #1 (**permalink**) 10-23-2006

Can you give a very basic definition of file system vs. directory in unix. The context is around monitoring for disk capacity maxing out.
Why would /appl/sbe/inst_2/config/logs not be able to be because it is a directory
but appl/cce can be monitored because it is a unix file system. They both look like directories to me...

Corona688 · #2 (**permalink**) 10-23-2006

In UNIX, filesystems don't appear on drive letters, they appear in device files. /dev/hda1 might be the first partition of the first IDE drive, for example. These device files are attached to directories on the directory tree with the 'mount' command, usually according to /etc/fstab. The root directory itself, /, is mounted when the kernel boots.

So there's the root partition, which contains files and directories, and filesystems that you can mount upon directories in the root partition.

You can see what partitions are mounted on what directories with df

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