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About disk layouts

The disk layout is the way file system information is stored on disk. On VxFS, six different disk layout versions were created to take advantage of evolving technological developments.

The disk layout versions used on VxFS are:

Version 1 

The Version 1 disk layout is the original VxFS disk layout provided with pre-2.0 versions of VxFS. 

Not Supported 

Version 2 

The Version 2 disk layout supports features such as filesets, dynamic inode allocation, and enhanced security. The Version 2 layout is available with and without quotas support.  

Not Supported 

Version 3 

The Version 3 disk layout encompasses all file system structural information in files, rather than at fixed locations on disk, allowing for greater scalability. Version 3 supports files and file systems up to one terabyte in size. 

Not Supported 

Version 4 

The Version 4 disk layout encompasses all file system structural information in files, rather than at fixed locations on disk, allowing for greater scalability. Version 4 supports files and file systems up to one terabyte in size. 

Supported 

Version 5 

Version 5 enables the creation of file system sizes up to 32 terabytes. Files can be a maximum of one terabyte. File systems larger than 1TB must be created on a Veritas Volume Manager volume. 

Not Supported 

Version 6 

The Version 6 disk layout enables features such as multi-volume support, cross-platform data sharing, named data streams, and File Change Log. 

Supported 

Version 7 

 

Supported 

Some of the disk layout versions were not supported on all UNIX operating systems. Currently, only the Version 4, 6, and 7 disk layouts are supported and can be created and mounted. Version 1, 2, 3, and 5 disk layout file systems cannot be created nor mounted. Version 7 is the default disk layout version.

The vxupgrade command is provided to upgrade an existing VxFS file system to the Version 6, then 7 layout while the file system remains online. You must upgrade in steps from older to newer layouts.

See the vxupgrade(1M) manual page.