You can format block devices and logical volumes with any of several different file systems on Oracle Linux. File systems include different features that can make them ideal for particular environments or workloads.

The most commonly used file systems on Oracle Linux include the following:

Btrfs

A copy-on-write file system that's designed to address the expanding scalability requirements of large storage subsystems. Btrfs includes the following key features: snapshots, a roll-back capability, checksum functionality for data integrity, transparent compression, and integrated logical volume management.

Note:

In Oracle Linux, the Btrfs file system type is supported on Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) releases only. If you boot the system using RHCK, any Btrfs file systems are inaccessible.

See also Oracle Linux 10: Managing the Btrfs File System

Ext4

A version of the extended file system. Ext4 includes the same features that are available in Ext3, but includes the addition of the following features: extents or contiguous physical blocks, preallocation, delayed allocation, speedier file system checking, more robust journaling, and several other enhancements.

See also Oracle Linux 10: Managing the Ext File System

XFS

A high-performance, journaling file system that provides high scalability for I/O threads, file system bandwidth, file size, and file system size, even for file systems that span many storage devices. XFS is the default file system selection when installing Oracle Linux.

See also Oracle Linux 10: Managing the XFS File System

File system limitations are affected by kernel versions and features, and also by the architecture of the system on which Oracle Linux is installed. You can review the limits on the different core file systems described in Oracle Linux: Limits.

To list recognized local file system types on a system, use the following command:

ls -1 /sbin/mkfs.*

Note that the following output might differ, depending on the packages that are installed on the system, but output might appear as follows:

/sbin/mkfs.btrfs
/sbin/mkfs.cramfs
/sbin/mkfs.exfat
/sbin/mkfs.ext2
/sbin/mkfs.ext3
/sbin/mkfs.ext4
/sbin/mkfs.fat
/sbin/mkfs.minix
/sbin/mkfs.msdos
/sbin/mkfs.ocfs2
/sbin/mkfs.udf
/sbin/mkfs.vfat
/sbin/mkfs.xfs
/sbin/mkfs.xmem

These executable files are used to make the file system type that's specified by their extension. See Formatting a File System for more information.

In addition to local file systems, Oracle Linux can use shared file systems that are available across a network. Examples include:

NFS

NFS is a distributed file system protocol that lets systems share files over a network. NFS is in common usage in Linux and UNIX environments. An NFS server exports directories or files to clients, which can then mount these resources as if they were local. NFS is typically used when setting up a shared storage solution within an organization where client systems use Linux or UNIX platforms. NFS exposes an existing locally formatted file system over the network. See Oracle Linux 10: Managing the Network File System for more information.

OCFS2

The Oracle Cluster File System version 2 is a cluster file system designed for high-performance computing environments. It provides a scalable and fault-tolerant way to manage shared storage among nodes in a cluster. Unlike traditional file systems, OCFS2 lets servers concurrently read and write to the same block device, making it ideal for applications requiring simultaneous access to shared data. Use cases include large-scale databases, virtualization platforms, and cloud infrastructure where several instances need concurrent access to shared storage. Block devices are formatted with OCFS2 across the cluster. See Oracle Linux 10: Managing the Oracle Cluster File System Version 2 for more information.

CIFS/SMB

CIFS (Common Internet File System) and SMB (Server Message Block) are network file-sharing protocols developed by Microsoft and designed to let Windows-based systems share files with other devices on a network, including Linux systems running Samba software. SMBv3 includes significant improvements and security enhancements over CIFS and is the preferred protocol choice. See Oracle Linux 10: Managing Samba for more information.