UNIX Management

UNIX Management Introduction

UNIX is an operating system that was developed in 1969. It is an operating system that can handle multiple tasks as well as multiple users simultaneously. Initially, it was developed at Bell Laboratories. It is owned by the organization named Open Group.

Since its creation, UNIX has undergone many changes. Initially, UNIX was developed on assembly language, but later on it was coded again but on C language. It was operated on servers as well as workstations. Perhaps, UNIX played an important role in the development of the internet. It was an operating system that soon gained acceptance throughout the world. Originally, it was developed mainly for the purpose of programming, but later on users started adding their own tools so as to facilitate their work.

UNIX provides complete feature of time sharing in order to facilitate multiple users at the same time. It has a command line based environment. UNIX command line interface is quite powerful as it allows creating larger programs by manipulating smaller programs. Another important aspect regarding UNIX is that it is a case sensitive operation system (University of California, Berkeley, 1998). UNIX made use of multiple small programs at the same time. This concept is known as pipes. A program named as kernel is an integral part of the UNIX operating system. Kernel is responsible for managing most of the general tasks of the UNIX, like starting and terminating programs. It also manages the file system of the UNIX operating system, besides handling small programs that are mostly shared by other applications. Besides this, kernel also handles tasks such as memory, process and file management (The UNIX Operating System, 2007).

UNIX is a system that provides users with a great deal of portability. Since UNIX had been rewritten in C language, it makes it easier for users to port it to some other hardware. UNIX hides the complex details of low level language from the user, thus allowing easier porting of applications to other systems or hardware. UNIX comprises of a number of components which include kernel, documents as well as libraries. In other words, UNIX offered a complete platform for the computer systems, which helped it earn vast acceptance within a short time.

Discussion

File system management in UNIX

Before discussing the management of file system in UNIX, one must consider its key features. As far as UNIX is considered, its file system is secure, complete and most importantly, hierarchical. Being a secure file system, it offers great flexibility to manage multiple users. It provides users with most of the commands that are mostly required to manage the file system. The key feature, i.e. hierarchical file system allows the user to manage files and the file system in a convenient manner.

File system management in UNIX is a feature that allows organization and storage of files and data in a logical way. This feature provides ease with file system management. In UNIX file system, the smallest unit of data that can be ...