In
computing
Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and development of both hardware and software. Computing has scientific, ...
, a NetWare File System (NWFS) is a
file system
In computing, file system or filesystem (often abbreviated to fs) is a method and data structure that the operating system uses to control how data is stored and retrieved. Without a file system, data placed in a storage medium would be one larg ...
based on a heavily modified version of
FAT. It was used in the
Novell NetWare
NetWare is a discontinued computer network operating system developed by Novell, Inc. It initially used cooperative multitasking to run various services on a personal computer, using the IPX network protocol.
The original NetWare product in ...
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ef ...
. It is the default and only file system for all volumes in versions 2.x through 4.x, and the default and only file system for the SYS volume continuing through version 5.x. Novell developed two varieties of NWFS:
# 16-bit NWFS 286, used in NetWare 2.x
# 32-bit NWFS 386, used in NetWare 3.x through NetWare 6.x.
Novell Storage Services (NSS, released in 1998), superseded the NWFS format.
The NWFS on-disk format was never publicly documented by Novell. The published specifications for 32-bit NWFS are:
* Maximum file size: 4
GB
* Maximum volume size: 1
TB
* Maximum files per volume: 2 million when using a single name space.
* Maximum files per server: 16 million
* Maximum directory entries: 16 million
* Maximum volumes per server: 64
* Maximum volumes per partition: 8
* Maximum open files per server: 100,000
* Maximum directory tree depth: 100 levels
* Characters used: ASCII double-byte
* Maximum
extended attributes Extended file attributes are file system features that enable users to associate computer files with metadata not interpreted by the filesystem, whereas regular attributes have a purpose strictly defined by the filesystem (such as permissions or ...
: 512
* Maximum
data streams: 10
* Support for different name spaces:
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...
Long names (a.k.a.
OS/2
OS/2 (Operating System/2) is a series of computer operating systems, initially created by Microsoft and IBM under the leadership of IBM software designer Ed Iacobucci. As a result of a feud between the two companies over how to position OS/2 r ...
namespace),
Unix
Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, ...
,
Apple Macintosh
The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software ...
* Support for restoring deleted files (salvage)
* Support for journaling (Novell ''Transaction Tracking System'' a.k.a. ''TTS'')
* Support for block suballocation, starting in NetWare 4.x
For larger files the file system utilized a performance feature named ''Turbo FAT''.
Transparent file compression was also supported, although this had a significant impact on the performance of file serving.
Every name space requires its own separate directory entry for each file. While the maximum number of directory entries is 16,000,000, two resident name spaces would reduce the usable maximum number of directory entries to 8,000,000, and three to 5,333,333.
16-bit NWFS could handle volumes of up to 256
MB. However, its only name-space support was a dedicated
API to handle Macintosh clients.
See also
*
List of file systems
The following lists identify, characterize, and link to more thorough information on Computer file systems.
Many older operating systems support only their one "native" file system, which does not bear any name apart from the name of the operating ...
*
Comparison of file systems
The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of file systems.
General information
Limits
Metadata
Features File capabilities
Block capabilities
Note that in addition to the below table, blo ...
*
Transaction-Safe FAT File System
External links
Using the Transaction Tracking System
{{DEFAULTSORT:Netware File System
Compression file systems
Disk file systems
Network file systems
Novell NetWare