The VERITAS File System (or VxFS; called JFS and OnlineJFS in HP-UX) is an extent-based file system. It was originally developed by VERITAS Software. Through an OEM agreement, VxFS is used as the primary filesystem of the HP-UX operating system. With on-line defragmentation and resize support turned on via license, it is known as OnlineJFS.

It is also supported on AIX, Linux, Solaris, OpenSolaris, SINIX/Reliant UNIX, UnixWare and SCO OpenServer. VxFS was originally developed for AT&T's Unix System Laboratories. VxFS is packaged as a part of the Veritas Storage Foundation (which also includes Veritas Volume Manager).

History

According to the vendor, it was the first commercial journaling file system.

That claim can be taken in two ways, i.e., the first implementation of a journaling file system in a commercial context, or the first file system available as an unbundled product.

Dan Koren is cited as one of the original developers of VxFS.

He notes in a mailing list that they "finished release 1.0 one year or so later" after starting development of VxFS under a contract with AT&T Corporation in 1990. Other sources agree that the product was first released in 1991.

As the internet was not widely available in the early 1990s, getting a new file system deployed for Unix-like operating systems was more difficult, so the one- to two-year delay in the release and commercialization of this file system was not unusual.

Version history

The on-disk layout of VxFS is versioned and upgradeable while the file system is mounted. This file system has gone through ten versions.

  • Version 2 added support for filesets, dynamic inode allocation and ACLs. Layouts 1–3 stopped being supported in VxFS 4.0.
  • Version 4 added support for storage checkpoints and for Veritas Cluster File System. Version 4 was released in VxFS 3.2.1. Layout version 4 is no longer supported under VxFS 5.1.
  • Version 5 started support for file systems up to 32 terabytes () in size. Individual files can be up to 2 terabytes in size. Version 5 was introduced in VxFS 3.5 and is no longer supported under VxFS 5.1.