Fstab: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

The fstab (for file systems table) file is commonly found on UNIX-like systems and is part of the system configuration. The fstab file typically lists all used disks and disk partitions, and indicates how they are to be used or otherwise integrated into the overall system's file system.

Generally, the fstab is only read by programs, and not written; it is the duty of the system administrator to properly create and maintain this file. However, more modern system administration tools can automatically build and edit fstab, or act as graphical editors for fstab.

Example

The following is an example of a fstab file on a Redhat Linux system:

LABEL=/                 /                       ext3    defaults        1 1
none                    /dev/pts                devpts  gid=5,mode=620  0 0
none                    /proc                   proc    defaults        0 0
none                    /dev/shm                tmpfs   defaults        0 0
/dev/hda6               swap                    swap    defaults        0 0
/dev/hda7               /mnt/shared             vfat    umask=000       0 0
/dev/cdrom              /mnt/cdrom              udf,iso9660 noauto,owner,kudzu,ro 0 0
/dev/fd0                /mnt/floppy             auto    noauto,owner,kudzu 0 0

The first column indicates the device name or other means of locating the partition or data source. The second column indicates where the data is to be attached to the filesystem. The third column indicates the the filesystem type, or algorithm to use to interpret the filesystem. The fourth column gives options, including if the filesystem should be mounted at boot. The fifth column adjusts the backup schedule for the partition (used by dump). The sixth column indicates if the fsck utility should be used to scan this partition for errors at boot.