Directory formats

Three directory formats

The filer supports three directory formats. Each format supports a particular set of file names, as shown in the following table.

                                Directory Format:
Pre-Data ONTAP 4.0 Data ONTAP 4.0 Unicode
Versions used in Data ONTAP 3 and earlier Data ONTAP 4.0 through 5.2 Data ONTAP 5.3
Types of file names supported NFS file names only Multiprotocol file names in ASCII, with limited non-ASCII support for CIFS names File names that use non-ASCII characters

Directory sizes

Pre-Data ONTAP 4.0 and Data ONTAP 4.0 are slightly smaller than Unicode directories. If you are concerned about space on disks or in volumes, you might want to avoid Unicode directories.

Directory creation and formats

By default, the filer creates NFS directories in pre-4.0 format. When accessed by NFS, directories remain in pre-4.0 format, and the first CIFS access of a directory converts it to Unicode format.

CIFS directories are created in Unicode format.

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Part No. 210-02334
File: multi11.htm
Last updated: 04/26/99 08:11:26