Deck 13: Understanding File Systems and Database Systems: a Comprehensive Overview

Question 1

A file is ________.

A) is a named collection of data
B) is manipulated as a unit by operations such as open, close, create or destroy
C) stored exclusively on persistent storage devices such as hard disks, CDs or DVDs
D) a and b only

Answer 1

is manipulated as a unit by operations such as open, close, create or destroy

Question 2

A ________ is the number of bits a processor can operate on at once.

A) cache line
B) byte
C) word
D) register

Answer 2

word

Question 3

Unicode ________.

A) is the internationally recognized standard character set popular in Internet and multilingual applications
B) contains a 64-bit version to support the Chinese character set
C) is compatible with the EBCDIC character set
D) all of the above

Answer 3

is the internationally recognized standard character set popular in Internet and multilingual applications

Question 4

Which of the following lists elements of the data hierarchy in order from smallest to largest?

A) record, field, file system, database
B) field, record, file system
C) word, byte, record
D) word, record, field

Question 5

Files may be characterized by attributes such as ________.

A) size
B) priority
C) activity
D) both a and c

Question 6

The volatility attribute of a file specifies ________.

A) the frequency with which additions and deletions are made to a file
B) whether the file is stored on a volatile medium
C) the percentage of a file's records accessed during a given period of time
D) restrictions placed on access to data in a file

Question 7

In a file with variable-length records, records may vary in size up to the ________ size.

A) word
B) record
C) block
D) field

Question 8

A file system is responsible for ________.

A) file management
B) auxiliary storage management
C) file integrity mechanisms
D) all of the above

Question 9

myFile.txt is an example of a ________, whereas "disk 2, blocks 782-791" is an example of a ________.

A) physical device name, logical device name
B) physical device name, symbolic name
C) logical device name, physical device name
D) symbolic name, physical device name

Question 10

A ________ view of data is concerned with the layout of file data on a storage device.

A) physical
B) device
C) logical
D) symbolic

Question 11

Which of the following statements about directories is false?

A) Directories contain the names and locations of other files in the file system.
B) Directories often store user data.
C) Directions may contain the access times and modified times of files.
D) Directories may contain a "type" field that specifies a description of a file's purpose.

Question 12

In a hierarchically structured file system, the name of a file is formed by the pathname from the ________ to the file.

A) user directory
B) base directory
C) root directory
D) relative directory

Question 13

The UNIX-based operating systems use ________ as a delimiter between parts of a pathname; Windows operating systems use ________.

A) /, \
B) /, :
C) \, /
D) /, /

Question 14

The ________ path to a file is the path beginning at the root.

A) relative
B) absolute
C) working
D) symbolic

Question 15

Which one of the following statements about links is false?

A) A soft link is a directory entry containing the pathname for another file.
B) A hard link is a directory entry that specifies the physical location of a file.
C) File systems typically update soft links when a referenced file is moved to a different directory.
D) A hard link may reference invalid data if the physical location of the corresponding file changes.

Question 16

A file system's metadata may contain ________.

A) the locations of a storage device's free blocks
B) the time at which a file was last modified
C) both a and b
D) none of the above

Question 17

The type of file system on a storage device is often specified by the ________ in the ________.

A) file system name, root directory
B) file system identifier, superblock
C) file system identifier, root directory
D) file system name, root directory.

Question 18

The mount command combines multiple file systems into one ________ and allows users to access data from different locations as if all files were located inside the native file system.

A) namespace
B) root directory
C) physical view
D) pathname

Question 19

What typically happens when a file system's mount point contains directories of the native file system?

A) The contents of the mounted file system and the native file system are merged, with the mounted file system's contents taking precedence in the case of any duplicate directory or file names.
B) The contents of the mounted file system and the native file system are merged, with the native file system's contents taking precedence in the case of any duplicate directory or file names.
C) The contents of the native file system's directory at the mount point are temporarily hidden.
D) The contents of the native file system's directory at the mount point are deleted.

Question 20

The ________ file organization scheme places records on disk in logical sequence according to a key contained in each record.

A) sequential
B) direct
C) indexed sequential
D) partitioned

Question 21

Contiguous file allocation is inappropriate for general-purpose file systems because ________.

A) successive logical records typically are physically adjacent to one another
B) if a file grows beyond the size originally specified and there are no adjacent free blocks, the file must be transferred to a new area of adequate size
C) locating file data is complicated, because the system must store multiple memory addresses to reference a file.
D) all of the above

Question 22

Contiguous file allocation is most appropriate for ________.

A) CD-RWs
B) magnetic disk drives
C) DVD-Rs
D) Contiguous allocation is equally appropriate for all of the above.

Question 23

A block allocation scheme allocates files using ________.

A) individual sectors
B) blocks of noncontiguous sectors
C) blocks of contiguous sectors
D) none of the above

Question 24

Large block sizes generally ________ the number of I/O operations required to access file data; small block sizes generally ________ the amount of internal fragmentation.

A) increase, increase
B) increase, reduce
C) reduce, increase
D) reduce, reduce

Question 25

Microsoft's FAT file system uses a(n) ________ file allocation scheme.

A) contiguous
B) linked-list noncontiguous
C) tabular noncontiguous
D) indexed noncontiguous

Question 26

An inode stores ________.

A) a file's attributes
B) the addresses for some of a file's data blocks
C) pointers to continuation index blocks
D) all of the above

Question 27

Which of the following statements is true?

A) Tabular noncontiguous file allocation yields good performance only when the file system cache is large.
B) Indexed noncontiguous file allocation allows the file system to locate any block of file by following a bounded, small number of pointers.
C) Tabular and indexed noncontiguous file allocation exhibit faster lookup times than contiguous file allocations.
D) none of the above

Question 28

Bitmaps allow the file type to ________ quickly; free lists enable the file system to ________ quickly.

A) find the first available block, find contiguous blocks
B) find contiguous blocks, defragment the file system
C) find contiguous blocks, find the next available block
D) find the next available block, find contiguous blocks

Question 29

Which one of the following statements about free space management techniques is false?

A) Bitmaps allow the file system to quickly determine if contiguous blocks are available at certain memory locations.
B) The file system typically maintains free blocks in a free list, sorted by memory address.
C) The last entry of the last free list block typically stores a null pointer.
D) The ith bit in a bitmap typically corresponds to the ith block in the file system.

Question 30

Which one of the following statements about access control matrices is true?

A) In an installation with a large number of users and number of files, the matrix would be quite small.
B) Because allowing access to a file is the exception rather than the rule, the matrix will be rather dense.
C) The entry a_ij is 1 if user i is allowed access to file j.
D) The entry a_ij is 1 if user i may not be access file j.

Question 31

Which of the following lists presents user classes in order from least restrictive to most restrictive?

A) group, owner, public
B) public, group, owner
C) owner, group, public
D) public, owner, group

Question 32

Public access rights, by default, typically allow users to ________.

A) read, execute and write a file
B) read a file, but not execute or write it
C) read and write a file, but not execute it
D) read and execute a file, but not write it

Question 33

________ typically are used when the sequence in which records are to be processed can be anticipated; ________ generally are used when the sequence in which records are to be processed cannot be anticipated.

A) Queued access methods, basic access methods
B) Sequential access methods, basic access methods
C) Basic access methods, queued access methods
D) Basic access methods, sequential access methods

Question 34

Memory-mapped files ________.

A) map file data to a process's virtual address space
B) map file data to file system caches
C) simplify application programming
D) both a and c

Question 35

Which of the following statements about backup operations is false?

A) Physical backups duplicate a storage device's data at the bit level.
B) Logical backups store file system data and its logical structure.
C) Physical backups are appropriate for a user to restore a single file from the backup.
D) Logical backups may not store hidden system files.

Question 36

Which type of backup would be best suited for a mission-critical system that modifies a small number of files between backups?

A) frequent physical backup
B) infrequent logical backup
C) frequent incremental backup
D) infrequent incremental backup

Question 37

Transaction-based logging reduces the risk of data loss by using ________ transactions, which perform a group of operations in their entirety, or not at all.

A) shadow
B) virtual
C) exclusive
D) atomic

Question 38

If an error occurs that prevents a transaction from completing, transaction-based logging allows the system to "________" the system to the state before the transaction began.

A) roll back
B) unwind
C) reset
D) restore

Question 39

Because data is written ________ in an LFS, each write times generally ________ compared to traditional file systems.

A) nonsequentially, increase
B) nonsequentially, decrease
C) sequentially, increase
D) sequentially, decrease

Question 40

Which one of the following statements about file servers and distributed systems is false?

A) In an NFS network, each computer maintains a file system that can act as a server and/or a client.
B) NFS networks must contain computers running the same operating system.
C) A file server is a computer system dedicated to resolving intercomputer file references.
D) A distributed file system enables users to treat remote files in a computer network in much the same manner as local files.

Question 41

A database system includes ________.

A) the data in the database.
B) the hardware on which the data resides.
C) the software that controls access to the data.
D) all of the above

Question 42

A ________ is software that controls access to data in a database.

A) database management server
B) structured query language
C) database management system
D) data manipulation language

Question 43

Which of the following is not an advantage of using a database system?

A) Databases are not susceptible to attack due to the centralized control and location of data.
B) Databases help eliminate redundant data.
C) Databases allow access to shared data.
D) Databases organize data by content instead of by pathname.

Question 44

A ________ enables users to find data items in a database.

A) query language
B) data manipulation language
C) data definition language
D) all of the above

Question 45

The role of a data manipulation language (DML) is ________.

A) to specify how data items are organized
B) to modify data
C) to search the database
D) to specify how data items are related

Question 46

A particular element (row) of a relation is called a ________.

A) field
B) primary key
C) tuple
D) result set

Question 47

The columns of a relation are known as ________.

A) keys
B) attributes
C) results
D) domains

Question 48

The ________ operation forms a relation from more than one relation.

A) join
B) projection
C) subset
D) merge

Question 49

Which of the following statements accurately describes operating system support for databases?

A) Most operating systems modify file system management, memory management and interprocess communication to support multiple databases.
B) Databases are too complicated to merit operating system support.
C) Most operating systems modify file system management, memory management and interprocess communication to support a single databases.
D) DBMS designers tend to bypass operating system services in favor of their own.