The AIX* Version 3 storage facilities include features not found in other implementations of the UNIX † operating system. Maximum virtual memory is more than 1000 terabytes and is used pervasively to access all files and the meta-data of the file systems. Each separate file system (subtree) of the file name hierarchy occupies a logical disk volume, composed of space from possibly several disks. Database memory (a variant of virtual memory) and other database techniques are used to manage file system meta-data. These features provide the capacity to address large applications and many users, simplified program access to file data, efficient file buffering in memory, flexible management of disk space, and reliable file systems with short restart times.
Chang et al. (Mon,) studied this question.