Most systems running pure RPG or COBOL applications may not need to pay much attention to nontraditional objects or the IFS. Many environments these days though are very mixed with a variety of applications including client/server, web based, Java or maybe even some ILE C code. The IFS is structured similar to personal computer and UNIX operating systems.

These newer applications and their cross platform focus has forced most operating systems into adopting a consistent file structure. Files are stored in folders. One folder may contain several files and may also contain more folders. If your environment is running an HTTP server with a browser based application running some Java code, you likely have numerous "stream files" stored on the IFS. These files need to be monitored just like your physical files and OS/400 program objects.