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CMU-CS-01-166
Computer Science Department
School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University
CMU-CS-01-166
Blurring the Line Between OSes and Storage Devices
Gregory R. Ganger
December 2001
CMU-CS-01-166.ps
CMU-CS-01-166.pdf
Keywords: Disk drives, storage devices, operating systems,
disk scheduling, file systems, storage management
This report makes a case for more expressive interfaces between operating
systems (OSes) and storage devices. In today’s systems, the storage interface
consists mainly of simple read and write commands; as a result, OSes
operate with little understanding of device-specific characteristics and
devices operate with little understanding of system priorities. More
expressive interfaces, together with extended versions of today’s OS
and firmware specializations, would allow the two to cooperate to achieve
performance and functionality that neither can achieve alone.
This report consists of the technical content of an NSF proposal submitted
in January 2001 and funded in June 2001 under the Information Technology
Research (ITR) program. The only divergence from the original proposal is
results from prior NSF support).
18 pages
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