Blurring the Line Between Oses and Storage Devices (CMU-CS-01-166)

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 the removal of non-technical content (e.g., budgets, biographies, and results from prior NSF support).