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Stackable Layers: an Architecture for File System Development

John S. Heidemann
University of California, Los Angeles

Abstract

This thesis proposes the \em stackable layers\/ method of file system design. This approach constructs file systems from a number of independently developed \em layers. Each layer is bounded by a symmetric interface, syntactically identical above and below. Layers combine in \em stacks, linear or tree-shaped collections, each layer building on the functionality of those beneath it.

Stackable filing improves file system development in several ways. Stacking encourages code re-use by building upon already existing layers. Incremental improvement is possible by substitution of existing layers. The layer interface is extensible, allowing new operations to be easily added by third-parties. Each operation is carefully described, permitting existing layers to adjust automatically to the addition of new operations.

The feasibility of stackable filing is demonstrated by the development of a prototype layer interface and several file system layers. The performance of multi-layer stacks is found comparable to that of monolithic file systems. Through the re-use of existing services, we find development of new filing services with stackable layers significantly easier than development with traditional methods.

Availability

This paper is available in several formats: abstract web page with pointers and cites, gzip'ed postscript, PDF, paper copies can be obtained by mail to the authors. Copyright terms for this paper appear below.

Reference

Heidemann91a: John S. Heidemann. Stackable Layers: an Architecture for File System Development. University of California, Los Angeles, July, 1991. Available as UCLA technical report CSD-910056. <http://www.isi.edu/~johnh/PAPERS/Heidemann91a.html>.

@mastersthesis{Heidemann91a,
	author = "John S. Heidemann",
	title = "Stackable Layers: an Architecture for
				File System Development",
	school = "University of California, Los Angeles",
	year = "1991",
	month = "July",
	publisher = "University of California, Los Angeles Department of Computer Science ",
	pages = "128",
	note = "Available as UCLA technical report
		  CSD-910056",
	keywords = "stackable layers, Ficus",
	url = "http://www.isi.edu/~johnh/PAPERS/Heidemann91a.html",
	psurl = "http://www.isi.edu/~johnh/PAPERS/Heidemann91a.ps.gz",
	pdfurl = "http://www.isi.edu/~johnh/PAPERS/Heidemann91a.pdf",
	oldurl = "ftp://ftp.cs.ucla.edu/pub/ficus/heidemann_thesis.ps.gz",
	organization = "University of California, Los Angeles",
	copyrightholder = "author",
}

Copyright

This paper is copyright © 1991 by its authors. Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that new copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Abstracting with credit is permitted.

To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission of the authors.