storage revision 1.2.2.1 
1$NetBSD: storage,v 1.2.2.1 2009/01/26 05:15:53 snj Exp $
2
3NetBSD Storage Roadmap
4======================
5
6This is a small roadmap document, and deals with the storage and file
7systems side of the operating system.
8
9NetBSD 5.0 will ship with the following storage elements in place:
10
111. puffs/putter
122. ReFUSE
133. rump
144. RAIDframe
155. iSCSI target
166. iSCSI initiator
177. cgd
188. fss
199. journalling functionality for ffs
2010. read/write support for UDF file systems
21
22The following elements and projects are pencilled in for 6.0, but
23please do not rely on them being there.
24
2511. devfs
2612. logical volume management
2713. a native port of Sun's ZFS
2814. ReFUSE-lowlevel
2915. web-based management tools for storage subsystems
3016. support for flash devices - NAND and MMC/SD
31
32The timescales for 6.0 are not known at the present time, but we would
33expect to branch 6.0 late in 2009, with a view to a 6.0 release in
34early 2010.
35
36
37Some explanations
38=================
39
4011. devfs
41---------
42
43Devfs will allow device special files (the files used to access
44devices) to be created dynamically as and when they are attached to
45the system.  This will greatly reduce the number of files in a /dev
46directory and removes the need to run the MAKEDEV script when support
47for new devices is added to the NetBSD kernel.  NetBSD's devfs
48implementation will also allow multiple instances of the file system
49to be mounted simultaneously, which is very useful for chroot jails.
50
51Responsible: mjf
52
539. Journalling Functionality for FFS
54-------------------------------------
55
56Contributed by Wasabi Systems, Inc, technical review on tech-kern
57in March 2008, merged to HEAD in July 2008, will be in NetBSD 5.0.
58
5912. Logical Volume Management
60-----------------------------
61
62Based on the Linux lvm2 and devmapper software, with a new kernel component
63for NetBSD written. Merged in 5.99.5 sources, will be in 6.0.
64
65Responsible: haad, martin
66
6713. Native port of Sun's ZFS
68----------------------------
69
70Mostly completed by ad@, this is the FreeBSD port of Sun's ZFS, with
71modifications to make it compile on NetBSD 5.0 by ad@, and based on
72the original Sun code for the block layer, rather than the GEOM-based
73layer.
74
75Responsible: ad, many others
76
7714. ReFUSE-lowlevel
78-------------------
79
80FUSE has two interfaces, the normal high-level one, and a lower-level
81interface which is closer to the way standard file systems operate. This
82adds the low-level functionality in the same way that ReFUSE adds the
83high-level functionality
84
85Responsible: pooka, agc
86
8715. Web-based Management tools for Storage Subsystems
88-----------------------------------------------------
89
90Standard tools for managing the storage subsystems that NetBSD provides,
91using a standard web-server as the basic user interface on the storage
92device, allowing remote management by a standard web browser.
93
94Responsible: agc
95
96
97Alistair Crooks
98Sun 25 Jan 2009 20:55:12 PST
99