Chapter 1. Introduction to Windows NT and Windows NT Storage Device Drivers

   

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This chapter introduces the novice reader to Windows NT device drivers in general, filter drivers, and the Windows Server family storage device driver stack in particular. The discussion is intended to provide only enough background to enable the novice reader to understand the intricacies of the Windows NT I/O subsystem and gain a better understanding of storage drivers. The emphasis is on building a base understanding of how the storage- related features described in this book ”such as multipath I/O, Single Instance Storage in Remote Installation Services, Windows NT reparse points, and Windows Remote Storage Services ”are designed.

To be clear, this chapter is not intended to be the sole reference that will completely prepare the reader for writing Windows NT device drivers, nor is it a complete overview of the Windows NT operating system. The reader is encouraged to peruse the references listed at the end of the book to become completely knowledgeable about Windows NT and to be able to write various kinds of drivers, including file system filter drivers.

Further, this chapter will adhere specifically to Windows NT and driver architecture as it applies to storage devices. Windows NT features and driver architecture as they apply to non-storage-related topics or devices are discussed very briefly , if at all.

Sections 1.1 and 1.2 discuss some terminology that will be used frequently throughout this book. Included are the terms kernel mode , user mode , and process context . After these preliminaries the chapter will launch into a description of the Windows storage stack detailing the various layers of the stack, including the file system, volume management, class, and port layers . Filter drivers are also described briefly. The chapter closes by describing a typical I/O request and how it is handled at each layer of the storage I/O stack.

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