DRV350 - Windows File System Drivers

We will begin with a review of the operating system architecture, the implementation of I/O requests, and other foundation principles. We will then introduce the components of a file system driver, starting with things that will be familiar from previous driver environments such as Dispatch routines and I/O completion callback routines, covering in some detail all of the required file system driver routines, and briefly introducing the optional routines.

We will then walk through a simple file system driver, presented to the class as a complete (though not necessarily error-free) source code example, and trace several common I/O paths through the code. The class will then load the sample driver on their machines and explore a few of its functions with the debugger.

The subsequent seminar modules will use this sample driver as a starting point, both for discussion and for lab exercises.

• Operating system kernel, I/O manager, and driver architecture overview
• Key operating system facilities
• File system driver model and architecture
• Simple file system driver walkthrough
• Installing a file system driver (the file system recognizer)
• Building and debugging
• Required file system driver functions
  • File create, close, cleanup, etc.
  • Directory and file name operations
  • File read and write functions
• Fast I/O interface
• Security
  • Windows security model and mechanisms
  • Auditing
  • Windows object manager and security reference monitor
• Optional file system functions
  • Alternate data streams
  • Byte range locks
  • Oplocks
  • Implementing a file system-private security model
• Additional design considerations
  • Memory usage
  • Exception and error handling