$NetBSD: storage,v 1.1 2008/03/19 20:12:53 agc Exp $

NetBSD Storage Roadmap
======================

This is a small roadmap document, and deals with the storage and file
systems side of the operating system.

NetBSD 5.0 will ship with the following storage elements in place:

1. puffs/putter
2. ReFUSE
3. rump
4. RAIDframe
5. iSCSI target
6. iSCSI initiator
7. cgd
8. fss

The following elements and projects are pencilled in for 5.0, but
please do not rely on them being there.

9. pud
10. devfs
11. journalling functionality for ffs
12. logical volume management
13. a native port of Sun's ZFS
14. ReFUSE-lowlevel
15. web-based management tools for storage subsystems
16. support for flash devices - NAND and MMC/SD
17. read/write support for UDF file systems

We are working on the following elements, and expect them to be in 6.0:

18. OSD (object storage device)
19. basic FCIP support

We expect to branch for the 5.0 release in April or May 2008, which would
put a NetBSD 5.0 Release date in Q4 2008. An annual release cycle would
thus mean that 6.0 would be branched in April or May 2009.

Pictorially, this looks like:

 2008                                        2009
 Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug
|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|

                | ------- 5.0 --------- |                       | ------- 6.0
              branch                  release                 branch

 1-8  11,16  9,10,12,13,14,17  15            18      19

We'll continue to update this roadmap as features and dates get firmed up.


Some explanations
=================

10. devfs
---------

Devfs will allow device special files (the files used to access
devices) to be created dynamically as and when they are attached to
the system.  This will greatly reduce the number of files in a /dev
directory and removes the need to run the MAKEDEV script when support
for new devices is added to the NetBSD kernel.  NetBSD's devfs
implementation will also allow multiple instances of the file system
to be mounted simultaneously, which is very useful for chroot jails.

Responsible: mjf

11. Journalling Functionality for FFS
-------------------------------------

Contributed by Wasabi Systems, Inc, technical review on tech-kern
in March 2008.

12. Logical Volume Management
-----------------------------

Based on the Linux lvm2 and devmapper software, with a new kernel component
for NetBSD written.

Responsible: haad, martin

13. Native port of Sun's ZFS
----------------------------

Mostly completed by ad@, this is the FreeBSD port of Sun's ZFS, with
modifications to make it compile on NetBSD 5.0 by ad@, and based on
the original Sun code for the block layer, rather than the GEOM-based
layer.

Responsible: oster, agc

14. ReFUSE-lowlevel
-------------------

FUSE has two interfaces, the normal high-level one, and a lower-level
interface which is closer to the way standard file systems operate. This
adds the low-level functionality in the same way that ReFUSE adds the
high-level functionality

Responsible: pooka, agc

15. Web-based Management tools for Storage Subsystems
-----------------------------------------------------

Standard tools for managing the storage subsystems that NetBSD provides,
using a standard web-server as the basic user interface on the storage
device, allowing remote management by a standard web browser.

Responsible: agc

16. OSD
-------

Based on the T10 specification, and the Intel reference code. An Object
Storage Device, where some of the functionality of a file system is placed
in the storage device.

Responsible: agc


Alistair Crooks
Sun Mar  2 23:31:03 GMT 2008