Kernel-Mode I/O Components

The purpose of this section is to describe the goals and architecture of the Windows 2000 I/O subsystem. Since different kinds of drivers perform wildly different kinds of service, the I/O Manager's categorization of drivers is also discussed.

Design Goals for the I/O Subsystem

The I/O subsystem of Windows 2000 added to the overall design goals of the operating system by including

  • Portability, platform to platform.

  • Configurability in terms of both hardware and software. For Windows 2000 drivers, this would include full support for Plug and Play buses and devices.

  • Preemptable and interruptable. I/O code should never block and should always be written thread-safe.

  • Multiprocessor-safe. The same I/O code should run on both ...

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