A microstorage architecture consists of a microstorage kernel and one or more storage servers. The storage servers rely on the microstorage kernel to perform the actual data storage and retrieval. Each storage server implements a storage model that defines a client's view of the data in the system, how it is stored, retrieved and manipulated. File systems, object oriented databases and virtual memory subsystems are examples of different storage servers that can be constructed on top of a microstorage kernel. Data in the system may be concurrently visible via different storage servers. Microstorage architectures provide a flexible interface to storage and a smooth transition from traditional file systems to more powerful object oriented storage models. Existing applications can continue to work correctly, without any changes, by using a storage server that implements a traditional file model on top of data objects that are accessible via more powerful storage models.
We are in the process of implementing a microstorage architecture called Vista.