Hi Developers,
I am wondering what is contained in the IFS Kit from Microsoft. MS only tells us there are NOT something (no support, no documentation). I am wondering if it is worth my own money to buy one ($995 – that is a lot of money for only some header files). How about the resources from OSR, is it more COST effective?
The more details the better.
Thanks!!!
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“Lijun Wang” wrote in message news:xxxxx@ntfsd…
>I am wondering what is contained in the IFS Kit from Microsoft. MS only
tells us there are NOT >something (no support, no documentation). I am
wondering if it is worth my own money to buy one
>($995 – that is a lot of money for only some header files). How about the
resources from OSR, is it
> more COST effective?
The XP IFS Kit from Microsoft contains:
1) Source code for CDFS
2) Source code for FAT
3) A “filespy” example, a lot like Russinovich’s FileMon
4) A generic file system filter example
5) Two sample network providers
NTIFS.H - The header file necessary to build file systems.
All this, plus documentation on a significant (and growing) number of
otherwise undocumented functions, and machine-readable copies of 16
OSR-authored documents on file system development.
Oh, you also get everything that’s in the XP DDK.
Personally, I’d say it’s an excellent deal for US$1000.
“The resources from OSR” on the other hand, are… different. (and none of
them costs US$1000 
What I always tell people is that whether the IFS kit is sufficient, or one
of the several OSR alternatives is more cost effective, depends on precisely
what you want to do and how much (a) you already know, and (b) you want to
learn. For example, if you want to create a brand-new native file system,
it is usually difficult to beat using the OSR FSDK in terms of ease of use,
time to market, and cost effectiveness. For example, you will not need to
deal with the intricacies of NT’s cache manager using this kit – on the
other hand, you will not have an opportunity to learn these intricacies
either. If your major value-add is in some other realm, and you view
implementing a file system as merely a complex and annoying thing that you
have to do in order to get to the real meat of your project, you probably
don’t want to tangle with the IFS Kit.
On the other hand, if your file system really IS your product, AND you want
to invest considerable time and effort in becoming an NT File Systems
developer, then the IFS kit is an excellent resource.
Likewise for a file system filter.
I’ve tried to provide you as unbiased a viewpoint as I can – That’s what
these lists are for, right? However, in the interest of full disclosure,
and in case you haven’t noticed already, I work for OSR.
Peter
OSR
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Just my two cents …
I don’t work for OSR but … the OSR FSDK will reduce your development time
of a filesystem by a factor of 10, at a minimum. Dealing with the IFS kit is
a fun and mind expanding endeavor, if this is what you want to do. The
choice is yours …
Pete
Peter Scott
xxxxx@KernelDrivers.com
http://www.KernelDrivers.com
-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com]On Behalf Of Peter Viscarola
Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2001 4:10 PM
To: File Systems Developers
Subject: [ntfsd] Re: About IFS Kit
“Lijun Wang” wrote in message news:xxxxx@ntfsd…
>I am wondering what is contained in the IFS Kit from Microsoft. MS only
tells us there are NOT >something (no support, no documentation). I am
wondering if it is worth my own money to buy one
>($995 – that is a lot of money for only some header files). How about the
resources from OSR, is it
> more COST effective?
The XP IFS Kit from Microsoft contains:
1) Source code for CDFS
2) Source code for FAT
3) A “filespy” example, a lot like Russinovich’s FileMon
4) A generic file system filter example
5) Two sample network providers
NTIFS.H - The header file necessary to build file systems.
All this, plus documentation on a significant (and growing) number of
otherwise undocumented functions, and machine-readable copies of 16
OSR-authored documents on file system development.
Oh, you also get everything that’s in the XP DDK.
Personally, I’d say it’s an excellent deal for US$1000.
“The resources from OSR” on the other hand, are… different. (and none of
them costs US$1000
What I always tell people is that whether the IFS kit is sufficient, or one
of the several OSR alternatives is more cost effective, depends on precisely
what you want to do and how much (a) you already know, and (b) you want to
learn. For example, if you want to create a brand-new native file system,
it is usually difficult to beat using the OSR FSDK in terms of ease of use,
time to market, and cost effectiveness. For example, you will not need to
deal with the intricacies of NT’s cache manager using this kit – on the
other hand, you will not have an opportunity to learn these intricacies
either. If your major value-add is in some other realm, and you view
implementing a file system as merely a complex and annoying thing that you
have to do in order to get to the real meat of your project, you probably
don’t want to tangle with the IFS Kit.
On the other hand, if your file system really IS your product, AND you want
to invest considerable time and effort in becoming an NT File Systems
developer, then the IFS kit is an excellent resource.
Likewise for a file system filter.
I’ve tried to provide you as unbiased a viewpoint as I can – That’s what
these lists are for, right? However, in the interest of full disclosure,
and in case you haven’t noticed already, I work for OSR.
Peter
OSR
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