Filter Manager

NTFSD
1

I want to update the file system filter developer community with the
latest information that was announced at the November 2003 IFS PlugFest.
The PlugFest was part of the DDC (Driver Developers Conference) that was
held November 11-14 on the Microsoft campus.

At this time we announced the platforms the new file system filter
manager will be released on. These include:

  • XP SP2
  • Server 2003 SP1
  • Windows 2000 (release mechanisms to be determined)
  • Longhorn

Full support for developing mini-filters will be released in the Server
2003 IFSKit. This kit will support mini-filter development for both XP
SP2 and Server 2003 SP1. A beta version of this kit will be available
for the XP SP2 time frame. An alpha version of this kit was given out
at the last PlugFest.

Now is the time to start making plans to port your existing filters to
be mini-filters. Some reason for doing this are:

  • The elimination of reboots. The filter manager supports mini-filters
    being loaded and unloaded at any time.

  • Deterministic load ordering. The filter manager supports a new
    “altitude” model for controlling the order mini-filters are attached. A
    mini-filter will be attached at its proper altitude regardless of when
    it is loaded.

  • Reduction of kernel stack overflows. The filter manager uses a new
    callback model instead of the existing call-through model. This greatly
    reduces the amount of kernel stack consumed by filters.

  • Full interoperability support between existing filters and
    mini-filters.

  • Elimination of substantial complexity from the typical filter driver
    by providing built in support for functionality common to most filters.
    Some of this support includes:

  • Retrieving file names

  • Normalizing file names (removal of short names)

  • Parsing file names

  • Name caching

  • Context support

  • IO library which supports targeting operations below your
    filter

There are many other reasons as well.

Please fell free to start asking Filter Manager related questions on
this list.

Neal Christiansen
Microsoft File System Filter Group

This posting is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no
rights.

2

Something everyone wants to know I’m sure: For those of us who couldn’t attend
the PlugFest, how do we get the Alpha or Beta version, or must we wait for the final?

Neal Christiansen wrote:

I want to update the file system filter developer community with the
latest information that was announced at the November 2003 IFS PlugFest.
The PlugFest was part of the DDC (Driver Developers Conference) that was
held November 11-14 on the Microsoft campus.

At this time we announced the platforms the new file system filter
manager will be released on. These include:

  • XP SP2
  • Server 2003 SP1
  • Windows 2000 (release mechanisms to be determined)
  • Longhorn

Full support for developing mini-filters will be released in the Server
2003 IFSKit. This kit will support mini-filter development for both XP
SP2 and Server 2003 SP1. A beta version of this kit will be available
for the XP SP2 time frame. An alpha version of this kit was given out
at the last PlugFest.

Now is the time to start making plans to port your existing filters to
be mini-filters. Some reason for doing this are:

  • The elimination of reboots. The filter manager supports mini-filters
    being loaded and unloaded at any time.

  • Deterministic load ordering. The filter manager supports a new
    “altitude” model for controlling the order mini-filters are attached. A
    mini-filter will be attached at its proper altitude regardless of when
    it is loaded.

  • Reduction of kernel stack overflows. The filter manager uses a new
    callback model instead of the existing call-through model. This greatly
    reduces the amount of kernel stack consumed by filters.

  • Full interoperability support between existing filters and
    mini-filters.

  • Elimination of substantial complexity from the typical filter driver
    by providing built in support for functionality common to most filters.
    Some of this support includes:

  • Retrieving file names

  • Normalizing file names (removal of short names)

  • Parsing file names

  • Name caching

  • Context support

  • IO library which supports targeting operations below your
    filter

There are many other reasons as well.

Please fell free to start asking Filter Manager related questions on
this list.

Neal Christiansen
Microsoft File System Filter Group

This posting is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no
rights.

Questions? First check the IFS FAQ at https://www.osronline.com/article.cfm?id=17

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Alfa File Monitor - File monitoring library for Win32 developers.

3

G8 to listen. Where can i download the sdk?

----- Original Message -----
From: “Neal Christiansen”
To: “Windows File Systems Devs Interest List”
Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2003 11:34 PM
Subject: [ntfsd] Filter Manager

> I want to update the file system filter developer community with the
> latest information that was announced at the November 2003 IFS PlugFest.
> The PlugFest was part of the DDC (Driver Developers Conference) that was
> held November 11-14 on the Microsoft campus.
>
> At this time we announced the platforms the new file system filter
> manager will be released on. These include:
> - XP SP2
> - Server 2003 SP1
> - Windows 2000 (release mechanisms to be determined)
> - Longhorn
>
> Full support for developing mini-filters will be released in the Server
> 2003 IFSKit. This kit will support mini-filter development for both XP
> SP2 and Server 2003 SP1. A beta version of this kit will be available
> for the XP SP2 time frame. An alpha version of this kit was given out
> at the last PlugFest.
>
> Now is the time to start making plans to port your existing filters to
> be mini-filters. Some reason for doing this are:
>
> - The elimination of reboots. The filter manager supports mini-filters
> being loaded and unloaded at any time.
>
> - Deterministic load ordering. The filter manager supports a new
> “altitude” model for controlling the order mini-filters are attached. A
> mini-filter will be attached at its proper altitude regardless of when
> it is loaded.
>
> - Reduction of kernel stack overflows. The filter manager uses a new
> callback model instead of the existing call-through model. This greatly
> reduces the amount of kernel stack consumed by filters.
>
> - Full interoperability support between existing filters and
> mini-filters.
>
> - Elimination of substantial complexity from the typical filter driver
> by providing built in support for functionality common to most filters.
> Some of this support includes:
> - Retrieving file names
> - Normalizing file names (removal of short names)
> - Parsing file names
> - Name caching
> - Context support
> - IO library which supports targeting operations below your
> filter
>
> There are many other reasons as well.
>
> Please fell free to start asking Filter Manager related questions on
> this list.
>
> Neal Christiansen
> Microsoft File System Filter Group
>
> This posting is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no
> rights.
>
> —
> Questions? First check the IFS FAQ at
https://www.osronline.com/article.cfm?id=17
>
> You are currently subscribed to ntfsd as:
xxxxx@visualsoft-tech.com
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to xxxxx@lists.osr.com
>

4

We are working on making the updated IFSKit which supports filter
manager available on the Web sometime in January.

Neal Christiansen
Microsoft File System Filter Group

This posting is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no
rights.

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of GnanaPrakash.R
Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2003 12:30 AM
To: Windows File Systems Devs Interest List
Subject: [ntfsd] Re: Filter Manager

G8 to listen. Where can i download the sdk?

----- Original Message -----
From: “Neal Christiansen”
To: “Windows File Systems Devs Interest List”
Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2003 11:34 PM
Subject: [ntfsd] Filter Manager

> I want to update the file system filter developer community with the
> latest information that was announced at the November 2003 IFS
PlugFest.
> The PlugFest was part of the DDC (Driver Developers Conference) that
was
> held November 11-14 on the Microsoft campus.
>
> At this time we announced the platforms the new file system filter
> manager will be released on. These include:
> - XP SP2
> - Server 2003 SP1
> - Windows 2000 (release mechanisms to be determined)
> - Longhorn
>
> Full support for developing mini-filters will be released in the
Server
> 2003 IFSKit. This kit will support mini-filter development for both
XP
> SP2 and Server 2003 SP1. A beta version of this kit will be available
> for the XP SP2 time frame. An alpha version of this kit was given out
> at the last PlugFest.
>
> Now is the time to start making plans to port your existing filters to
> be mini-filters. Some reason for doing this are:
>
> - The elimination of reboots. The filter manager supports
mini-filters
> being loaded and unloaded at any time.
>
> - Deterministic load ordering. The filter manager supports a new
> “altitude” model for controlling the order mini-filters are attached.
A
> mini-filter will be attached at its proper altitude regardless of when
> it is loaded.
>
> - Reduction of kernel stack overflows. The filter manager uses a new
> callback model instead of the existing call-through model. This
greatly
> reduces the amount of kernel stack consumed by filters.
>
> - Full interoperability support between existing filters and
> mini-filters.
>
> - Elimination of substantial complexity from the typical filter driver
> by providing built in support for functionality common to most
filters.
> Some of this support includes:
> - Retrieving file names
> - Normalizing file names (removal of short names)
> - Parsing file names
> - Name caching
> - Context support
> - IO library which supports targeting operations below your
> filter
>
> There are many other reasons as well.
>
> Please fell free to start asking Filter Manager related questions on
> this list.
>
> Neal Christiansen
> Microsoft File System Filter Group
>
> This posting is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no
> rights.
>
> —
> Questions? First check the IFS FAQ at
https://www.osronline.com/article.cfm?id=17
>
> You are currently subscribed to ntfsd as:
xxxxx@visualsoft-tech.com
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to xxxxx@lists.osr.com
>

—
Questions? First check the IFS FAQ at
https://www.osronline.com/article.cfm?id=17

You are currently subscribed to ntfsd as: xxxxx@windows.microsoft.com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to xxxxx@lists.osr.com

5

Neal,

I think this is the case, but could you please
confirm…

Customers who want to use our mini-filter based
products must be at the specified service pack levels?
There won’t be a separate redistributable that
customers could use to just get the filter manager?

Thanks,

— Neal Christiansen
wrote:
> At this time we announced the platforms the new file
> system filter
> manager will be released on. These include:
> - XP SP2
> - Server 2003 SP1
> - Windows 2000 (release mechanisms to be determined)
> - Longhorn

__________________________________
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6

At this point, there are no plans to have a redistributable since the
filter manager relies on OS changes which are in the service packs.

Thanks,
Molly Brown
Microsoft Corporation

This posting is provided “AS IS” with no warranties and confers no
rights.

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Randy Cook
Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2003 9:45 AM
To: Windows File Systems Devs Interest List
Subject: [ntfsd] Re: Filter Manager

Neal,

I think this is the case, but could you please confirm…

Customers who want to use our mini-filter based products must be at the
specified service pack levels?
There won’t be a separate redistributable that customers could use to
just get the filter manager?

Thanks,

— Neal Christiansen
wrote:
> At this time we announced the platforms the new file system filter
> manager will be released on. These include:
> - XP SP2
> - Server 2003 SP1
> - Windows 2000 (release mechanisms to be determined)
> - Longhorn

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
New Yahoo! Photos - easier uploading and sharing.
http://photos.yahoo.com/

—
Questions? First check the IFS FAQ at
https://www.osronline.com/article.cfm?id=17

You are currently subscribed to ntfsd as: xxxxx@windows.microsoft.com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to xxxxx@lists.osr.com