Inside Win2K NTFS, Part 1

Reparse Points
Reparse points let an application associate a block of application data with a file or directory and let the Object Manager reparse, or reexecute a name lookup, when an application encounters a reparse point. (For information about the Object Manager's role in the OS's architecture, see "Inside NT's Object Manager," October 1997.) In addition to storing the reparse data, the reparse point stores a reparse code that identifies the reparse point as belonging to a particular application. Although not useful by themselves, reparse points let Win2K or third-party developers build functionality. Win2K provides several types of reparse-point functionality, including mount points, NTFS junctions, and Hierarchical Storage Management (HSM). I discuss the way each of these functionalities works, then delve into the implementation of reparse points.

To be accessible, all NT volumes must have a drive letter. NTFS5 mount points let you connect a volume at a mount point directory on a parent NTFS5 volume without assigning a drive letter to the child volume. This capability lets you consolidate multiple volumes under one drive letter. For example, if you mount a volume that contains the directory \articles to a mount point named C:\documents, you can use the path C:\articles\documents to access the \documents directory's files. A mount point is a reparse point whose data consists of a volume's internal name. This internal name has the form \??\Volume{XX-XX-XX-XX}, where the Xs are the numbers that make up the globally unique ID (GUID) that Win2K assigned to the volume.

When you open the file C:\articlesdocuments\column.doc, NTFS encounters the mount point associated with the \documents directory. NTFS reads the mount point's reparse data (the volume name) and returns a reparse status to the Object Manager. The I/O manager intercepts the reparse status, examines the reparse data, and determines that NTFS encountered a mount point. The I/O manager modifies the name being looked up and directs the Object Manager (the kernel component that guides name lookups) to reissue the lookup using the modified path \??\Volume {GUID}\documents\column.doc. The reissued lookup causes name parsing for \documents\column.doc to continue on the mounted volume. To create and list mount points, you can use the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Disk Management snap-in or the Mountvol command-line tool that comes with Win2K.

NTFS junctions are similar to mount points, and the I/O manager and Object Manager implement junctions as they implement mount points. However, junctions reference directories rather than volumes. Junctions are the Win2K equivalent of UNIX symbol links (although unlike UNIX symbolic links, junctions can't be applied to files). If you create the junction C:\articles\documents that references D:\documents, you can access files stored in D:\documents by using the path C:\articles\documents. The junction's reparse point stores the redirected path information, and as for mount-point traversal, the I/O manager modifies the name and reissues the name lookup when NTFS encounters a junction. Figure 3 illustrates how junctions work. When the application opens C:\directory1\file, NTFS encounters a reparse point on C:\directory1 that points at C:\directory2. The I/O manager changes the name to C:\directory2\file, and the application ultimately opens C:directory2\file.

Win2K doesn't include tools for creating junctions, and Microsoft doesn't officially support such tools because some applications might not function properly when they use paths that contain junctions. However, you can use either the Linkd tool from the Microsoft Windows 2000 Resource Kit or the free Junction tool (http://www.sysinternals.com/misc.htm) to create and list junctions.

Not all reparse points rely on path reparsing functionality. The HSM system uses HSM reparse points to transparently migrate infrequently accessed files to offline storage. When HSM moves a file offline, the HSM system deletes the file's contents and creates a reparse point in the file's place. The reparse point data contains information the HSM system uses to locate the file's data on archival media. When an application later accesses an offline HSM file, the HSM driver RsFilter.sys (Remote Storage Filter) intercepts the reparse code that NTFS returns to the Object Manager. The driver deletes the reparse point, fetches the file data from archival storage, then reissues the original request. This time, NTFS accesses the file as it would any other, and the application doesn't realize that data shuffling occurred.

When a file or directory has a reparse point associated with it, NTFS creates an attribute named $Reparse for the reparse point. This attribute stores the reparse code and data. So that NTFS can easily locate all reparse points on a volume, a metadata file named \$Extend\$Reparse stores entries that connect the reparse point file and directory MFT entry numbers to their associated reparse point codes. NTFS sorts the entries by MFT entry number in the $R index.

Quota Tracking
One of the most popular roles that Win2K Server and NT Server systems play is that of a file server. A deficiency of NT is that systems administrators have no built-in tools to monitor or control the amount of server disk space that individual users consume. Several third-party quota-management products are available to fill this gap in NT's functionality. However, Win2K provides basic quota management that in many cases alleviates the need for third-party tools. Win2K quota management is based on NTFS quota support (FAT volumes don't support quota management) and is a per-volume, per-user model. In other words, an administrator can use an interface like the one that Figure 4 shows to specify warning and limit thresholds on the amount of disk space a user can consume on an NTFS volume.

NTFS stores quota information in the \$Extend\$Quota metadata file, which consists of the indexes $O and $Q. Figure 5 shows the organization of these indexes. Just as NTFS assigns each security descriptor a unique internal security ID, NTFS assigns each user a unique user ID. When an administrator defines quota information for a user, NTFS allocates a user ID that corresponds to the user's SID. In the $O index, NTFS creates an entry that maps a SID to a user ID and sorts the index by user ID; in the $Q index, NTFS creates a quota control entry. A quota control entry contains the value of the user's quota limits, as well as the amount of disk space the user consumes on the volume.

When an application creates a file or directory, NTFS obtains the application user's SID and looks up the associated user ID in the $O index. NTFS records the user ID in the new file or directory's $STANDARD_INFORMATION attribute, which counts all disk space allocated to the file or directory against that user's quota. Then, NTFS looks up the quota entry in the $Q index and determines whether the new allocation causes the user to exceed his or her warning or limit threshold. When a new allocation causes the user to exceed a threshold, NTFS takes appropriate steps, such as logging an event to the System event log or not letting the user create the file or directory. As a file or directory changes size, NTFS updates the quota control entry associated with the user ID stored in the $STANDARD_INFORMATION attribute. NTFS uses general indexing to efficiently correlate user IDs with account SIDs, and, given a user ID, to efficiently look up a user's quota control information.

Yet More Features
This discussion of quota tracking brings us to the end of this issue's column. In my next column, I conclude this series about new NTFS features by describing the implementation of distributed link tracking support, sparse- file support, volume change tracking, and encryption.

End of Article

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