SSSWG - Online Documents

IEEE Project 1244 - Storage System Standards Working Group

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Version 4 of the MSSRM (Mass Storage System Reference Model) is available in PDF or PostScript.

There are a number of SSSWG documents available online. These documents are written to various audiences and are in various formats. The information below is broken up into "Information for the New-Comer" and then the by the P1244 sub-committees.

The various formats that the documents are in include: 1) HTML, 2) MSword 6.x, 3) Postscript, 4) Tar (tape archive) of multiple HTML files, and 5) Tar of multiple postscript files.

The Tar of HTML files is provided so that the HTML files may be referenced locally during software development, without having to suffer from the internet-problem-of-the-hour in order to view the web pages. Due to the various sources of the documents, not all of the documents are available in all of the formats.

In the sections below, descriptive text refers to the available documents by an index into an accompanying table. The table and the index provide hyperlinks to the documents.

Information for the New-Comer

Before developing software for the Open Storage Systems Interconnect (OSSI) model, one must have a basic understanding of the model components and why they exist. These documents help to provide that and are a MUST READ item before attending a P1244 meeting.
The OSSI model (Mass Storage System Reference Model) is described in these three documents from September of 1994: (1) Preface, (2) Table of Contents, and (3) Body.
Rationale documents have been written for the MCS(9)(July 1996), PVL(4)(May, 1992) and the PVR(5)(September, 1996), as well as the PVR model definition(8)(January, 1996). A Data Mover(6)(May 1995) description and Virtual Storage Architecture Guide(7) (Feb, 1995) are also available.

idx|  file name   |  format    | size  | ref  | description
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 1 |   ossiv5.ps1 | postscript |   49k | ftp  | Preface to the OSSI model
 2 |   ossiv5.ps2 | postscript |   37k | ftp  | Table of contents for the OSSI model
 3 |   ossiv5.ps3 | postscript |  264k | ftp  | Body of the OSSI model
 4 |  pvl_rat.ps  | postscript |   64k | ftp  | Rationale for the PVL component
 5 | appendxb.ps  | postscript |   82k | ftp  | Rationale for the PVR component
 6 |      mvr.ps  | postscript |  189k | ftp  | Interfaces, terminology, functionality of the MVR
 7 |   vsag_1.ps  | postscript |  786k | ftp  | Virtual Storage Architecture Guide (VSAG)
 8 | pvr_modl.ps  | postscript |   12k | ftp  | Definition of the PVR model
 9 |  mcs_rat.ps  | postscript |   12k | ftp  | Rationale for Medium Changer Service

Physical Volume Library (P1244.2)

Two basic documents are available for the PVL: (1)The Rational for Inclusion in the IEEE Storage Systems Standard, and (2) UNIX "man-page" formatted hypertext. If you download all of the HTML files to your local disk, open file://localhost/...PVL.contents.html first.

idx|  file name   |  format    | size  | ref  | description
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 |  pvl_rat.ps  | postscript |   64k | ftp  | Rationale for the PVL component
 2 | pvl_html.tar |  html-tar  |  267k | ftp  | Tar of the individual HTML files
   | pvl_contents |     html   |       | http | Link to table of contents

Physical Volume Repository (P1244.3)

The PVR API is being prepared for a vote. The document (1) Standard Physical Volume Repository for Storage Systems is under construction. This document consists of 8 chapters. Chapter 3, which describes the context in which the API will operate, is not yet available, and is being written by Rich Wrenn. The remaining chapters describe the API, and are complete. Rich Wrenn has just completed (9/2/96) Appendix B describing the (2)Rationale Behind the Proposed IEEE PVR. If you download all of the HTML files to your local disk, open file://localhost/...Chap0.html or file://localhost/...pc0.html first.

The descriptive document (3) behind the PVR model was last updated Jan, 1996. There is a paper on the PVR API written by Merritt Jones, Rich Wrenn, and Joel Williams which will be given at the Goddard Mass Storage Conference in September: (4)A Proposed API for a Physical Volume Repository.

idx|  file name   |  format    | size  | ref  | description
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 | Chap0.html   |   html     |       | http | Table of Contents
   |   pc0.html   |   html     |       | http | Table of contents for Man-Pages
   | pvr_html.tar |  html-tar  |  768k | ftp  | Tar of the individual HTML files
   | propvrps.tar | post-tar   | 1123k | ftp  | Tar of postscript files for chapters
   | propvrps.taz | post-tar.gz|  220k | ftp  | G-zipped tar of postscript files for chapters
   |   Chap0-7    | MSword 6.x | <261k | ftp  | Table of Contents and Chapts 1-7
 2 | appendxb.ps  | postscript |   82k | ftp  | Rationale for the PVL component
   |PVR_Rationale | MSword 6.x |   49k | ftp  | 
 3 | pvr_modl.ps  | postscript |  645k | ftp  | Description of the PVR model
 4 |   PVRD.html  |   HTML     |       | http | Goddard Mass Storage Symposium Paper

IEEE Mover (P1244.4)

The Mover (MVR) is defined by a May '95 document (1). As quoted from the "scope" in this document: This standard defines the interfaces, terminology and functionality of a service called a Mover (MVR). A Mover performs operations on media access points and effects data transfer. Media access points are the means of accessing physical volumes and sections of memory accessible to Mover clients. This standard deals solely with the elements of the MVR that are visible through its interface. It excludes the design, implementation, internal interfaces and operating characteristics of the MVR and its devices.

idx|  file name   |  format    | size  | ref  | description
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 |      mvr.ps  | postscript |  189k | ftp  | Definition of Data Mover

Virtual Storage System (VSS)(P1244.6)

The Draft Version 1, February 1995 of the (1) Virtual Storage Architecture Guide (VSAG) is from February 1995. From the "abstract" of the guide: The VSAG expands on the virtual storage concepts of the IEEE Mass Storage Systems Reference Model, version 5. The intended outcome of the VSAG is to provide a framework for the VSS standard that will enable software vendors to develop and deploy inter-operable virtual storage management products...

idx|  file name   |  format    | size  | ref  | description
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 1 |   vsag_1.ps  | postscript |  768k | ftp  | Virtual Storage Architecture Guide (VSAG)

Media Changer Services (MCS)

The rationale document(1)(July, 1996) for the Medium Changer Services explains the need for this interface with provides an OS independent low-level interface.

idx|  file name   |  format    | size  | ref  | description
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 |  mcs_rat.ps  | postscript |   12k | ftp  | Rationale for Medium Changer Service

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