I/O Nano-Manager

The Input/Output Nano-manager, also known as Iona, is an integral part of the Violet system responsible for handling input/output requests from processes. It serves as the intermediary between processes and the underlying hardware, managing and coordinating the flow of data between them.

Iona is represented by the sys::hw service, which provides a unified interface for accessing and controlling various hardware devices within the system.

Hardware Access

When a process needs to access hardware resources, such as storage devices or network interfaces, it sends its request to Iona. Iona acts as the gatekeeper, deciding whether to grant or deny the requested access based on predefined rules and permissions.

System services, such as sys::fs for file system operations or sys::net for network communication, rely on Iona to interact with the corresponding hardware devices.

Requests Priority

To ensure efficient resource utilization, Iona handles the requests from processes based on their priority. The priority of a request is determined either by the arrival timestamp of the request or the priority assigned to the process making the request.

In this way, Iona can optimize the allocation of hardware resources and give precedence to higher-priority processes or time-sensitive operations. This prioritization mechanism helps ensure smooth and responsive I/O operations throughout the system.