Z-LFS - A Zoned Namespace-tailored Log-structured File System for Commodity Small-zone ZNS SSDs

Learn about Z-LFS, a novel zoned namespace (ZNS) tailored log-structured file system designed specifically for commodity small-zone ZNS SSDs in this 16-minute conference presentation from USENIX ATC '25. Discover how researchers from Seoul National University, Chung-Ang University, and Seoul National University of Science and Technology developed this innovative file system that addresses the unique challenges of ZNS storage devices. Explore the three key technical contributions of Z-LFS: enabling append-only updates on metadata while leveraging unique metadata characteristics of log-structured file systems on ZNS SSDs, implementing speculative log stream management based on workload temperature to maximize active zone utilization, and adopting conflict-aware zone allocation to minimize resource contention within ZNS SSDs while considering LFS features. Understand the implementation details based on F2FS in the Linux kernel and examine comprehensive evaluation results using commodity ZNS SSDs that demonstrate Z-LFS achieving performance improvements of up to 33.44× compared to F2FS and 3.5× compared to state-of-the-art interfaces for commodity ZNS SSDs. Gain insights into advanced storage system design, file system optimization techniques, and the practical challenges of working with zoned namespace storage architectures in modern computing environments.