Guru's Guide to SQL Server Architecture and Internals, The

I/O Completion Ports

In this section, we'll talk about Windows' I/O completion port facility and build a sample app that uses it to control concurrency and assist with thread synchronization. If you haven't yet read through the first part of this chapter, please do so before proceeding. Many of the concepts we discuss here build on those covered earlier in the chapter.

Key I/O Completion Port Terms and Concepts

✓ I/O completion port— a mechanism that allows threads to wait on asynchronous I/O and/or coordinate access to resources in a highly efficient manner. When an I/O completion port is associated with a file and an asynchronous I/O operation that has been initiated for the file completes, an I/O completion packet is queued to the port. Threads ...