Chapter 11Caching and file systems

The cache manager is a set of kernel-mode functions and system threads that cooperate with the memory manager to provide data caching for all Windows file system drivers (both local and network). In this chapter, we explain how the cache manager, including its key internal data structures and functions, works; how it is sized at system initialization time; how it interacts with other elements of the operating system; and how you can observe its activity through performance counters. We also describe the five flags on the Windows CreateFile function that affect file caching and DAX volumes, which are memory-mapped disks that bypass the cache manager for certain types of I/O.

The services exposed by the cache ...

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