Towards a Semantic-Aware File Store

Abstract—Traditional hierarchical namespaces are not sufficient for representing and managing the rich semantics of today’s storage systems. In this paper, we discuss the principles of semantic-aware file stores. We identify the requirements of applications and end-users and propose to use a generic data model to capture and represent file semantics. A distinct challenge that we face is to handle dynamic evolution of the data schemas. Further, we outline a framework of basic relations and tools for generating and using semantic metadata. The proposed data model and framework are aimed to be more generic and flexible than what is offered by existing semantic file systems. We envision a range of applications and tools that will exploit semantic information, ranging from personal storage systems with features for advanced searching and roaming access, to enterprise systems supporting distributed data location or archiving.