Abstract: In one embodiment, a guest operating system in a host computer receives a write command for a partition in a plurality of partitions of a heterogeneous disk. The heterogeneous disk is mounted in the guest operating system. The guest operating system reads service level agreement level information for the partition and inserts the service level agreement level information in a field of the write command. Then, the write command is sent to a heterogeneous disk layer where the heterogeneous disk layer uses the service level agreement information in the field to select a storage device associated with the service level agreement information.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a guest operating system in a host computer receives a write command for a partition in a plurality of partitions of a heterogeneous disk. The heterogeneous disk is mounted in the guest operating system. The guest operating system reads service level agreement level information for the partition and inserts the service level agreement level information in a field of the write command. Then, the write command is sent to a heterogeneous disk layer where the heterogeneous disk layer uses the service level agreement information in the field to select a storage device associated with the service level agreement information.

Abstract: One embodiment of the system described herein facilitates a virtualized heterogeneous disk that supports differentiated storage service qualities. During operation, the system mounts a plurality of partitions of a heterogeneous disk at different mount points, each mount point corresponding to a level of quality of service (QoS). The system then receives a write command and identifies a QoS level indication associated with the write command. Subsequently, the system selects a partition on the heterogeneous disk with performance parameters matching the identified QoS level and writes data to the selected partition. The heterogeneous disk is an abstraction of a plurality of virtualized storage devices. Furthermore, the heterogeneous disk has a single block address space, and the virtualized storage devices are allowed to have differentiated performance parameters, thereby facilitating differentiated QoS levels in the heterogeneous disk.