We explore how modern storage systems like RocksDB and LevelDB behave under emerging storage devices such as ZNS SSDs, NVM, and tiered architectures. Our work reveals how hardware-aware design choices—such as zone-level reclaiming, blob separation, and key-value size tuning—can significantly reduce write amplification, improve predictability, and optimize throughput.

Through real-system experiments, we propose practical designs like Partial-Zone Reclaiming, ZenFS+ for containerized isolation, and ThanosKV, a hybrid KVS leveraging NVM. We also build tools like ConfZNS, a full emulator to explore ZNS design spaces.