diff --git a/gds/samples/buffer-agnostic/Makefile b/gds/samples/buffer-agnostic/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..55d7ee1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gds/samples/buffer-agnostic/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+# Common includes and paths for CUDA
+CUDA_PATH   := /usr/local/cuda
+CUFILE_PATH := /usr/local/gds/lib
+CXXFLAGS    += -I $(CUDA_PATH)/include/ 
+
+GDS_SUPPORT = FALSE
+
+CXX:=nvcc
+
+###########################
+# Enable the following line for code coverage
+#CXXFLAGS    += -ftest-coverage -fprofile-arcs
+###########################
+CUDA_LIB    := -L $(CUDA_PATH)/lib64/ -lcuda -L $(CUDA_PATH)/lib64/ -lcudart
+################################################################################
+
+ifeq ($(GDS_SUPPORT),TRUE)
+CXXFLAGS    += -I $(CUFILE_PATH) -DGDS_SUPPORT
+CUFILE_LIB  := -L $(CUFILE_PATH) -lcufile
+LDFLAGS     :=  $(CUFILE_LIB) $(CUDA_LIB) -lcrypto -lssl -lpthread -ldl
+else
+LDFLAGS     :=  $(CUDA_LIB) -lcrypto -lssl -lpthread -ldl
+endif
+
+# Target rules
+all: build
+
+build: buffer-agnostic
+
+%: %.cc $(CUFILE_PATH)/cufile.h
+	$(CXX) $(CXXFLAGS) $< -o $@ $(LDFLAGS)
+
+.PHONY : clean
+clean:
+	rm -f buffer-agnostic
diff --git a/gds/samples/buffer-agnostic/README.txt b/gds/samples/buffer-agnostic/README.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e01181f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gds/samples/buffer-agnostic/README.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+Memory Buffer Agnostic Sample
+
+This sample demonstrates how software can detect where a memory buffer is allocated by querying the
+CUDA runtime.
+
+Compile using gnu make. 
+$ make clean; make
+$ make clean; make GDS_SUPPORT=TRUE # compile with cufile
+
+Run instructions:
+$ ./buffer-agnostic <filepath> <select memory buffer location> # 
+$ ./buffer-agnostic test.bin -1 # write from a CPU memory buffer
+$ ./buffer-agnostic test.bin 0 # write from GPU 0 memory buffer
+$ ./buffer-agnostic test.bin 1 # write from GPU 1 memory buffer
+
diff --git a/gds/samples/buffer-agnostic/buffer-agnostic.cc b/gds/samples/buffer-agnostic/buffer-agnostic.cc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e0bc5f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gds/samples/buffer-agnostic/buffer-agnostic.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,243 @@
+/* buffer-agnostic.cc
+ *
+ * This sample demonstrates how software can detect where a memory buffer is allocated by querying the
+ * CUDA runtime.
+ *
+ * Author: John J. Ravi <jjravi@lbl.gov>
+ */
+
+#include <fcntl.h>
+#include <assert.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+
+#include <cstdlib>
+#include <cstring>
+#include <iostream>
+
+#include <errno.h>
+#include <string.h>
+
+#include <cuda_runtime.h>
+#include <cuda.h>
+
+#ifdef GDS_SUPPORT
+#include "cufile.h"
+#endif
+
+#define check_cudaruntimecall(apiFuncCall)                                    \
+  {                                                                           \
+    cudaError_t _status = apiFuncCall;                                        \
+    if (_status != cudaSuccess) {                                             \
+      fprintf(stderr, "%s:%d: error: rt function %s failed with error %s.\n", \
+        __FILE__, __LINE__, #apiFuncCall, cudaGetErrorString(_status));       \
+      exit(-1);                                                               \
+    }                                                                         \
+  }
+
+using namespace std;
+
+#define MAX_BUFFER_SIZE (128 * 1024UL) // 128 KB
+
+bool is_device_pointer (const void *ptr) {
+  struct cudaPointerAttributes attributes;
+  cudaPointerGetAttributes (&attributes, ptr);
+  return (attributes.devicePointer != NULL);
+}
+
+typedef struct file_desc_t {
+  int fd; /* the unix file descriptor */
+#ifdef GDS_SUPPORT
+  CUfileHandle_t  cf_handle; /* cufile handle */
+#endif
+} file_desc_t;
+
+void buffer_alloc(void **ptr, size_t size) {
+  check_cudaruntimecall(cudaMalloc(ptr, size));
+
+#ifdef GDS_SUPPORT
+  CUfileError_t status;
+  int ret;
+
+  std::cout << "registering device memory of size :" << size << std::endl;
+  // registers device memory
+  status = cuFileBufRegister(*ptr, size, 0);
+  if (status.err != CU_FILE_SUCCESS) {
+    ret = -1;
+    printf("buffer register error: %d\n", status.err);
+    exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+  }
+#else
+  
+#endif
+}
+
+void buffer_free(void *ptr) {
+#ifdef GDS_SUPPORT
+  std::cout << "deregistering device memory" << std::endl;
+  CUfileError_t status;
+  int ret;
+
+  // deregister the device memory
+  status = cuFileBufDeregister(ptr);
+  if (status.err != CU_FILE_SUCCESS) {
+    ret = -1;
+    printf("buffer deregister error: %d\n", status.err);
+    exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+  }
+#endif
+
+  check_cudaruntimecall(cudaFree(ptr));
+}
+
+ssize_t buffer_write(file_desc_t file_handle, const void *buf, size_t count, off_t offset) {
+  ssize_t ret;
+  if( is_device_pointer(buf) ) {
+    std::cout << "is a device pointer" << std::endl;
+    // writes device memory contents to a file
+#ifdef GDS_SUPPORT
+    std::cout << "writing from device memory" << std::endl;
+    ret = cuFileWrite(file_handle.cf_handle, buf, count, 0, 0);
+    if (ret < 0) {
+      printf("write failed error: %ld\n", ret);
+    } else {
+      std::cout << "written bytes :" << ret << std::endl;
+      ret = 0;
+    }
+#else
+    void *hostPtr = NULL;
+    hostPtr = malloc(count);
+
+    std::cout << "buffering on host memory" << std::endl;
+    check_cudaruntimecall(cudaMemcpy(hostPtr, buf, count, cudaMemcpyDeviceToHost));
+
+    ret = pwrite(file_handle.fd, hostPtr, count, 0);
+    if (ret < 0) {
+      std::cerr << "file write error:" << strerror(errno) << std::endl;
+      exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+    }
+    free(hostPtr);
+#endif
+  }
+  else {
+    std::cout << "is not a device pointer" << std::endl;
+    std::cout << "writing from host memory" << std::endl;
+    ret = pwrite(file_handle.fd, buf, count, offset);
+  }
+
+  return ret;
+}
+
+file_desc_t file_open(const char *filepath) {
+  file_desc_t file_handle;
+  ssize_t ret = -1;
+
+  // opens a file to write
+#ifdef GDS_SUPPORT
+  ret = open(filepath, O_CREAT | O_RDWR | O_DIRECT, 0664);
+#else
+  ret = open(filepath, O_CREAT | O_RDWR, 0664);
+#endif
+  if (ret < 0) {
+    std::cerr << "file open error:" << strerror(errno) << std::endl;
+    exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+  }
+  file_handle.fd = ret;
+
+#ifdef GDS_SUPPORT
+  CUfileError_t status;
+  CUfileDescr_t cf_descr;
+
+  memset((void *)&cf_descr, 0, sizeof(CUfileDescr_t));
+  cf_descr.handle.fd = file_handle.fd;
+  cf_descr.type = CU_FILE_HANDLE_TYPE_OPAQUE_FD;
+  status = cuFileHandleRegister(&file_handle.cf_handle, &cf_descr);
+
+  if (status.err != CU_FILE_SUCCESS) {
+    printf("file register error: %d\n", status.err);
+    close(file_handle.fd);
+    file_handle.fd = -1;
+    exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+  }
+#endif
+
+  return file_handle;
+}
+
+int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
+  file_desc_t file_handle;
+  ssize_t ret = -1;
+  void *bufPtr = NULL;
+  const size_t size = MAX_BUFFER_SIZE;
+  const char *TESTFILE;
+  bool use_gpu_buffer = false;
+
+#ifdef GDS_SUPPORT
+  CUfileError_t status;
+#endif
+
+  if(argc < 3) {
+    std::cerr << argv[0] << " <filepath> <-1|cpu, x|gpuid> "<< std::endl;
+    exit(1);
+  }
+
+  TESTFILE = argv[1];
+
+  if(atoi(argv[2]) >= 0) {
+    check_cudaruntimecall(cudaSetDevice(atoi(argv[2])));
+    use_gpu_buffer = true;
+  }
+
+#ifdef GDS_SUPPORT
+  status = cuFileDriverOpen();
+  if (status.err != CU_FILE_SUCCESS) {
+    printf("cufile driver open error: %d\n", status.err);
+    return EXIT_FAILURE;
+  }
+#endif
+
+  std::cout << "opening file " << TESTFILE << std::endl;
+  file_handle = file_open(TESTFILE);
+
+  std::cout << "allocating memory buffer" << std::endl;
+  if(use_gpu_buffer) {
+    buffer_alloc(&bufPtr, size);
+    // filler
+    check_cudaruntimecall(cudaMemset(bufPtr, 0xab, size));
+  }
+  else {
+    bufPtr = malloc(size);
+    memset(bufPtr, 0xcd, size);
+  }
+
+  // writes device memory contents to a file
+  buffer_write(file_handle, bufPtr, size, 0);
+
+  std::cout << "freeing memory buffer" << std::endl;
+  if(use_gpu_buffer) {
+    buffer_free(bufPtr);
+  }
+  else {
+    free(bufPtr);
+  }
+
+#ifdef GDS_SUPPORT
+  // close file
+  if (file_handle.fd > 0) {
+    cuFileHandleDeregister(file_handle.cf_handle);
+  }
+
+  status = cuFileDriverClose();
+  if (status.err != CU_FILE_SUCCESS) {
+    printf("cufile driver close error: %d\n", status.err);
+    exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+	}
+#else
+#endif
+
+  std::cout << "closing file" << std::endl;
+  if (file_handle.fd > 0) {
+    close(file_handle.fd);
+  }
+
+	return ret;
+}