A mechanism is provided by which a logical volume manager may allow features to be added and modified without having to modify the logical volume manager code. The present invention provides an logical volume manager engine, which attempts to load feature plug-ins that are stored as dynamic link libraries. The logical volume manager also includes application program interfaces to make it possible for user interfaces and other programs that communicate with the LVM Engine to communicate with features created by third parties. The logical volume manager is also modified to eliminate assumptions about the number and order of features being applied to the volume. Features may be selected and ordered by a user at the time of volume creation.