diff --git a/include/villas/memory.h b/include/villas/memory.h
index 0715df4a6..5de859e05 100644
--- a/include/villas/memory.h
+++ b/include/villas/memory.h
@@ -12,8 +12,10 @@
 
 #define HUGEPAGESIZE	(1 << 21)
 
-typedef void *(*memzone_allocator_t)(size_t len, size_t alignment);
-typedef int (*memzone_deallocator_t)(void *ptr, size_t len);
+struct memtype;
+
+typedef void *(*memzone_allocator_t)(struct memtype *mem, size_t len, size_t alignment);
+typedef int (*memzone_deallocator_t)(struct memtype *mem, void *ptr, size_t len);
 
 enum memtype_flags {
 	MEMORY_MMAP	= (1 << 0),
@@ -30,6 +32,21 @@ struct memtype {
 	
 	memzone_allocator_t alloc;
 	memzone_deallocator_t free;
+
+	void *_vd; /**<Virtual data for possible state */
+};
+
+enum memblock_flags {
+	MEMBLOCK_USED = 1,
+};
+
+/** Descriptor of a memory block. Associated block always starts at
+ * &m + sizeof(struct memblock). */
+struct memblock {
+	struct memblock* prev;
+	struct memblock* next;
+	size_t len; /**<Length of the block; doesn't include the descriptor itself */
+	int flags;
 };
 
 /** @todo Unused for now */
@@ -49,11 +66,13 @@ int memory_init(int hugepages);
  * @retval NULL If allocation failed.
  * @retval <>0  If allocation was successful.
  */
-void * memory_alloc(const struct memtype *m, size_t len);
+void * memory_alloc(struct memtype *m, size_t len);
 
-void * memory_alloc_aligned(const struct memtype *m, size_t len, size_t alignment);
+void * memory_alloc_aligned(struct memtype *m, size_t len, size_t alignment);
 
-int memory_free(const struct memtype *m, void *ptr, size_t len);
+int memory_free(struct memtype *m, void *ptr, size_t len);
 
-extern const struct memtype memtype_heap;
-extern const struct memtype memtype_hugepage;
\ No newline at end of file
+struct memtype * memtype_managed_init(void *ptr, size_t len);
+
+extern struct memtype memtype_heap;
+extern struct memtype memtype_hugepage;
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/include/villas/pool.h b/include/villas/pool.h
index f8fef235f..f6c0adc2f 100644
--- a/include/villas/pool.h
+++ b/include/villas/pool.h
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 /** A thread-safe memory pool */
 struct pool {
 	void *buffer;		/**< Address of the underlying memory area */
-	const struct memtype *mem;
+	struct memtype *mem;
 	
 	enum state state;
 	
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ struct pool {
  * @retval 0 The pool has been successfully initialized.
  * @retval <>0 There was an error during the pool initialization.
  */
-int pool_init(struct pool *p, size_t cnt, size_t blocksz, const struct memtype *mem);
+int pool_init(struct pool *p, size_t cnt, size_t blocksz, struct memtype *mem);
 
 /** Destroy and release memory used by pool. */
 int pool_destroy(struct pool *p);
diff --git a/include/villas/queue.h b/include/villas/queue.h
index b68f72c76..e6470ed12 100644
--- a/include/villas/queue.h
+++ b/include/villas/queue.h
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ struct queue {
 	
 	enum state state;
 
-	struct memtype const * mem;
+	struct memtype * mem;
 	size_t buffer_mask;
 	struct queue_cell {
 		atomic_size_t sequence;
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ struct queue {
 };
 
 /** Initialize MPMC queue */
-int queue_init(struct queue *q, size_t size, const struct memtype *mem);
+int queue_init(struct queue *q, size_t size, struct memtype *mem);
 
 /** Desroy MPMC queue and release memory */
 int queue_destroy(struct queue *q);
@@ -99,4 +99,4 @@ int queue_push_many(struct queue *q, void *ptr[], size_t cnt);
  *         This number can be smaller than \p cnt in case the queue contained less than
  *         \p cnt elements.
  */
-int queue_pull_many(struct queue *q, void *ptr[], size_t cnt);
\ No newline at end of file
+int queue_pull_many(struct queue *q, void *ptr[], size_t cnt);
diff --git a/lib/memory.c b/lib/memory.c
index ead4f6265..15ae7e794 100644
--- a/lib/memory.c
+++ b/lib/memory.c
@@ -33,81 +33,240 @@ int memory_init(int hugepages)
 	return 0;
 }
 
-void * memory_alloc(const struct memtype *m, size_t len)
+void * memory_alloc(struct memtype *m, size_t len)
 {
-	void *ptr = m->alloc(len, sizeof(void *));
+	void *ptr = m->alloc(m, len, sizeof(void *));
 		
 	debug(LOG_MEM | 2, "Allocated %#zx bytes of %s memory: %p", len, m->name, ptr);
 
 	return ptr;
 }
 
-void * memory_alloc_aligned(const struct memtype *m, size_t len, size_t alignment)
+void * memory_alloc_aligned(struct memtype *m, size_t len, size_t alignment)
 {
-	void *ptr = m->alloc(len, alignment);
+	void *ptr = m->alloc(m, len, alignment);
 	
 	debug(LOG_MEM | 2, "Allocated %#zx bytes of %#zx-byte-aligned %s memory: %p", len, alignment, m->name, ptr);
-	
+
 	return ptr;
 }
 
-int memory_free(const struct memtype *m, void *ptr, size_t len)
+int memory_free(struct memtype *m, void *ptr, size_t len)
 {
 	debug(LOG_MEM | 2, "Releasing %#zx bytes of %s memory", len, m->name);
-	return m->free(ptr, len);
+
+	return m->free(m, ptr, len);
 }
 
-static void * memory_heap_alloc(size_t len, size_t alignment)
+static void * memory_heap_alloc(struct memtype *m, size_t len, size_t alignment)
 {
 	void *ptr;
 	int ret;
-	
+
 	if (alignment < sizeof(void *))
 		alignment = sizeof(void *);
-	
+
 	ret = posix_memalign(&ptr, alignment, len);
-	
+
 	return ret ? NULL : ptr;
 }
 
-int memory_heap_free(void *ptr, size_t len)
+int memory_heap_free(struct memtype *m, void *ptr, size_t len)
 {
 	free(ptr);
-	
+
 	return 0;
 }
 
 /** Allocate memory backed by hugepages with malloc() like interface */
-static void * memory_hugepage_alloc(size_t len, size_t alignment)
+static void * memory_hugepage_alloc(struct memtype *m, size_t len, size_t alignment)
 {
 	int prot = PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE;
 	int flags = MAP_PRIVATE | MAP_ANONYMOUS;
-	
+
 #ifdef __MACH__
 	flags |= VM_FLAGS_SUPERPAGE_SIZE_2MB;
 #elif defined(__linux__)
 	flags |= MAP_HUGETLB | MAP_LOCKED;
 #endif
-	
+
 	void *ret = mmap(NULL, len, prot, flags, -1, 0);
-	
+
 	if (ret == MAP_FAILED) {
 		info("Failed to allocate huge pages: Check https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/vm/hugetlbpage.txt");
 		return NULL;
 	}
-	
+
 	return ret;
 }
 
-static int memory_hugepage_free(void *ptr, size_t len)
+static int memory_hugepage_free(struct memtype *m, void *ptr, size_t len)
 {
 	len = ALIGN(len, HUGEPAGESIZE); /* ugly see: https://lkml.org/lkml/2015/3/27/171 */
 
 	return munmap(ptr, len);
 }
 
+void* memory_managed_alloc(struct memtype *m, size_t len, size_t alignment)
+{
+	/* Simple first-fit allocation */
+	struct memblock *first = m->_vd;
+	struct memblock *block;
+
+	for (block = first; block != NULL; block = block->next) {
+		if (block->flags & MEMBLOCK_USED)
+			continue;
+
+		char* cptr = (char *) block + sizeof(struct memblock);
+		size_t avail = block->len;
+		uintptr_t uptr = (uintptr_t) cptr;
+
+		/* Check alignment first; leave a gap at start of block to assure
+		 * alignment if necessary */
+		uintptr_t rem = uptr % alignment;
+		uintptr_t gap = 0;
+		if (rem != 0) {
+			gap = alignment - rem;
+			if (gap > avail)
+				continue; /* Next aligned address isn't in this block anymore */
+
+			cptr += gap;
+			avail -= gap;
+		}
+
+		if (avail >= len) {
+			if (gap > sizeof(struct memblock)) {
+				/* The alignment gap is big enough to fit another block.
+				 * The original block descriptor is already at the correct
+				 * position, so we just change its len and create a new block
+				 * descriptor for the actual block we're handling. */
+				block->len = gap - sizeof(struct memblock);
+				struct memblock *newblock = (struct memblock *) (cptr - sizeof(struct memblock));
+				newblock->prev = block;
+				newblock->next = block->next;
+				block->next = newblock;
+				newblock->flags = 0;
+				newblock->len = len;
+				block = newblock;
+			}
+			else {
+				/* The gap is too small to fit another block descriptor, so we
+				 * must account for the gap length in the block length. */
+				block->len = len + gap;
+			}
+
+			if (avail > len + sizeof(struct memblock)) {
+				/* Imperfect fit, so create another block for the remaining part */
+				struct memblock *newblock = (struct memblock *) (cptr + len);
+				newblock->prev = block;
+				newblock->next = block->next;
+				block->next = newblock;
+				if (newblock->next)
+					newblock->next->prev = newblock;
+				newblock->flags = 0;
+				newblock->len = avail - len - sizeof(struct memblock);
+			}
+			else {
+				/* If this block was larger than the requested length, but only
+				 * by less than sizeof(struct memblock), we may have wasted
+				 * memory by previous assignments to block->len. */
+				block->len = avail;
+			}
+
+			block->flags |= MEMBLOCK_USED;
+
+			return (void *) cptr;
+		}
+	}
+
+	/* No suitable block found */
+	return NULL;
+}
+
+int memory_managed_free(struct memtype *m, void *ptr, size_t len)
+{
+	struct memblock *first = m->_vd;
+	struct memblock *block;
+	char *cptr = ptr;
+
+	for (block = first; block != NULL; block = block->next) {
+		if (!(block->flags & MEMBLOCK_USED))
+			continue;
+
+		/* Since we may waste some memory at the start of a block to ensure
+		 * alignment, ptr may not actually be the start of the block */
+		if ((char *) block + sizeof(struct memblock) <= cptr &&
+		    cptr < (char *) block + sizeof(struct memblock) + block->len) {
+			/* Try to merge it with neighbouring free blocks */
+			if (block->prev && !(block->prev->flags & MEMBLOCK_USED) &&
+			    block->next && !(block->next->flags & MEMBLOCK_USED)) {
+				/* Special case first: both previous and next block are unused */
+				block->prev->len += block->len + block->next->len + 2 * sizeof(struct memblock);
+				block->prev->next = block->next->next;
+				if (block->next->next)
+					block->next->next->prev = block->prev;
+			}
+			else if (block->prev && !(block->prev->flags & MEMBLOCK_USED)) {
+				block->prev->len += block->len + sizeof(struct memblock);
+				block->prev->next = block->next;
+				if (block->next)
+					block->next->prev = block->prev;
+			}
+			else if (block->next && !(block->next->flags & MEMBLOCK_USED)) {
+				block->len += block->next->len + sizeof(struct memblock);
+				block->next = block->next->next;
+				if (block->next)
+					block->next->prev = block;
+			}
+			else {
+				/* no neighbouring free block, so just mark it as free */
+				block->flags &= ~MEMBLOCK_USED;
+			}
+
+			return 0;
+		}
+	}
+
+	return -1;
+}
+
+struct memtype * memtype_managed_init(void *ptr, size_t len)
+{
+	struct memtype *mt = ptr;
+	struct memblock *mb;
+	char *cptr = ptr;
+
+	if (len < sizeof(struct memtype) + sizeof(struct memblock)) {
+		info("memtype_managed_init: passed region too small");
+		return NULL;
+	}
+
+	/* Initialize memtype */
+	mt->name  = "managed";
+	mt->flags = 0;
+	mt->alloc = memory_managed_alloc;
+	mt->free  = memory_managed_free;
+	mt->alignment = 1;
+
+	cptr += ALIGN(sizeof(struct memtype), sizeof(void *));
+
+	/* Initialize first free memblock */
+	mb = (struct memblock *) cptr;
+	mb->prev = NULL;
+	mb->next = NULL;
+	mb->flags = 0;
+
+	cptr += ALIGN(sizeof(struct memblock), sizeof(void *));
+
+	mb->len = len - (cptr - (char *) ptr);
+
+	mt->_vd = (void *) mb;
+
+	return mt;
+}
+
 /* List of available memory types */
-const struct memtype memtype_heap = {
+struct memtype memtype_heap = {
 	.name = "heap",
 	.flags = MEMORY_HEAP,
 	.alloc = memory_heap_alloc,
@@ -115,18 +274,10 @@ const struct memtype memtype_heap = {
 	.alignment = 1
 };
 
-const struct memtype memtype_hugepage = {
+struct memtype memtype_hugepage = {
 	.name = "mmap_hugepages",
 	.flags = MEMORY_MMAP | MEMORY_HUGEPAGE,
 	.alloc = memory_hugepage_alloc,
 	.free = memory_hugepage_free,
-	.alignment = 21  /* 2 MiB hugepage */
-};
-
-/** @todo */
-const struct memtype memtype_dma = {
-	.name = "dma",
-	.flags = MEMORY_DMA | MEMORY_MMAP,
-	.alloc = NULL, .free = NULL,
-	.alignment = 12
+	.alignment = 21 /* 2 MiB hugepage */
 };
diff --git a/lib/pool.c b/lib/pool.c
index e2398d875..5a68257b5 100644
--- a/lib/pool.c
+++ b/lib/pool.c
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 #include "memory.h"
 #include "kernel/kernel.h"
 
-int pool_init(struct pool *p, size_t cnt, size_t blocksz, const struct memtype *m)
+int pool_init(struct pool *p, size_t cnt, size_t blocksz, struct memtype *m)
 {
 	int ret;
 	
diff --git a/lib/queue.c b/lib/queue.c
index 10ef9ec3e..65b0590ec 100644
--- a/lib/queue.c
+++ b/lib/queue.c
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@
 #include "memory.h"
 
 /** Initialize MPMC queue */
-int queue_init(struct queue *q, size_t size, const struct memtype *mem)
+int queue_init(struct queue *q, size_t size, struct memtype *mem)
 {
 	assert(q->state == STATE_DESTROYED);
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/memory.c b/tests/unit/memory.c
index e7821e02e..bb51f4628 100644
--- a/tests/unit/memory.c
+++ b/tests/unit/memory.c
@@ -15,10 +15,10 @@
 TheoryDataPoints(memory, aligned) = {
 	DataPoints(size_t, 1, 32, 55, 1 << 10, 1 << 20),
 	DataPoints(size_t, 1, 8, 1 << 12),
-	DataPoints(const struct memtype *, &memtype_heap, &memtype_hugepage)
+	DataPoints(struct memtype *, &memtype_heap, &memtype_hugepage)
 };
 
-Theory((size_t len, size_t align, const struct memtype *m), memory, aligned) {
+Theory((size_t len, size_t align, struct memtype *m), memory, aligned) {
 	int ret;
 	void *ptr;
 	
@@ -33,4 +33,38 @@ Theory((size_t len, size_t align, const struct memtype *m), memory, aligned) {
 
 	ret = memory_free(m, ptr, len);
 	cr_assert_eq(ret, 0, "Failed to release memory: ret=%d, ptr=%p, len=%zu: %s", ret, ptr, len, strerror(errno));
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
+
+Test(memory, manager) {
+    size_t total_size = 1 << 10;
+    size_t max_block = total_size - sizeof(struct memtype) - sizeof(struct memblock);
+    void *p = memory_alloc(&memtype_heap, total_size);
+    struct memtype *manager = memtype_managed_init(p, total_size);
+
+    void *p1, *p2, *p3;
+    p1 = memory_alloc(manager, 16);
+    cr_assert(p1);
+
+    p2 = memory_alloc(manager, 32);
+    cr_assert(p2);
+
+    cr_assert(memory_free(manager, p1, 16) == 0);
+
+    p1 = memory_alloc_aligned(manager, 128, 128);
+    cr_assert(p1);
+    cr_assert(IS_ALIGNED(p1, 128));
+
+    p3 = memory_alloc_aligned(manager, 128, 256);
+    cr_assert(p3);
+    cr_assert(IS_ALIGNED(p3, 256));
+
+    cr_assert(memory_free(manager, p2, 32) == 0);
+    cr_assert(memory_free(manager, p1, 128) == 0);
+    cr_assert(memory_free(manager, p3, 128) == 0);
+
+
+    p1 = memory_alloc(manager, max_block);
+    cr_assert(p1);
+    cr_assert(memory_free(manager, p1, max_block) == 0);
+    memory_free(&memtype_heap, p, total_size);
+}
diff --git a/tests/unit/pool.c b/tests/unit/pool.c
index a036bcbe1..1f72e4c70 100644
--- a/tests/unit/pool.c
+++ b/tests/unit/pool.c
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ struct param {
 	int thread_count;
 	int pool_size;
 	size_t block_size;
-	const struct memtype *memtype;
+	struct memtype *memtype;
 };
 
 ParameterizedTestParameters(pool, basic)
@@ -63,4 +63,4 @@ ParameterizedTest(struct param *p, pool, basic)
 	ret = pool_destroy(&pool);
 	cr_assert_eq(ret, 0, "Failed to destroy pool");
 
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}