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Parallel NFS (pNFS) Block/Volume Layout
draft-ietf-nfsv4-pnfs-block-12

The information below is for an old version of the document that is already published as an RFC.
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This is an older version of an Internet-Draft that was ultimately published as RFC 5663.
Authors Stephen Fridella , David L. Black , Jason Glasgow
Last updated 2020-01-21 (Latest revision 2008-12-23)
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draft-ietf-nfsv4-pnfs-block-12
NFSv4 Working Group                                            D. Black 
Internet Draft                                          EMC Corporation 
Expires: June 25, 2009                                      S. Fridella  
Intended Status: Proposed Standard                      EMC Corporation 
                                                             J. Glasgow 
                                                                 Google 
                                                      December 22, 2008 
                                      
                         pNFS Block/Volume Layout 
                    draft-ietf-nfsv4-pnfs-block-12.txt 

Status of this Memo 

   This Internet-Draft is submitted to IETF in full conformance with the 
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79. 

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering 
   Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups.  Note that 
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   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months 
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any 
   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference 
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." 

   The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at 
        http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt 

   The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at 
        http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html 

   This Internet-Draft will expire on June 25, 2009. 

Copyright Notice 

   Copyright (c) 2008 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the 
   document authors.  All rights reserved. 

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal 
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents 
   (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of 
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents 
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect 
   to this document. 

 
 
 
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Abstract 

   Parallel NFS (pNFS) extends NFSv4 to allow clients to directly access 
   file data on the storage used by the NFSv4 server.  This ability to 
   bypass the server for data access can increase both performance and 
   parallelism, but requires additional client functionality for data 
   access, some of which is dependent on the class of storage used.  The 
   main pNFS operations draft specifies storage-class-independent 
   extensions to NFS; this draft specifies the additional extensions 
   (primarily data structures) for use of pNFS with block and volume 
   based storage. 

Conventions used in this document 

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", 
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this 
   document are to be interpreted as described in RFC-2119 [RFC2119]. 

Table of Contents 

   Copyright Notice..................................................1 
   1. Introduction...................................................4 
      1.1. General Definitions.......................................4 
      1.2. Code Components Licensing Notice..........................5 
      1.3. XDR Description...........................................5 
   2. Block Layout Description.......................................8 
      2.1. Background and Architecture...............................8 
      2.2. GETDEVICELIST and GETDEVICEINFO...........................9 
         2.2.1. Volume Identification................................9 
         2.2.2. Volume Topology.....................................11 
         2.2.3. GETDEVICELIST and GETDEVICEINFO deviceid4...........14 
      2.3. Data Structures: Extents and Extent Lists................14 
         2.3.1. Layout Requests and Extent Lists....................17 
         2.3.2. Layout Commits......................................18 
         2.3.3. Layout Returns......................................19 
         2.3.4. Client Copy-on-Write Processing.....................19 
         2.3.5. Extents are Permissions.............................21 
         2.3.6. End-of-file Processing..............................22 
         2.3.7. Layout Hints........................................23 
         2.3.8. Client Fencing......................................23 
      2.4. Crash Recovery Issues....................................25 
      2.5. Recalling resources: CB_RECALL_ANY.......................26 
      2.6. Transient and Permanent Errors...........................26 
   3. Security Considerations.......................................27 
   4. Conclusions...................................................29 
   5. IANA Considerations...........................................29 
 
 
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   6. Acknowledgments...............................................29 
   7. References....................................................29 
      7.1. Normative References.....................................29 
      7.2. Informative References...................................30 
   Authors' Addresses...............................................30 
    

 
 
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1. Introduction 

   Figure 1 shows the overall architecture of a Parallel NFS (pNFS) 
   system: 

       +-----------+                                
       |+-----------+                                 +-----------+ 
       ||+-----------+                                |           | 
       |||           |       NFSv4.1 + pNFS           |           | 
       +||  Clients  |<------------------------------>|   Server  | 
        +|           |                                |           | 
         +-----------+                                |           | 
              |||                                     +-----------+ 
              |||                                           | 
              |||                                           | 
              ||| Storage        +-----------+              | 
              ||| Protocol       |+-----------+             | 
              ||+----------------||+-----------+  Control   | 
              |+-----------------|||           |    Protocol| 
              +------------------+||  Storage  |------------+ 
                                  +|  Systems  | 
                                   +-----------+ 
    
                        Figure 1 pNFS Architecture 

   The overall approach is that pNFS-enhanced clients obtain sufficient 
   information from the server to enable them to access the underlying 
   storage (on the Storage Systems) directly.  See the pNFS portion of 
   [NFSV4.1] for more details.  This draft is concerned with access from 
   pNFS clients to Storage Systems over storage protocols based on 
   blocks and volumes, such as the SCSI protocol family (e.g., parallel 
   SCSI, FCP for Fibre Channel, iSCSI, SAS, and FCoE).  This class of 
   storage is referred to as block/volume storage.  While the Server to 
   Storage System protocol, called the "Control Protocol", is not of 
   concern for interoperability here, it will typically also be a 
   block/volume protocol when clients use block/ volume protocols. 

1.1. General Definitions 

   The following definitions are provided for the purpose of providing 
   an appropriate context for the reader. 

   Byte 

 
 
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      This document defines a byte as an octet, i.e. a datum exactly 8 
      bits in length.  

   Client 

      The "client" is the entity that accesses the NFS server's 
      resources. The client may be an application which contains the 
      logic to access the NFS server directly. The client may also be 
      the traditional operating system client that provides remote file 
      system services for a set of applications. 

   Server 

      The "Server" is the entity responsible for coordinating client 
      access to a set of file systems and is identified by a Server 
      owner. 

1.2. Code Components Licensing Notice 

   The external data representation (XDR) description and scripts for 
   extracting the XDR description are Code Components as described in 
   Section 4 of "Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents" [LEGAL].  
   These Code Components are licensed according to the terms of Section 
   4 of "Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents". 

1.3. XDR Description 

   This document contains the XDR ([XDR]) description of the NFSv4.1 
   block layout protocol.  The XDR description is embedded in this 
   document in a way that makes it simple for the reader to extract into 
   a ready to compile form.  The reader can feed this document into the 
   following shell script to produce the machine readable XDR 
   description of the NFSv4.1 block layout: 

   #!/bin/sh 
   grep '^ *///' $* | sed 's?^ */// ??' | sed 's?^  *///$??' 
    
   I.e. if the above script is stored in a file called "extract.sh", and 
   this document is in a file called "spec.txt", then the reader can do: 

       sh extract.sh < spec.txt > nfs4_block_layout_spec.x 

   The effect of the script is to remove both leading white space and a 
   sentinel sequence of "///" from each matching line. 

 
 
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   The embedded XDR file header follows, with subsequent pieces embedded 
   throughout the document: 

 
 
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   /// /* 
   ///  * This code was derived from IETF RFC &rfc.number. 
   [[RFC Editor: please insert RFC number if needed]] 
   ///  * Please reproduce this note if possible. 
   ///  */ 
   /// /* 
   ///  * Copyright (c) 2008 IETF Trust and the persons identified 
   ///  * as the document authors. All rights reserved. 
   ///  * 
   ///  * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with 
   ///  * or without modification, are permitted provided that the 
   ///  * following conditions are met: 
   ///  * 
   ///  * o Redistributions of source code must retain the above 
   ///  *   copyright notice, this list of conditions and the 
   ///  *   following disclaimer. 
   ///  * 
   ///  * o Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above 
   ///  *   copyright notice, this list of conditions and the 
   ///  *   following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other 
   ///  *   materials provided with the distribution. 
   ///  * 
   ///  * o Neither the name of Internet Society, IETF or IETF 
   ///  *   Trust, nor the names of specific contributors, may be 
   ///  *   used to endorse or promote products derived from this 
   ///  *   software without specific prior written permission. 
   ///  * 
   ///  *   THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS 
   ///  *   AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED 
   ///  *   WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 
   ///  *   IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS 
   ///  *   FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO 
   ///  *   EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE 
   ///  *   LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, 
   ///  *   EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT 
   ///  *   NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR 
   ///  *   SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS 
   ///  *   INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF 
   ///  *   LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, 
   ///  *   OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING 
   ///  *   IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF 
   ///  *   ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. 
   ///  */ 
    

 
 
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   ///  
   /// /* 
   ///  *      nfs4_block_layout_prot.x 
   ///  */ 
   ///  
   /// %#include "nfsv41.h" 
   ///  
    

   The XDR code contained in this document depends on types from 
   nfsv41.x file.  This includes both nfs types that end with a 4, such 
   as offset4, length4, etc, as well as more generic types such as 
   uint32_t and uint64_t. 

    
2. Block Layout Description 

2.1. Background and Architecture 

   The fundamental storage abstraction supported by block/volume storage 
   is a storage volume consisting of a sequential series of fixed size 
   blocks.  This can be thought of as a logical disk; it may be realized 
   by the Storage System as a physical disk, a portion of a physical 
   disk or something more complex (e.g., concatenation, striping, RAID, 
   and combinations thereof) involving multiple physical disks or 
   portions thereof. 

   A pNFS layout for this block/volume class of storage is responsible 
   for mapping from an NFS file (or portion of a file) to the blocks of 
   storage volumes that contain the file.  The blocks are expressed as 
   extents with 64 bit offsets and lengths using the existing NFSv4 
   offset4 and length4 types.  Clients must be able to perform I/O to 
   the block extents without affecting additional areas of storage 
   (especially important for writes), therefore extents MUST be aligned 
   to 512-byte boundaries, and writable extents MUST be aligned to the 
   block size used by the NFSv4 server in managing the actual file 
   system (4 kilobytes and 8 kilobytes are common block sizes).  This 
   block size is available as the NFSv4.1 layout_blksize attribute. 
   [NFSV4.1].  Readable extents SHOULD be aligned to the block size used 
   by the NFSv4 server, but in order to support legacy file systems with 
   fragments, alignment to 512 byte boundaries is acceptable. 

   The pNFS operation for requesting a layout (LAYOUTGET) includes the 
   "layoutiomode4 loga_iomode" argument which indicates whether the 
   requested layout is for read-only use or read-write use.  A read-only 
   layout may contain holes that are read as zero, whereas a read-write 
 
 
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   layout will contain allocated, but un-initialized storage in those 
   holes (read as zero, can be written by client).  This draft also 
   supports client participation in copy on write (e.g. for file systems 
   with snapshots) by providing both read-only and un-initialized 
   storage for the same range in a layout.  Reads are initially 
   performed on the read-only storage, with writes going to the un-
   initialized storage.  After the first write that initializes the un-
   initialized storage, all reads are performed to that now-initialized 
   writeable storage, and the corresponding read-only storage is no 
   longer used. 

   The block/volume layout solution expands the security 
   responsibilities of the pNFS clients and there are a number of 
   environments where the mandatory to implement security properties for 
   NFS cannot be satisfied.  The additional security responsibilities of 
   the client follow, and a full discussion is present in Section 3 
   "Security Considerations". 

   o  Typically, storage area network (SAN) disk arrays and SAN 
      protocols provide access control mechanisms (e.g., logical unit 
      number mapping and/or masking) which operate at the granularity of 
      individual hosts, not individual blocks.  For this reason, block-
      based protection must be provided by the client software. 

   o  Similarly, SAN disk arrays and SAN protocols typically are not be 
      able to validate NFS locks that apply to file regions.  For 
      instance, if a file is covered by a mandatory read-only lock, the 
      server can ensure that only readable layouts for the file are 
      granted to pNFS clients.  However, it is up to each pNFS client to 
      ensure that the readable layout is used only to service read 
      requests, and not to allow writes to the existing parts of the 
      file. 

   Since block/volume storage systems are generally not capable of 
   enforcing such file-based security, in environments where pNFS 
   clients cannot be trusted to enforce such policies, pNFS block/volume 
   storage layouts SHOULD NOT be used. 

2.2. GETDEVICELIST and GETDEVICEINFO 

2.2.1. Volume Identification 

   Storage Systems such as storage arrays can have multiple physical 
   network ports that need not be connected to a common network, 
   resulting in a pNFS client having simultaneous multipath access to 
   the same storage volumes via different ports on different networks.  
 
 
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   The networks may not even be the same technology - for example, 
   access to the same volume via both iSCSI and Fibre Channel is 
   possible, hence network addresses are difficult to use for volume 
   identification.  For this reason, this pNFS block layout identifies 
   storage volumes by content, for example providing the means to match 
   (unique portions of) labels used by volume managers.  Volume 
   identification is performed by matching one or more opaque byte 
   sequences to specific parts of the stored data.  Any block pNFS 
   system using this layout MUST support a means of content-based unique 
   volume identification that can be employed via the data structure 
   given here. 

   /// struct pnfs_block_sig_component4 { /* disk signature component */ 
   ///     int64_t bsc_sig_offset;        /* byte offset of component 
   ///                                       on volume*/ 
   ///     opaque  bsc_contents<>;        /* contents of this component 
   ///                                       of the signature */ 
   /// }; 
   ///  
    

   Note that the opaque "bsc_contents" field in the 
   "pnfs_block_sig_component4" structure MUST NOT be interpreted as a 
   zero-terminated string, as it may contain embedded zero-valued bytes.  
   There are no restrictions on alignment (e.g., neither bsc_sig_offset 
   nor the length are required to be multiples of 4).  The 
   bsc_sig_offset is a signed quantity which when positive represents an 
   byte offset from the start of the volume, and when negative 
   represents an byte offset from the end of the volume. 

   Negative offsets are permitted in order to simplify the client 
   implementation on systems where the device label is found at a fixed 
   offset from the end of the volume.  If the server uses negative 
   offsets to describe the signature, then the client and server MUST 
   NOT see different volume sizes.  Negative offsets SHOULD NOT be used 
   in systems that dynamically resize volumes unless care is taken to 
   ensure that the device label is always present at the offset from the 
   end of the volume as seen by the clients. 

   A signature is an array of up to "PNFS_BLOCK_MAX_SIG_COMP" (defined 
   below) signature components.  The client MUST NOT assume that all 
   signature components are colocated within a single sector on a block 
   device.  

 
 
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   The pNFS client block layout driver uses this volume identification 
   to map pnfs_block_volume_type4 PNFS_BLOCK_VOLUME_SIMPLE deviceid4s to 
   its local view of a logical unit number (LUN). 

2.2.2. Volume Topology 

   The pNFS block server volume topology is expressed as an arbitrary 
   combination of base volume types enumerated in the following data 
   structures.  The individual components of the topology are contained 
   in an array and components may refer to other components by using 
   array indices. 

 
 
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   /// enum pnfs_block_volume_type4 { 
   ///     PNFS_BLOCK_VOLUME_SIMPLE = 0,  /* volume maps to a single 
   ///                                       LU */ 
   ///     PNFS_BLOCK_VOLUME_SLICE  = 1,  /* volume is a slice of 
   ///                                       another volume */  
   ///     PNFS_BLOCK_VOLUME_CONCAT = 2,  /* volume is a 
   ///                                       concatenation of 
   ///                                       multiple volumes */ 
   ///     PNFS_BLOCK_VOLUME_STRIPE = 3   /* volume is striped across 
   ///                                       multiple volumes */ 
   /// }; 
   ///  
   /// const PNFS_BLOCK_MAX_SIG_COMP = 16;/* maximum components per 
   ///                                       signature */ 
   /// struct pnfs_block_simple_volume_info4 { 
   ///     pnfs_block_sig_component4 bsv_ds<PNFS_BLOCK_MAX_SIG_COMP>; 
   ///                                    /* disk signature */ 
   /// }; 
   ///  
   ///  
   /// struct pnfs_block_slice_volume_info4 { 
   ///     offset4  bsv_start;            /* offset of the start of the 
   ///                                       slice in bytes */ 
   ///     length4  bsv_length;           /* length of slice in bytes */ 
   ///     uint32_t bsv_volume;           /* array index of sliced 
   ///                                       volume */ 
   /// }; 
   ///  
   /// struct pnfs_block_concat_volume_info4 { 
   ///     uint32_t  bcv_volumes<>;       /* array indices of volumes  
   ///                                       which are concatenated */ 
   /// }; 
   ///  
   /// struct pnfs_block_stripe_volume_info4 { 
   ///     length4  bsv_stripe_unit;      /* size of stripe in bytes */ 
   ///     uint32_t bsv_volumes<>;        /* array indices of volumes  
   ///                                       which are striped across -- 
   ///                                       MUST be same size */ 
   /// }; 
   ///  
    

 
 
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   /// union pnfs_block_volume4 switch (pnfs_block_volume_type4 type) { 
   ///     case PNFS_BLOCK_VOLUME_SIMPLE: 
   ///         pnfs_block_simple_volume_info4 bv_simple_info; 
   ///     case PNFS_BLOCK_VOLUME_SLICE: 
   ///         pnfs_block_slice_volume_info4 bv_slice_info; 
   ///     case PNFS_BLOCK_VOLUME_CONCAT: 
   ///         pnfs_block_concat_volume_info4 bv_concat_info; 
   ///     case PNFS_BLOCK_VOLUME_STRIPE: 
   ///         pnfs_block_stripe_volume_info4 bv_stripe_info; 
   /// }; 
   ///  
   /// /* block layout specific type for da_addr_body */ 
   /// struct pnfs_block_deviceaddr4 { 
   ///     pnfs_block_volume4 bda_volumes<>; /* array of volumes */ 
   /// }; 
   ///  
    

   The "pnfs_block_deviceaddr4" data structure is a structure that 
   allows arbitrarily complex nested volume structures to be encoded.  
   The types of aggregations that are allowed are stripes, 
   concatenations, and slices.  Note that the volume topology expressed 
   in the pnfs_block_deviceaddr4 data structure will always resolve to a 
   set of pnfs_block_volume_type4 PNFS_BLOCK_VOLUME_SIMPLE.  The array 
   of volumes is ordered such that the root of the volume hierarchy is 
   the last element of the array.  Concat, slice and stripe volumes MUST 
   refer to volumes defined by lower indexed elements of the array. 

   The "pnfs_block_device_addr4" data structure is returned by the 
   server as the storage-protocol-specific opaque field da_addr_body in 
   the "device_addr4" structure by a successful GETDEVICEINFO operation. 
   [NFSV4.1].   

   As noted above, all device_addr4 structures eventually resolve to a 
   set of volumes of type PNFS_BLOCK_VOLUME_SIMPLE.  These volumes are 
   each uniquely identified by a set of signature components.  
   Complicated volume hierarchies may be composed of dozens of volumes 
   each with several signature components, thus the device address may 
   require several kilobytes.  The client SHOULD be prepared to allocate 
   a large buffer to contain the result.  In the case of the server 
   returning NFS4ERR_TOOSMALL the client SHOULD allocate a buffer of at 
   least gdir_mincount_bytes to contain the expected result and retry 
   the GETDEVICEINFO request.  

 
 
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2.2.3. GETDEVICELIST and GETDEVICEINFO deviceid4 

   The server in response to a GETDEVICELIST request typically will 
   return a single "deviceid4" in the gdlr_deviceid_list array.  This is 
   because the deviceid4 when passed to GETDEVICEINFO will return a 
   "device_addr4" which encodes the entire volume hierarchy.  In the 
   case of copy-on-write file systems, the "gdlr_deviceid_list" array 
   may contain two deviceid4's, one referencing the read-only volume 
   hierarchy, and one referencing the writable volume hierarchy.  There 
   is no required ordering of the readable and writable ids in the array 
   as the volumes are uniquely identified by their deviceid4, and are 
   referred to by layouts using the deviceid4.  Another example of the 
   server returning multiple device items occurs when the file handle 
   represents the root of a name space spanning multiple physical file 
   systems on the server, each with a different volume hierarchy.  In 
   this example a server implementation may return either a list of 
   deviceids used by each of the physical file systems, or it may return 
   an empty list. 

   Each deviceid4 returned by a successful GETDEVICELIST operation is a 
   shorthand id used to reference the whole volume topology.  These 
   device ids, as well as device ids return in extents of a LAYOUTGET 
   operation, can be used as input to the GETDEVICEINFO operation.  
   Decoding the "pnfs_block_deviceaddr4" results in a flat ordering of 
   data blocks mapped to PNFS_BLOCK_VOLUME_SIMPLE volumes.  Combined 
   with the mapping to a client LUN described in 2.2.1 Volume 
   Identification, a logical volume offset can be mapped to a block on a 
   pNFS client LUN. [NFSV4.1] 

2.3. Data Structures: Extents and Extent Lists 

   A pNFS block layout is a list of extents within a flat array of data 
   blocks in a logical volume.  The details of the volume topology can 
   be determined by using the GETDEVICEINFO operation (see discussion of 
   volume identification, section 2.2 above).  The block layout 
   describes the individual block extents on the volume that make up the 
   file.  The offsets and length contained in an extent are specified in 
   units of bytes. 

 
 
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   /// enum pnfs_block_extent_state4 { 
   ///     PNFS_BLOCK_READ_WRITE_DATA = 0,/* the data located by this 
   ///                                       extent is valid 
   ///                                       for reading and writing. */ 
   ///     PNFS_BLOCK_READ_DATA      = 1, /* the data located by this 
   ///                                       extent is valid for reading 
   ///                                       only; it may not be 
   ///                                       written. */ 
   ///     PNFS_BLOCK_INVALID_DATA   = 2, /* the location is valid; the 
   ///                                       data is invalid.  It is a 
   ///                                       newly (pre-) allocated 
   ///                                       extent. There is physical 
   ///                                       space on the volume. */ 
   ///     PNFS_BLOCK_NONE_DATA      = 3  /* the location is invalid. It 
   ///                                       is a hole in the file. 
   ///                                       There is no physical space 
   ///                                       on the volume. */ 
   /// }; 
    

   ///  
   /// struct pnfs_block_extent4 { 
   ///     deviceid4    bex_vol_id;       /* id of logical volume on 
   ///                                       which extent of file is 
   ///                                       stored. */ 
   ///     offset4      bex_file_offset;  /* the starting byte offset in 
   ///                                       the file */ 
   ///     length4      bex_length;       /* the size in bytes of the 
   ///                                       extent */ 
   ///     offset4      bex_storage_offset;  /* the starting byte offset 
   ///                                       in the volume */ 
   ///     pnfs_block_extent_state4 bex_state;   
   ///                                    /* the state of this extent */ 
   /// }; 
   ///  
   /// /* block layout specific type for loc_body */ 
   /// struct pnfs_block_layout4 { 
   ///     pnfs_block_extent4 blo_extents<>; 
   ///                                    /* extents which make up this 
   ///                                       layout. */ 
   /// }; 
   ///  
    

   The block layout consists of a list of extents which map the logical 
   regions of the file to physical locations on a volume.  The 
 
 
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   "bex_storage_offset" field within each extent identifies a location 
   on the logical volume specified by the "bex_vol_id" field in the 
   extent.  The bex_vol_id itself is shorthand for the whole topology of 
   the logical volume on which the file is stored.  The client is 
   responsible for translating this logical offset into an offset on the 
   appropriate underlying SAN logical unit.  In most cases all extents 
   in a layout will reside on the same volume and thus have the same 
   bex_vol_id.  In the case of copy on write file systems, the 
   PNFS_BLOCK_READ_DATA extents may have a different bex_vol_id from the 
   writable extents. 

   Each extent maps a logical region of the file onto a portion of the 
   specified logical volume.  The bex_file_offset, bex_length, and 
   bex_state fields for an extent returned from the server are valid for 
   all extents.  In contrast, the interpretation of the 
   bex_storage_offset field depends on the value of bex_state as follows 
   (in increasing order):  

   o  PNFS_BLOCK_READ_WRITE_DATA means that bex_storage_offset is valid, 
      and points to valid/initialized data that can be read and written. 

   o  PNFS_BLOCK_READ_DATA means that bex_storage_offset is valid and 
      points to valid/ initialized data which can only be read.  Write 
      operations are prohibited; the client may need to request a read-
      write layout. 

   o  PNFS_BLOCK_INVALID_DATA means that bex_storage_offset is valid, 
      but points to invalid un-initialized data.  This data must not be 
      physically read from the disk until it has been initialized.  A 
      read request for a PNFS_BLOCK_INVALID_DATA extent must fill the 
      user buffer with zeros, unless the extent is covered by a 
      PNFS_BLOCK_READ_DATA extent of a copy-on-write file system.  Write 
      requests must write whole server-sized blocks to the disk; bytes 
      not initialized by the user must be set to zero.  Any write to 
      storage in a PNFS_BLOCK_INVALID_DATA extent changes the written 
      portion of the extent to PNFS_BLOCK_READ_WRITE_DATA; the pNFS 
      client is responsible for reporting this change via LAYOUTCOMMIT. 

   o  PNFS_BLOCK_NONE_DATA means that bex_storage_offset is not valid, 
      and this extent may not be used to satisfy write requests.  Read 
      requests may be satisfied by zero-filling as for 
      PNFS_BLOCK_INVALID_DATA.  PNFS_BLOCK_NONE_DATA extents may be 
      returned by requests for readable extents; they are never returned 
      if the request was for a writeable extent. 

 
 
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   An extent list lists all relevant extents in increasing order of the 
   bex_file_offset of each extent; any ties are broken by increasing 
   order of the extent state (bex_state). 

2.3.1. Layout Requests and Extent Lists 

   Each request for a layout specifies at least three parameters: file 
   offset, desired size, and minimum size.  If the status of a request 
   indicates success, the extent list returned must meet the following 
   criteria:  

   o  A request for a readable (but not writeable) layout returns only 
      PNFS_BLOCK_READ_DATA or PNFS_BLOCK_NONE_DATA extents (but not 
      PNFS_BLOCK_INVALID_DATA or PNFS_BLOCK_READ_WRITE_DATA extents). 

   o  A request for a writeable layout returns 
      PNFS_BLOCK_READ_WRITE_DATA or PNFS_BLOCK_INVALID_DATA extents (but 
      not PNFS_BLOCK_NONE_DATA extents).  It may also return 
      PNFS_BLOCK_READ_DATA extents only when the offset ranges in those 
      extents are also covered by PNFS_BLOCK_INVALID_DATA extents to 
      permit writes.  

   o  The first extent in the list MUST contain the requested starting 
      offset. 

   o  The total size of extents within the requested range MUST cover at 
      least the minimum size.  One exception is allowed: the total size 
      MAY be smaller if only readable extents were requested and EOF is 
      encountered. 

   o  Extents in the extent list MUST be logically contiguous for a 
      read-only layout.  For a read-write layout, the set of writable 
      extents (i.e., excluding PNFS_BLOCK_READ_DATA extents) MUST be 
      logically contiguous.  Every PNFS_BLOCK_READ_DATA extent in a 
      read-write layout MUST be covered by one or more 
      PNFS_BLOCK_INVALID_DATA extents.  This overlap of 
      PNFS_BLOCK_READ_DATA and PNFS_BLOCK_INVALID_DATA extents is the 
      only permitted extent overlap. 

   o  Extents MUST be ordered in the list by starting offset, with 
      PNFS_BLOCK_READ_DATA extents preceding PNFS_BLOCK_INVALID_DATA 
      extents in the case of equal bex_file_offsets. 

 
 
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   If the minimum requested size, loga_minlength, is zero, this is an 
   indication to the metadata server that the client desires any layout 
   at offset loga_offset or less that the metadata server has "readily 
   available".  Readily is subjective, and depends on the layout type 
   and the pNFS server implementation.  For block layout servers, 
   readily available SHOULD be interpreted such that readable layouts 
   are always available, even if some extents are in the 
   PNFS_BLOCK_NONE_DATA state.  When processing requests for writable 
   layouts, a layout is readily available if extents can be returned in 
   the PNFS_BLOCK_READ_WRITE_DATA state. 

2.3.2. Layout Commits 

   /// /* block layout specific type for lou_body */ 
   /// struct pnfs_block_layoutupdate4 { 
   ///     pnfs_block_extent4 blu_commit_list<>;  
   ///                                    /* list of extents which 
   ///                                     * now contain valid data. 
   ///                                     */ 
   /// }; 
   ///  
    

   The "pnfs_block_layoutupdate4" structure is used by the client as the 
   block-protocol specific argument in a LAYOUTCOMMIT operation.  The 
   "blu_commit_list" field is an extent list covering regions of the 
   file layout that were previously in the PNFS_BLOCK_INVALID_DATA 
   state, but have been written by the client and should now be 
   considered in the PNFS_BLOCK_READ_WRITE_DATA state.  The bex_state 
   field of each extent in the blu_commit_list MUST be set to 
   PNFS_BLOCK_READ_WRITE_DATA.  The extents in the commit list MUST be 
   disjoint and MUST be sorted by bex_file_offset.  The 
   bex_storage_offset field is unused.  Implementers should be aware 
   that a server may be unable to commit regions at a granularity 
   smaller than a file-system block (typically 4KB or 8KB).  As noted 
   above, the block-size that the server uses is available as an NFSv4 
   attribute, and any extents included in the "blu_commit_list" MUST be 
   aligned to this granularity and have a size that is a multiple of 
   this granularity.  If the client believes that its actions have moved 
   the end-of-file into the middle of a block being committed, the 
   client MUST write zeroes from the end-of-file to the end of that 
   block before committing the block.  Failure to do so may result in 
   junk (uninitialized data) appearing in that area if the file is 
   subsequently extended by moving the end-of-file. 

 
 
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2.3.3. Layout Returns 

   The LAYOUTRETURN operation is done without any block layout specific 
   data.  When the LAYOUTRETURN operation specifies a 
   LAYOUTRETURN4_FILE_return type, then the layoutreturn_file4 data 
   structure specifies the region of the file layout that is no longer 
   needed by the client.  The opaque "lrf_body" field of the 
   "layoutreturn_file4" data structure MUST have length zero.  A 
   LAYOUTRETURN operation represents an explicit release of resources by 
   the client, usually done for the purpose of avoiding unnecessary 
   CB_LAYOUTRECALL operations in the future.  The client may return 
   disjoint regions of the file by using multiple LAYOUTRETURN 
   operations within a single COMPOUND operation. 

   Note that the block/volume layout supports unilateral layout 
   revocation.  When a layout is unilaterally revoked by the server, 
   usually due to the client's lease time expiring, or a delegation 
   being recalled, or the client failing to return a layout in a timely 
   manner, it is important for the sake of correctness that any in-
   flight I/Os that the client issued before the layout was revoked are 
   rejected at the storage.  For the block/volume protocol, this is 
   possible by fencing a client with an expired layout timer from the 
   physical storage.  Note, however, that the granularity of this 
   operation can only be at the host/logical-unit level.  Thus, if one 
   of a client's layouts is unilaterally revoked by the server, it will 
   effectively render useless *all* of the client's layouts for files 
   located on the storage units comprising the logical volume.  This may 
   render useless the client's layouts for files in other file systems. 

2.3.4. Client Copy-on-Write Processing 

   Copy-on-write is a mechanism used to support file and/or file system 
   snapshots.  When writing to unaligned regions, or to regions smaller 
   than a file system block, the writer must copy the portions of the 
   original file data to a new location on disk.  This behavior can 
   either be implemented on the client or the server.  The paragraphs 
   below describe how a pNFS block layout client implements access to a 
   file which requires copy-on-write semantics. 

   Distinguishing the PNFS_BLOCK_READ_WRITE_DATA and 
   PNFS_BLOCK_READ_DATA extent types in combination with the allowed 
   overlap of PNFS_BLOCK_READ_DATA extents with PNFS_BLOCK_INVALID_DATA 
   extents allows copy-on-write processing to be done by pNFS clients. 
   In classic NFS, this operation would be done by the server.  Since 
   pNFS enables clients to do direct block access, it is useful for 

 
 
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   clients to participate in copy-on-write operations.  All block/volume 
   pNFS clients MUST support this copy-on-write processing. 

   When a client wishes to write data covered by a PNFS_BLOCK_READ_DATA 
   extent, it MUST have requested a writable layout from the server; 
   that layout will contain PNFS_BLOCK_INVALID_DATA extents to cover all 
   the data ranges of that layout's PNFS_BLOCK_READ_DATA extents.  More 
   precisely, for any bex_file_offset range covered by one or more 
   PNFS_BLOCK_READ_DATA extents in a writable layout, the server MUST 
   include one or more PNFS_BLOCK_INVALID_DATA extents in the layout 
   that cover the same bex_file_offset range.  When performing a write 
   to such an area of a layout, the client MUST effectively copy the 
   data from the PNFS_BLOCK_READ_DATA extent for any partial blocks of 
   bex_file_offset and range, merge in the changes to be written, and 
   write the result to the PNFS_BLOCK_INVALID_DATA extent for the blocks 
   for that bex_file_offset and range.  That is, if entire blocks of 
   data are to be overwritten by an operation, the corresponding 
   PNFS_BLOCK_READ_DATA blocks need not be fetched, but any partial-
   block writes must be merged with data fetched via 
   PNFS_BLOCK_READ_DATA extents before storing the result via 
   PNFS_BLOCK_INVALID_DATA extents.  For the purposes of this 
   discussion, "entire blocks" and "partial blocks" refer to the 
   server's file-system block size.  Storing of data in a 
   PNFS_BLOCK_INVALID_DATA extent converts the written portion of the 
   PNFS_BLOCK_INVALID_DATA extent to a PNFS_BLOCK_READ_WRITE_DATA 
   extent; all subsequent reads MUST be performed from this extent; the 
   corresponding portion of the PNFS_BLOCK_READ_DATA extent MUST NOT be 
   used after storing data in a PNFS_BLOCK_INVALID_DATA extent.  If a 
   client writes only a portion of an extent, the extent may be split at 
   block aligned boundaries. 

   When a client wishes to write data to a PNFS_BLOCK_INVALID_DATA 
   extent that is not covered by a PNFS_BLOCK_READ_DATA extent, it MUST 
   treat this write identically to a write to a file not involved with 
   copy-on-write semantics.  Thus, data must be written in at least 
   block size increments, aligned to multiples of block sized offsets, 
   and unwritten portions of blocks must be zero filled. 

   In the LAYOUTCOMMIT operation that normally sends updated layout 
   information back to the server, for writable data, some 
   PNFS_BLOCK_INVALID_DATA extents may be committed as 
   PNFS_BLOCK_READ_WRITE_DATA extents, signifying that the storage at 
   the corresponding bex_storage_offset values has been stored into and 
   is now to be considered as valid data to be read.  
   PNFS_BLOCK_READ_DATA extents are not committed to the server.  For 
   extents that the client receives via LAYOUTGET as 
 
 
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   PNFS_BLOCK_INVALID_DATA and returns via LAYOUTCOMMIT as 
   PNFS_BLOCK_READ_WRITE_DATA, the server will understand that the 
   PNFS_BLOCK_READ_DATA mapping for that extent is no longer valid or 
   necessary for that file. 

2.3.5. Extents are Permissions 

   Layout extents returned to pNFS clients grant permission to read or 
   write; PNFS_BLOCK_READ_DATA and PNFS_BLOCK_NONE_DATA are read-only 
   (PNFS_BLOCK_NONE_DATA reads as zeroes), PNFS_BLOCK_READ_WRITE_DATA 
   and PNFS_BLOCK_INVALID_DATA are read/write, (PNFS_BLOCK_INVALID_DATA 
   reads as zeros, any write converts it to PNFS_BLOCK_READ_WRITE_DATA).  
   This is the only client means of obtaining permission to perform 
   direct I/O to storage devices; a pNFS client MUST NOT perform direct 
   I/O operations that are not permitted by an extent held by the 
   client.  Client adherence to this rule places the pNFS server in 
   control of potentially conflicting storage device operations, 
   enabling the server to determine what does conflict and how to avoid 
   conflicts by granting and recalling extents to/from clients.   

   Block/volume class storage devices are not required to perform read 
   and write operations atomically.  Overlapping concurrent read and 
   write operations to the same data may cause the read to return a 
   mixture of before-write and after-write data.  Overlapping write 
   operations can be worse, as the result could be a mixture of data 
   from the two write operations; data corruption can occur if the 
   underlying storage is striped and the operations complete in 
   different orders on different stripes.  A pNFS server can avoid these 
   conflicts by implementing a single writer XOR multiple readers 
   concurrency control policy when there are multiple clients who wish 
   to access the same data.  This policy MUST be implemented when 
   storage devices do not provide atomicity for concurrent read/write 
   and write/write operations to the same data. 

   If a client makes a layout request that conflicts with an existing 
   layout delegation, the request will be rejected with the error 
   NFS4ERR_LAYOUTTRYLATER.  This client is then expected to retry the 
   request after a short interval.  During this interval the server 
   SHOULD recall the conflicting portion of the layout delegation from 
   the client that currently holds it.  This reject-and-retry approach 
   does not prevent client starvation when there is contention for the 
   layout of a particular file.  For this reason a pNFS server SHOULD 
   implement a mechanism to prevent starvation.  One possibility is that 
   the server can maintain a queue of rejected layout requests.  Each 
   new layout request can be checked to see if it conflicts with a 
   previous rejected request, and if so, the newer request can be 
 
 
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   rejected.  Once the original requesting client retries its request, 
   its entry in the rejected request queue can be cleared, or the entry 
   in the rejected request queue can be removed when it reaches a 
   certain age. 

   NFSv4 supports mandatory locks and share reservations.  These are 
   mechanisms that clients can use to restrict the set of I/O operations 
   that are permissible to other clients.  Since all I/O operations 
   ultimately arrive at the NFSv4 server for processing, the server is 
   in a position to enforce these restrictions.  However, with pNFS 
   layouts, I/Os will be issued from the clients that hold the layouts 
   directly to the storage devices that host the data.  These devices 
   have no knowledge of files, mandatory locks, or share reservations, 
   and are not in a position to enforce such restrictions.  For this 
   reason the NFSv4 server MUST NOT grant layouts that conflict with 
   mandatory locks or share reservations.  Further, if a conflicting 
   mandatory lock request or a conflicting open request arrives at the 
   server, the server MUST recall the part of the layout in conflict 
   with the request before granting the request. 

2.3.6. End-of-file Processing 

   The end-of-file location can be changed in two ways: implicitly as 
   the result of a WRITE or LAYOUTCOMMIT beyond the current end-of-file, 
   or explicitly as the result of a SETATTR request.  Typically, when a 
   file is truncated by an NFSv4 client via the SETATTR call, the server 
   frees any disk blocks belonging to the file which are beyond the new 
   end-of-file byte, and MUST write zeros to the portion of the new end-
   of-file block beyond the new end-of-file byte.  These actions render 
   any pNFS layouts which refer to the blocks that are freed or written 
   semantically invalid.  Therefore, the server MUST recall from clients 
   the portions of any pNFS layouts which refer to blocks that will be 
   freed or written by the server before processing the truncate 
   request.  These recalls may take time to complete; as explained in 
   [NFSv4.1], if the server cannot respond to the client SETATTR request 
   in a reasonable amount of time, it SHOULD reply to the client with 
   the error NFS4ERR_DELAY. 

   Blocks in the PNFS_BLOCK_INVALID_DATA state which lie beyond the new 
   end-of-file block present a special case.  The server has reserved 
   these blocks for use by a pNFS client with a writable layout for the 
   file, but the client has yet to commit the blocks, and they are not 
   yet a part of the file mapping on disk.  The server MAY free these 
   blocks while processing the SETATTR request.  If so, the server MUST 
   recall any layouts from pNFS clients which refer to the blocks before 
   processing the truncate.  If the server does not free the 
 
 
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   PNFS_BLOCK_INVALID_DATA blocks while processing the SETATTR request, 
   it need not recall layouts which refer only to the PNFS_BLOCK_INVALID 
   DATA blocks. 

   When a file is extended implicitly by a WRITE or LAYOUTCOMMIT beyond 
   the current end-of-file, or extended explicitly by a SETATTR request, 
   the server need not recall any portions of any pNFS layouts. 

2.3.7. Layout Hints 

   The SETATTR operation supports a layout hint attribute [NFSv4.1]. 
   When the client sets a layout hint (data type layouthint4) with a 
   layout type of LAYOUT4_BLOCK_VOLUME (the loh_type field), the 
   loh_body field contains a value of data type pnfs_block_layouthint4. 

   /// /* block layout specific type for loh_body */ 
   /// struct pnfs_block_layouthint4 { 
   ///     uint64_t blh_maximum_io_time;  /* maximum i/o time in seconds 
   ///                                       */ 
   /// }; 
   ///  
    

   The block layout client uses the layout hint data structure to 
   communicate to the server the maximum time that it may take an I/O to 
   execute on the client.  Clients using block layouts MUST set the 
   layout hint attribute before using LAYOUTGET operations. 

2.3.8. Client Fencing 

   The pNFS block protocol must handle situations in which a system 
   failure, typically a network connectivity issue, requires the server 
   to unilaterally revoke extents from one client in order to transfer 
   the extents to another client.  The pNFS server implementation MUST 
   ensure that when resources are transferred to another client, they 
   are not used by the client originally owning them, and this must be 
   ensured against any possible combination of partitions and delays 
   among all of the participants to the protocol (server, storage and 
   client).  Two approaches to guaranteeing this isolation are possible 
   and are discussed below. 

   One implementation choice for fencing the block client from the block 
   storage is the use of LUN masking or mapping at the storage systems 
   or storage area network to disable access by the client to be 
   isolated.  This requires server access to a management interface for 
   the storage system and authorization to perform LUN masking and 
 
 
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   management operations.  For example, SMI-S [SMIS] provides a means to 
   discover and mask LUNs, including a means of associating clients with 
   the necessary World Wide Names or Initiator names to be masked. 

   In the absence of support for LUN masking, the server has to rely on 
   the clients to implement a timed lease I/O fencing mechanism.  
   Because clients do not know if the server is using LUN masking, in 
   all cases the client MUST implement timed lease fencing.  In timed 
   lease fencing we define two time periods, the first, "lease_time" is 
   the length of a lease as defined by the server's lease_time attribute 
   (see [NFSV4.1]), and the second, "blh_maximum_io_time" is the maximum 
   time it can take for a client I/O to the storage system to either 
   complete or fail; this value is often 30 seconds or 60 seconds, but 
   may be longer in some environments.  If the maximum client I/O time 
   cannot be bounded, the client MUST use a value of all 1s as the 
   blh_maximum_io_time.  

   The client MUST use SETATTR with a layout hint of type 
   LAYOUT4_BLOCK_VOLUME to inform the server of its maximum I/O time 
   prior to issuing the first LAYOUTGET operation.  The maximum io time 
   hint is a per client attribute, and as such the server SHOULD 
   maintain the value set by each client.  A server which implements 
   fencing via LUN masking SHOULD accept any maximum io time value from 
   a client.  A server which does not implement fencing may return an 
   error NFS4ERR_INVAL to the SETATTR operation.  Such a server SHOULD 
   return NFS4ERR_INVAL when a client sends an unbounded maximum I/O 
   time (all 1s), or when the maximum I/O time is significantly greater 
   than that of other clients using block layouts with pNFS. 

   When a client receives the error NFS4ERR_INVAL in response to the 
   SETATTR operation for a layout hint, the client MUST NOT use the 
   LAYOUTGET operation.  After responding with NFS4ERR_INVAL to the 
   SETATTR for layout hint, the server MUST return the error 
   NFS4ERR_LAYOUTUNAVAILABLE to all subsequent LAYOUTGET operations from 
   that client.  Thus the server, by returning either NFS4ERR_INVAL or 
   NFS4_OK determines whether or not a client with a large, or an 
   unbounded maximum I/O time may use pNFS. 

   Using the lease time and the maximum i/o time values, we specify the 
   behavior of the client and server as follows. 

   When a client receives layout information via a LAYOUTGET operation, 
   those layouts are valid for at most "lease_time" seconds from when 
   the server granted them.  A layout is renewed by any successful 
   SEQUENCE operation, or whenever a new stateid is created or updated 
   (see the section "Lease Renewal" of [NFSV4.1]).  If the layout lease 
 
 
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   is not renewed prior to expiration, the client MUST cease to use the 
   layout after "lease_time" seconds from when it either sent the 
   original LAYOUTGET command, or sent the last operation renewing the 
   lease.  In other words, the client may not issue any I/O to blocks 
   specified by an expired layout.  In the presence of large 
   communication delays between the client and server it is even 
   possible for the lease to expire prior to the server response 
   arriving at the client.  In such a situation the client MUST NOT use 
   the expired layouts, and SHOULD revert to using standard NFSv41 READ 
   and WRITE operations.  Furthermore, the client must be configured 
   such that I/O operations complete within the "blh_maximum_io_time" 
   even in the presence of multipath drivers that will retry I/Os via 
   multiple paths.   

   As stated in the section "Dealing with Lease Expiration on the 
   Client" of [NFSV4.1], if any SEQUENCE operation is successful, but 
   sr_status_flag has SEQ4_STATUS_EXPIRED_ALL_STATE_REVOKED, 
   SEQ4_STATUS_EXPIRED_SOME_STATE_REVOKED, or 
   SEQ4_STATUS_ADMIN_STATE_REVOKED set, the client MUST immediately 
   cease to use all layouts and device id to device address mappings 
   associated with the corresponding server. 

   In the absence of known two way communication between the client and 
   the server on the fore channel, the server must wait for at least the 
   time period "lease_time" plus "blh_maximum_io_time" before 
   transferring layouts from the original client to any other client.  
   The server, like the client, must take a conservative approach, and 
   start the lease expiration timer from the time that it received the 
   operation which last renewed the lease. 

2.4. Crash Recovery Issues 

   A critical requirement in crash recovery is that both the client and 
   the server know when the other has failed.  Additionally, it is 
   required that a client sees a consistent view of data across server 
   restarts.  These requirements and a full discussion of crash recovery 
   issues are covered in the "Crash Recovery" section of the NFSv41 
   specification [NFSV4.1].  This document contains additional crash 
   recovery material specific only to the block/volume layout. 

   When the server crashes while the client holds a writable layout, and 
   the client has written data to blocks covered by the layout, and the 
   blocks are still in the PNFS_BLOCK_INVALID_DATA state, the client has 
   two options for recovery.  If the data that has been written to these 
   blocks is still cached by the client, the client can simply re-write 
   the data via NFSv4, once the server has come back online.  However, 
 
 
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   if the data is no longer in the client's cache, the client MUST NOT 
   attempt to source the data from the data servers.  Instead, it should 
   attempt to commit the blocks in question to the server during the 
   server's recovery grace period, by sending a LAYOUTCOMMIT with the 
   "loca_reclaim" flag set to true.  This process is described in detail 
   in [NFSv4.1] section 18.42.4. 

2.5. Recalling resources: CB_RECALL_ANY 

   The server may decide that it cannot hold all of the state for 
   layouts without running out of resources.  In such a case, it is free 
   to recall individual layouts using CB_LAYOUTRECALL to reduce the 
   load, or it may choose to request that the client return any layout. 

   The NFSv4.1 spec [NFSv4.1] defines the following types: 

   const RCA4_TYPE_MASK_BLK_LAYOUT = 4; 
    
   struct CB_RECALL_ANY4args { 
          uint32_t      craa_objects_to_keep; 
          bitmap4       craa_type_mask; 
   }; 
    
   When the server sends a CB_RECALL_ANY request to a client specifying 
   the RCA4_TYPE_MASK_BLK_LAYOUT bit in craa_type_mask, the client 
   should immediately respond with NFS4_OK, and then asynchronously 
   return complete file layouts until the number of files with layouts 
   cached on the client is less than craa_object_to_keep. 

2.6. Transient and Permanent Errors 

   The server may respond to LAYOUTGET with a variety of error statuses. 
   These errors can convey transient conditions or more permanent 
   conditions that are unlikely to be resolved soon. 

   The transient errors, NFS4ERR_RECALLCONFLICT and NFS4ERR_TRYLATER are 
   used to indicate that the server cannot immediately grant the layout 
   to the client.  In the former case this is because the server has 
   recently issued a CB_LAYOUTRECALL to the requesting client, whereas 
   in the case of NFS4ERR_TRYLATER, the server cannot grant the request 
   possibly due to sharing conflicts with other clients.  In either 
   case, a reasonable approach for the client is to wait several 
   milliseconds and retry the request.  The client SHOULD track the 
   number of retries, and if forward progress is not made, the client 
   SHOULD send the READ or WRITE operation directly to the server. 

 
 
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   The error NFS4ERR_LAYOUTUNAVAILABLE may be returned by the server if 
   layouts are not supported for the requested file or its containing 
   file system.  The server may also return this error code if the 
   server is the progress of migrating the file from secondary storage, 
   or for any other reason which causes the server to be unable to 
   supply the layout.  As a result of receiving 
   NFS4ERR_LAYOUTUNAVAILABLE, the client SHOULD send future READ and 
   WRITE requests directly to the server.  It is expected that a client 
   will not cache the file's layoutunavailable state forever, particular 
   if the file is closed, and thus eventually, the client MAY reissue a 
   LAYOUTGET operation. 

3. Security Considerations 

   Typically, SAN disk arrays and SAN protocols provide access control 
   mechanisms (e.g., logical unit number mapping and/or masking) which 
   operate at the granularity of individual hosts.  The functionality 
   provided by such mechanisms makes it possible for the server to 
   "fence" individual client machines from certain physical disks---that 
   is to say, to prevent individual client machines from reading or 
   writing to certain physical disks.  Finer-grained access control 
   methods are not generally available.  For this reason, certain 
   security responsibilities are delegated to pNFS clients for 
   block/volume layouts.  Block/volume storage systems generally control 
   access at a volume granularity, and hence pNFS clients have to be 
   trusted to only perform accesses allowed by the layout extents they 
   currently hold (e.g., and not access storage for files on which a 
   layout extent is not held).  In general, the server will not be able 
   to prevent a client which holds a layout for a file from accessing 
   parts of the physical disk not covered by the layout.  Similarly, the 
   server will not be able to prevent a client from accessing blocks 
   covered by a layout that it has already returned.  This block-based 
   level of protection must be provided by the client software. 

   An alternative method of block/volume protocol use is for the storage 
   devices to export virtualized block addresses, which do reflect the 
   files to which blocks belong.  These virtual block addresses are 
   exported to pNFS clients via layouts.  This allows the storage device 
   to make appropriate access checks, while mapping virtual block 
   addresses to physical block addresses.  In environments where the 
   security requirements are such that client-side protection from 
   access to storage outside of the authorized layout extents is not 
   sufficient, pNFS block/volume storage layouts SHOULD NOT be used 
   unless the storage device is able to implement the appropriate access 
   checks, via use of virtualized block addresses or other means.  In 
   contrast, an environment where client-side protection may suffice 
 
 
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   consists of co-located clients, server and storage systems in a 
   datacenter with a physically isolated SAN under control of a single 
   system administrator or small group of system administrators. 

   This also has implications for some NFSv4 functionality outside pNFS.  
   For instance, if a file is covered by a mandatory read-only lock, the 
   server can ensure that only readable layouts for the file are granted 
   to pNFS clients.  However, it is up to each pNFS client to ensure 
   that the readable layout is used only to service read requests, and 
   not to allow writes to the existing parts of the file.  Similarly, 
   block/volume storage devices are unable to validate NFS Access 
   Control Lists (ACLs) and file open modes, so the client must enforce 
   the policies before sending a read or write request to the storage 
   device. Since block/volume storage systems are generally not capable 
   of enforcing such file-based security, in environments where pNFS 
   clients cannot be trusted to enforce such policies, pNFS block/volume 
   storage layouts SHOULD NOT be used. 

   Access to block/volume storage is logically at a lower layer of the 
   I/O stack than NFSv4, and hence NFSv4 security is not directly 
   applicable to protocols that access such storage directly.  Depending 
   on the protocol, some of the security mechanisms provided by NFSv4 
   (e.g., encryption, cryptographic integrity) may not be available, or 
   may be provided via different means.  At one extreme, pNFS with 
   block/volume storage can be used with storage access protocols (e.g., 
   parallel SCSI) that provide essentially no security functionality.  
   At the other extreme, pNFS may be used with storage protocols such as 
   iSCSI that can provide significant security functionality.  It is the 
   responsibility of those administering and deploying pNFS with a 
   block/volume storage access protocol to ensure that appropriate 
   protection is provided to that protocol (physical security is a 
   common means for protocols not based on IP).  In environments where 
   the security requirements for the storage protocol cannot be met, 
   pNFS block/volume storage layouts SHOULD NOT be used. 

   When security is available for a storage protocol, it is generally at 
   a different granularity and with a different notion of identity than 
   NFSv4 (e.g., NFSv4 controls user access to files, iSCSI controls 
   initiator access to volumes).  The responsibility for enforcing 
   appropriate correspondences between these security layers is placed 
   upon the pNFS client.  As with the issues in the first paragraph of 
   this section, in environments where the security requirements are 
   such that client-side protection from access to storage outside of 
   the layout is not sufficient, pNFS block/volume storage layouts  
   SHOULD NOT be used. 

 
 
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4. Conclusions 

   This draft specifies the block/volume layout type for pNFS and 
   associated functionality. 

5. IANA Considerations 

   There are no IANA considerations in this document.  All pNFS IANA 
   Considerations are covered in [NFSV4.1]. 

6. Acknowledgments 

   This draft draws extensively on the authors' familiarity with the 
   mapping functionality and protocol in EMC's MPFS (previously named 
   HighRoad) system [MPFS].  The protocol used by MPFS is called FMP 
   (File Mapping Protocol); it is an add-on protocol that runs in 
   parallel with file system protocols such as NFSv3 to provide pNFS-
   like functionality for block/volume storage.  While drawing on FMP, 
   the data structures and functional considerations in this draft 
   differ in significant ways, based on lessons learned and the 
   opportunity to take advantage of NFSv4 features such as COMPOUND 
   operations.  The design to support pNFS client participation in copy-
   on-write is based on text and ideas contributed by Craig Everhart. 

   Andy Adamson, Ben Campbell, Richard Chandler, Benny Halevy, Fredric 
   Isaman, and Mario Wurzl all helped to review drafts of this 
   specification. 

7. References 

7.1. Normative References 

   [LEGAL]   IETF Trust, "Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents", 
             URL http://trustee.ietf.org/docs/IETF-Trust-License-
             Policy.pdf, November 2008. 

   [RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate 
             Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997. 

   [NFSV4.1] Shepler, S., Eisler, M., and Noveck, D. ed., "NFSv4 Minor 
             Version 1", RFC [[RFC Editor: please insert NFSv4 Minor 
             Version 1 RFC number]], [[RFC Editor: please insert NFSv4 
             Minor Version 1 RFC month]] [[RFC Editor: please insert 
             NFSv4 Minor Version 1 year].  
             <http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc[[RFC Editor: please insert 
             NFSv4 Minor Version 1 RFC number]].txt>. 
 
 
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   [XDR]     Eisler, M., "XDR: External Data Representation Standard", 
             STD 67, RFC 4506, May 2006. 

7.2. Informative References 

   [MPFS] EMC Corporation, "EMC Celerra Multi-Path File System", EMC 
   Data Sheet, available at:  
   http://www.emc.com/collateral/software/data-sheet/h2006-celerra-mpfs-
   mpfsi.pdf 
            link checked 13 March 2008  

   [SMIS] SNIA, "SNIA Storage Management Initiative Specification", 
            version 1.0.2, available at: 
   http://www.snia.org/tech_activities/standards/curr_standards/smi/SMI-
   S_Technical_Position_v1.0.3r1.pdf 
            link checked 13 March 2008 

Authors' Addresses 

   David L. Black 
   EMC Corporation 
   176 South Street 
   Hopkinton, MA 01748 
       
   Phone: +1 (508) 293-7953 
   Email: black_david@emc.com 
    

   Stephen Fridella 
   EMC Corporation 
   228 South Street 
   Hopkinton, MA  01748 
       
   Phone: +1 (508) 249-3528 
   Email: fridella_stephen@emc.com 
    
   Jason Glasgow 
   Google 
   5 Cambridge Center 
   Cambridge, MA  02142 
       
   Phone: +1 (617) 575 1599 
   Email: jglasgow@aya.yale.edu 
 

 
 
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