NFSv4 R. Tewari
Internet Draft M. Naik
Intended status: Standards Track IBM
Expires: June 2008 D. Ellard
C. Everhart
Network Appliance
December 12, 2007
Protocol for Federated Filesystems v1.0
draft-tewari-nfsv4-federated-fs-protocol-00.txt
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Abstract
This document describes a file system federation protocol that enables file access and
namespace traversal across collections of independently administered fileservers. The
protocol specifies a set of interfaces by which fileservers and collections of
fileservers with different administrators can form a fileserver federation that
provides a namespace composed of the filesystems physically hosted on and exported by
the constituent fileservers.
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1 Introduction.....................................................5
1.1 Protocol Goals.............................................5
2 Overview of Features and Concepts................................6
2.1 Namespace..................................................6
2.2 Fileset....................................................6
2.2.1 Fileset Location (FSL)...............................6
2.3 Namespace Repository (NSDB)................................8
2.4 Mount Points, Junctions and Referrals......................8
2.5 Federation Root FileServers................................9
2.6 Federation Root FileSet....................................9
2.7 Fileservers................................................9
2.8 File-access Clients........................................9
3 Interaction with NFSv4...........................................9
4 Finding the local NSDB...........................................10
5 Examples.........................................................10
5.1 Create a Fileset and its FSL(s)............................10
5.1.1 Creating a Fileset and a FSN.........................10
5.1.2 Adding a Replica of a Fileset........................11
5.2 Junction Resolution........................................11
5.3 Example use case for fileset annotations...................12
6 Error Definitions................................................12
7 Protocol Operations..............................................13
7.1 ADMINISTRATIVE NSDB OPERATIONS.............................14
7.1.1 FSN_CREATE............................................15
7.1.2 FSN_DELETE............................................16
7.1.3 FSN_MOUNT.............................................17
7.1.4 FSN_UNMOUNT...........................................18
7.1.5 FSL_CREATE ...........................................19
7.1.6 FSL_DELETE...........................................20
7.1.7 FSL_UPDATE...........................................20
7.1.8 FSL_STAT.............................................21
7.2 FILESERVER to NSDB OPERATIONS..............................21
7.2.1 FSN_GET_FSL..........................................21
7.3 ADMIN to FILESERVER OPERATIONS.............................22
7.3.1 FSL_FINDBYHOST, FSN_FINDBYHOST, FSL_FINDBYHOSTPATH,.......24
7.3.2 FSN_CREATE_JUNCTION.........................................24
7.3.3 FSN_CREATE_EXPORT....................................25
8 Security Considerations..........................................25
9 IANA Considerations..............................................25
10 Conclusions...................................................25
11 Glossary......................................................25
Appendix B. Namespace Schema Class Objects..........................28
12 References....................................................30
12.1 Normative References.......................................30
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Author's Addresses..................................................31
Intellectual Property Statement.....................................32
Disclaimer of Validity..............................................32
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RFC 2119 Keywords
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
1 Introduction
A federated filesystem enables file access and namespace traversal in a uniform,
secure and consistent manner across multiple independent fileservers within an
enterprise (and possibly across multiple enterprises) with reasonably good
performance.
The first requirement of a federated filesystem is the ability to traverse the
data exported by different fileservers without requiring a static client
configuration. The second requirement is that the location of the data should be
dynamically discovered and the discovery process should be transparent to the
clients. The third requirement is that it should be possible for all clients, with
sufficient privilege, to view the same namespace regardless of the fileserver they
connect to.
Traditionally, fileserver collections are administered by a single entity.
Fileservers may provide proprietary management tools and in some cases an
administrator may be able to use the proprietary tools to build a shared namespace
out of the exported filesystems. Relying on vendor-proprietary tools does not
work in larger enterprises or when collaborating across enterprises because it is
likely that the system will contain fileservers running different software, each
with their own interfaces, with no common protocol to manage the namespace or
exchange namespace information. There may also be independently-administered
singleton servers that export some or all of their filesystem resources.
A filesystem federation protocol enables the interoperation across multi-vendor
fileservers managed by the same administrative entity, across singleton
independent fileservers, and across independent administrative entities that may
manage a collection of fileservers. The scope of the filesystem federation
protocol is limited to NFSv4 capable fileservers. The support for NFSv3
fileservers is optional.
1.1 Protocol Goals
The objective of this draft is to specify a set of interfaces by which fileservers
and collections of fileservers with different administrators can form a fileserver
federation that provides a namespace composed of the filesystems physically hosted
on and exported by the fileservers of the federation.
It should be possible, using a system that implements the interfaces, to share a
common namespace across all the fileservers in the federation.
It should also be possible for different fileservers in the federation to project
different namespaces and enable clients to traverse them.
Such a federation may contain an arbitrary number of namespace repositories, each
belonging to a different administrative entity, and each rendering a part of the
namespace. Such a federation may also have an arbitrary number of administrative
entities responsible for administering disjoint subsets of the fileservers.
In the rest of the document the term fileserver implies a fileserver that is part
of the federation. A fileserver not part of the federation is called an external
fileserver.
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2 Overview of Features and Concepts
2.1 Namespace
The goal of a unified namespace is to make all managed data available to all
clients via the same path in a common filesystem-like namespace. This should be
achieved with minimal or zero client configuration. In particular, updates to the
common namespace should not require configuration changes at the client.
Filesets, which are the unit of data management, are a set of files and
directories accessible from a single mount. Depending on the implementation, they
may be anything between an individual directory of an exported filesystem to an
entire exported filesystem at a fileserver.
From the perspective of the clients, the common namespace is constructed by
logically mounting filesets that are physically located on different
fileservers.
The namespace, which is defined in terms of fileset definitions, fileset
identifiers, the location of each fileset in the namespace, and the physical
location of the implementation(s) of each fileset, is stored in a set of namespace
repositories, each managed by an administrative entity. The namespace schema
defines the model used for populating, modifying, and querying the namespace
repositories.
It is not required by the federation that the namespace be common across all
fileservers. It should be possible to have several independently rooted namespaces
that should permit traversal into another namespace at defined junction points.
2.2 Fileset
A fileset is defined to be a container of data and is the basic unit of data
management. It is uniquely represented by the fileset name (FSN). An FSN is
considered unique across the federation. An FSN contains information sufficient to
locate the namespace repository (NSDB) that holds authoritative information about
it and an identifier, called fsn_uuid, that identifies it on that NSDB. After an
FSN is created, it is associated with a fileset location (FSL) on a fileserver. A
fileset can be implemented by one or more FSLs.
The attributes of an FSN are:
NsdbName: The fully qualified domain name of an NSDB location that contains
authoritative information for this FSN.
FsnUuid: a 128 bit UUID (universally unique identifier), conforming to RFC 4122,
that is used to uniquely identify an FSN.
2.2.1 Fileset Location (FSL)
An FSL represents the location where the fileset data resides. Each FSL maps to a
host:path pair on a file server. An FSL may also have additional attributes. Each
location has an associated type that determines the protocol(s) that may be used
to access its data. Type information can be used to decide the list of locations
that will be returned to the client. It also has associated status information.
Other attributes associated with an FSL are based on the NFSv4.1 fs_locations_info
attribute[RFCTBD].
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struct FSL {
utf8string host_fqdn;
utf8string pathname;
FSL_ATTR attrs;
};
Each FSL consists of:
host_fqdn: the name of the host fileserver storing the physical data
pathname: the exported pathname at that host fileserver
attrs: additional attributes for this FSL, as described in the FSL_ATTR structure
struct FSL_ATTR {
protocol_t type;
int32_t currency;
annotation_t annotations<>;
fs_status_t status;
opaque_t info<>;
}
The attributes associated with each FSL are:
type: the protocol(s) supported by the fileserver hosting this FSL.
currency: the time lag of this FSL represented as the number of time units it lags
the latest version as defined by the NFSv4.1 fs_locations_info attribute. A
currency value of 0 represents the latest version. Currency values are <= 0.
annotations: a list of name/value pairs that can be interpreted by an individual
NSDB. The semantics of the name/value pair is not defined by this protocol and is
intended to be used by higher-level administration protocols.
status: fls_status as defined by the NFSv4.1 status attribute.
info: as defined in NFSv4.1 fs_locations_info attribute.
Mutual Consistency across Fileset locations
All of the FSLs that have the same FSN (thereby reference the same fileset) are
equivalent from the point of view of client access; the different locations of a
fileset represent the same data, though potentially at different points in time.
Fileset locations are equivalent but not identical. Locations may either be read-
only or read-write. Typically, multiple read-write locations are backed by a
clustered filesystem while read-only locations are replicas created by a
federation-initiated or external replication. Read-only locations may represent
consistent point-in-time copies of a read-write location. The federation
protocols, however, cannot prevent subsequent changes to a read-only location nor
guarantee point-in-time consistency of a read-only location if the read-write
location is changing.
Regardless of the type, all locations exist at the same mount point in the
namespace and, thus, one client may be referred to one location while another is
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directed to a different location. Since updates to each fileset location are not
controlled by the federation protocol, it is the responsibility of administrators
to guarantee the functional equivalence of the data.
The federation protocol does not guarantee that the different locations are
mutually consistent in terms of the currency of the data. It relies on the client
file-access protocol (i.e., NFSv4) to contain sufficient information to help the
clients determine the currency of the data at each location in order to ensure
that the clients do not revert back in time when switching locations. This raises
a concern for NFSv3 fileservers, which the federation protocol may support, that
may lack such control.
2.3 Namespace Repository (NSDB)
The NSDB service is a federation-wide service that provides interfaces to define,
update, and query FSN information and FSN to FSL mapping information.
An individual repository of namespace information is called an NSDB location. Each
NSDB location is managed by a single administrative entity. A single admin entity
can manage multiple NSDB locations.
The difference between the NSDB service and an NSDB location is analogous to that
between the DNS service and a particular DNS server.
The term local NSDB is shorthand for an NSDB location that is known a priori to
a server. It is typically located within the same federation member as the
server, but this is not required. A local NSDB is not required.
Each NSDB location stores the definition of the FSNs for which it is
authoritative. It also stores the definitions of the FSLs associated with those
FSNs. An NSDB location is authoritative for the filesets that it defines. An NSDB
location can cache information from a peer NSDB location. The fileserver can
always contact a local NSDB location (if it has been defined) or directly contact
any NSDB location to resolve a junction. Each NSDB location supports an LDAP
interface and can be accessed by an LDAP client.
2.4 Mount Points, Junctions and Referrals
A mount point is a directory in a parent fileset where a target fileset may be
attached. If a client traverses the path leading from the root of the namespace to
the mount point of a fileset it should be able to access the data in that fileset
(assuming appropriate permissions).
The directory where a fileset is mounted is represented by a junction in the
underlying filesystem. In other words, a junction can be viewed as a reference
from a directory in one fileset to the root of the target fileset. A junction can
be implemented as a special marker on a directory that is interpreted by the
fileserver as a mount point, or by some other mechanism in the underlying file
system.
What data is used by the underlying file system to represent the junction is not
defined by this protocol. The essential property is that the server must be able
to find, given the junction, the FSN for the target fileset. The FSN (as
described earlier) contains both the NSDB location of the authoritative NSDB
location and the FsnUuid (a UUID for the fileset).
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When a client traversal reaches a junction, the client is referred to a list of
FSLs associated with the FSN that was the target of the junction. The client can
then redirect its connection to one of the FSLs. This act is called a referral.
For NFSv4 clients, the FSL information is returned in the fs_locations or
fs_locations_info attributes.
The federation-fs interfaces do not limit where and how many times a fileset is
mounted in the namespace. Filesets can be nested -- a fileset can be mounted under
another fileset.
2.5 Federation Root FileServers
A set of designated fileservers that render the common federation-wide namespace
are called the federation root fileservers. The federation protocol does not
mandate that federation root fileservers be defined. When a client mounts the root
of the namespace from a root fileserver it can traverse the entire federation-wide
namespace. It is not required for a client to mount from one of the root
fileservers. If a client mounts from a non-root fileserver then it can traverse
the part of the namespace that is visible starting from that fileserver. A client
can mount multiple individual filesets from multiple non-root fileservers and
chose to navigate the namespace in any manner. How the client discovers the root
fileserver(s), if one is defined, is not in the scope of the federation protocol.
Numerous external techniques such as DNS SRV records can be used for this.
2.6 Federation Root FileSet
The root fileset is the optional, top-level fileset of the federation-wide
namespace. The root of the namespace is the top level directory of this fileset.
The fileset can contain an arbitrary number of virtual directories. The leaf
directories of the root fileset serve as the mount points for other filesets. It
is desirable that the leaf directories not contain data. The root fileset is a
simple combination of internal nodes and leaf nodes where each leaf node is a
junction to a target fileset. The root fileset is replicated at all the root
fileservers. The recommended replication protocols for root fileset replication
are: an external protocol such as rsync or NDMP.
2.7 Fileservers
Fileservers are NFSv4 servers that store the physical fileset data or fileservers
that refer the client to other fileservers.
2.8 File-access Clients
File access clients are standard off-the-shelf NAS clients that access file data
using the NFSv4 protocol.
3 Interaction with NFSv4
The federation protocol is compatible with the requirements of NFSv4 referral
mechanisms as defined in RFC 3530.
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4 Finding the local NSDB
The local NSDB may be used for finding the mapping from the server's local
representation of a junction to an FSN. How the mapping is resolved is
implementation-specific. The fed-fs protocol does not mandate how and if a local
NSDB is defined or located. A fileserver could choose to have a special
configuration setup for defining the local or default NSDB in a manner similar to
a resolv.conf file for DNS.
5 Examples
In this section we provide examples and discussion of the basic
operations facilitated by the federated file system protocol:
creating a fileset, adding a replica of a fileset, resolving a
junction, and creating a junction.
5.1 Create a Fileset and its FSL(s)
A fileset is the abstraction of a set of files and their containing
directory tree. The fileset abstraction is the fundamental unit of
data management in the federation. This abstraction is implemented
by an actual directory tree whose root location is specified by a
fileset location (FSL).
In this section, we describe the basic requirements for starting with a directory
tree and creating a fileset that can be used in the federation protocols. Note that
we do not assume that the process of creating a fileset requires any transformation of
the files or the directory hierarchy. The only thing that is required by this process
is assigning the fileset a fileset name (FSN) and expressing the location(s) of the
implementation of the fileset as FSL(s).
There are many possible variations to this procedure, depending on how the FSN that
binds the FSL is created, and whether other replicas of the fileset exist, are known
to the federation, and need to be bound to the same FSN.
It is easiest to describe this in terms of how to create the initial implementation
of the fileset, and then describe how to add replicas.
5.1.1 Creating a Fileset and a FSN
1. Choose the NSDB node that will keep track of the FSL(s) and related
information for the fileset.
2. Request that the NSDB node register a new FSN for the fileset.
The FSN may either be chosen by the NSDB node or by the server.
The latter case is used if the fileset is being restored, perhaps
as part of disaster recovery, and the server wishes to specify
the FSN in order to permit existing junctions that reference that
FSN to work again.
At this point, the FSN exists, but its location is unspecified.
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3. Send the FSN, the local volume path, the export path, and the
export options for the local implementation of the fileset to the
NSDB node. Annotations about the FSN or the location may also be
sent.
The NSDB node records this info and creates the initial FSL for
the fileset.
5.1.2 Adding a Replica of a Fileset
Adding a replica is straightforward: the NSDB node and the FSN are
already known. The only remaining step is to add another FSL.
Note that the federation interfaces do not include methods for creating or managing
replicas: this is assumed to be a platform-dependent operation (at least at this
time). The only interface required is the ability to register or remove the
registration of replicas for a fileset.
5.2 Junction Resolution
A fileset may contain references to other filesets. These references
are represented by junctions. If a client requests access to a
fileset object that is a junction, the server resolves the junction
to discover the FSL(s) that implements the referenced fileset.
There are many possible variations to this procedure, depending on how the
junctions are represented and how the information necessary to perform resolution is
represented by the server. In this example, we assume that the only thing directly
expressed by the junction is the junction key; its mapping to FSN can be kept local to
the server hosting the junction.
Step 5 is the only step that interacts directly with the federation interfaces.
The rest of the steps may use platform-specific interfaces.
1. The server determines that the object being accessed is a junction.
2. The server determines the junction key for the junction.
3. Using the junction key, the server does a local lookup to find the
FSN of the target fileset.
4. Using the FSN, the server finds the NSDB node responsible for the
target object.
5. The server contacts that NSDB node and asks for the set of FSLs
that implement the target FSN. The NSDB node responds with a set of
FSLs.
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5.3 Example use case for fileset annotations
The fileset annotations can be used to define relationships between filesets that
can be used by an auxiliary replication protocol. Consider the scenario where a
fileset is created and mounted at some point in the namespace. A snapshot of the
read-write FSL of that fileset is taken periodically at different frequencies say
a daily snapshot or a weekly snapshot. The different snapshots are mounted at
different locations in the namespace. The daily snapshots are considered as a
different fileset from the weekly ones but both are related to the source
fileset. For this we can define an annotation labeling the filesets as source and
replica. The replication protocol can use this information to copy data from one
or more FSLs of the source fileset to all the FSLs of the replica fileset. The
replica filesets are read-only while the source fileset is read-write.
This follows the traditional AFS model of mounting the read-only volume at a path
in the namespace different from that of the read-write volume.
The federation protocol does not control or manage the relationship among
filesets. It merely enables annotating the filesets with user-defined
relationships.
6 Error Definitions
ERR_OK Indicates the operation completed successfully.
ERR_ACCESS Permission denied. The caller does not have the
correct permission to perform the requested
operation. Contrast this with ERR_PERM,
which restricts itself to owner or privileged
user permission failures.
ERR_BADCHAR A UTF-8 string contains a character which is
not supported in the context in
which it being used.
ERR_BADNAME A name string in a request consists of valid
UTF-8 characters supported by the server but
the name is not supported by the server as a
valid name for current operation.
ERR_BADTYPE An attempt was made to create an object of a
type not supported by the server.
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ERR_DENIED An attempt to lock a file is denied. Since
this may be a temporary condition, the client
is encouraged to retry the lock request until
the lock is accepted.
ERR_EXIST Object exists. The object specified already exists.
ERR_INVALID Invalid argument or unsupported argument for an
operation.
ERR_IO I/O error. A hard error (for example, a disk
error) occurred while processing the requested
operation.
ERR_NAMETOOLONG The filename in an operation was too long.
ERR_NOENT No such object. The object being accessed
does not exist.
ERR_NOTDIR Not a directory. The caller specified a non-
directory in a directory operation.
ERR_NOTEMPTY An attempt was made to remove an object that
was not empty. An FSN which has FSLs still defined for it.
ERR_NOTSUPP Operation is not supported.
ERR_PERM Not owner. The operation was not allowed
because the caller is either not a privileged
user (root) or not the owner of the target of
the operation.
ERR_WRONGSEC The security mechanism being used by the client
for the operation does not match the server's
security policy. The client should change the
security mechanism being used and retry the
operation.
ERR_WRONGNSDB The NSDB location is not the one to be used for this
operation
7 Protocol Operations
The operations defined by the protocol can be described as several sub-protocols
that are used by entities within the federation to perform different roles.
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The first of these sub-protocols defines how the state of an NSDB location can be
initialized and updated. The primary use of this sub-protocol is by an
administrator to add, edit, or delete filesets, their properties, and their
fileset locations.
The second of these sub-protocols defines the queries that are sent to an NSDB
location in order to perform resolution (or find other information about the
information stored within that NSDB location) and the responses returned by the
NSDB location. The primary use of this sub-protocol is by a fileset server in
order to perform resolution, but it may also be used by an administrator to query
the state of the system.
The third of these sub-protocols defines the queries or other requests that are
sent to a fileset server in order to get information from it or to modify the
state of the fileset server in a manner related to the federation protocols. The
primary purpose of this for an administrator to create or delete a junction or
fileset or discover related information about a particular fileset server.
The first and second sub-protocols are defined as LDAP operations, using the
schema defined in appendices A and B. If each NSDB location is a standard LDAP
server, then, in theory, it is unnecessary to describe the LDAP operations in
detail, because the operations are ordinary LDAP operations to query and update
records. However, we do not require that an NSDB location implement a complete
NSDB service, and therefore we define in these sections the minimum level of LDAP
functionality required to implement an NSDB location.
The third sub-protocol is defined as ONC/RPC operations. The reason for using a
different RPC mechanism (instead of mapping these operations onto LDAP) is to
minimize the changes required to the fileset server.
The three sub-protocols are defined in the next three sub-sections.
7.1 ADMINISTRATIVE NSDB OPERATIONS
The admin entity initiates and controls the commands to manage fileset and
namespace information. The admin entity, however, is stateless. All state is
maintained at the NSDB locations or at the fileserver.
We require that each NSDB location can act as an LDAP server and that the protocol
used for communicating between the admin entity and each NSDB is LDAP.
The names we assign to these operations are entirely for the purpose of exposition
in this document, and are not part of the LDAP dialogs.
In the description of the LDAP messages and LDIF, we use the following notation:
constant strings and literal names are specified in lower or mixed case, while
variables or values are specified in uppercase. One important exception to this
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rule is that the names of the error codes follow the convention (used widely in
other protocols, including NFS) of having names that are entirely uppercase.
7.1.1 FSN_CREATE
Description
The administrator uses this operation to create a new FSN by requesting the NSDB
to create a new FsnObject in its LDAP database with an FsnUuid of FSNUUID and an
NsdbName of NSDBNAME.
The NSDB location that receives the request SHOULD check that the NSDBNAME matches
its own value and return an ERR_WRONGNSDB error if does not. This is to ensure
that an FSN is always created by the NSDB location encoded within the FSN as its
owner.
The NSDB location that receives the request SHOULD check all of the attributes for
validity and consistency, but this is not generally possible for LDAP servers
because the consistency requirements cannot be expressed in the LDAP schema
(although many LDAP servers can be extended, via plug-ins or other mechanisms, to
add functionality beyond the strict definition of LDAP).
Errors
ERR_OK
ERR_EXIST
ERR_NOMEM
ERR_INVALID
ERR_PERM
ERR_WRONGNSDB
LDAP Request
The admin chooses the FsnUuid (also known as the junction key) and NsdbName of the
FSN. The FsnUuid should be chosen via a standard process for creating a globally
unique UUID (described in RFC 4122). The NsdbName is the name of the NSDB
location that will serve as the source of definitive information about an FSN for
the life of that FSN. In the example below, the admin server chooses a FsnUuid of
FSNUUID and the NsdbName of NSDBNAME and then sends an LDAP ADD request, described
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by the LDIF below, to the NSDB location NSDBNAME. This will create a new
FsnObject on that NSDB location with the given attributes in the LDAP database.
dn: fsnUuid=FSNUUID,nsdbName=NSDBNAME,ou=fed-fs
changeType: add
objectClass: FsnObject
fsnUuid: FSNUUID
nsdbName: NSDBNAME
The definition of the FsnObject class is given in Appendix B. Each FsnObject is
uniquely defined by its distinguished name (DN) which is a combination of the
FSN's UUID, NSDB location, and the LDAP database organizational units.
7.1.2 FSN_DELETE
Description
Deletes a Fileset with the given FSN. This assumes that all the FSLs related to
that FSN have already been deleted. If FSL records for this FSN still exist in
the database of the NSDB that receives this request, then this function MUST
return with an ERR_NOTEMPTY error.
Note that the FSN delete function only removes the fileset from the namespace (by
removing the records for that FSN from the NSDB location that receives this
request). The fileset and its data are not deleted. Any junction that has this
FSN as its target may continue to point to this non-existent FSN. A dangling
reference may be detected when a client tries to resolve the target of a junction
that refers to the deleted FSN and the NSDB returns ERR_NOTFOUND.
Errors
ERR_OK
ERR_NOTFOUND
ERR_INVALID
ERR_NOTEMPTY
ERR_PERM
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LDAP Request
The admin then sends an LDAP DELETE request to the NSDB server to remove the
FsnObject from the NSDB server. An example LDIF for the delete request is shown
below.
dn: fsnUuid=FSNUUID,nsdbName=NSDBNAME,ou=fed-fs
changeType: delete
We assume that there is a trivial mapping between an FSN and the LDAP DN of the
FsnObject for the LDAP records that represent information about that FSN. If this
is not true, then operations that require mapping an FSN to the DN of an FsnObject
may need to perform an LDAP query in order to discover the DN. This process is
described below.
In case an FSN is to be deleted, e.g., using the "fsn_delete FSNUUID NSDBNAME"
command, the admin server sends an LDAP Search command to the NSDB server to first
verify if the object exists by using the following filter:
Query:
Base: dc=company,dc=com
Filter "(&(objectClass=FsnObject)(fsnUuid=FSNUUID)"
The above filter searches for all FsnObject entries in the NSDB location's LDAP
database that have the fsnUuid set to FSNUUID. If the FsnObject is found the NSDB
will return the corresponding FsnObject entry to the admin. An example entry
returned is shown below.
LDAP Response:
Count: 1 (No of Entries)
Entries:
dn: fsnUuid=FSNUUID,nsdbName=NSDBNAME,ou=fed-fs
objectClass: FsnObject
fsnUuid: FSNUUID
nsdbName: NSDBNAME
7.1.3 FSN_MOUNT
Description
The fsn_mount operation logically mounts a target FSN (target_fsn) at the given
pathname (relative to the root) of the parent FSN (parent_fsn). If a ROOT FSN has
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been defined, then the ROOT fileset's FSN may be used. The pathname may start
from / to represent the path from the root of the common federation namespace.
If the pathname does not start with / then it treated as a relative path
starting from the root of the parent FSN's location in the namespace.
The fsn_mount operation is purely a namespace operation. The fsn_mount operation
creates the parent and target FSN relationship that is used later by
junction_create operation between the admin and the fileserver.
The parent_fsn's NSDB maintains the relationship information created on an
fsn_mount.
Errors
ERR_OK
ERR_NOTFOUND
ERR_INVALID
ERR_NAMETOOLONG
ERR_PERM
LDAP Request
On fileset mount operation the admin will generate an LDAP ADD request to the NSDB
server using the example LDIF below. This creates a new FsnJunctionObject that
establishes the mount relationship between the parent and target FSNs.
dn: mountPath=PATH,parentFsnUuid=PARENTFSNUUID,ou=fed-fs
changeType: add
objectClass: FsnJunctionObject
parentFsnUuid: PARENTFSNUUID
targetFsnUuid: TARGETFSNUUID
targetNsdbName: TARGETNSDBNAME
mountPath: PATH
The definition of the FsnJunctionObject class is given in Appendix B. Each
FsnJunctionObject is uniquely defined by its distinguished name (dn) which is a
combination of the parentFsnUuid and the mountPath (path either relative or
absolute) where the target FSN is.
7.1.4 FSN_UNMOUNT
Description
Detaches the targetFsn from the parentFsn at the given pathname. The pathname can
be relative to the root of the parentFsn or from the root of the federation
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namespace. The parentFsn's NSDB location handles the unmount and removes the
relationship between the ParentFsn and the TargetFsn.
Errors
ERR_OK
ERR_NOTFOUND
ERR_INVALID
ERR_PERM
LDAP Request
In case a target_FSN is to be unmmounted, the associated FSNJunctionObject is
deleted from the NSDB maintaining the parent fileset. An example delete request is
shown below.
LDAP Delete Request:
dn: pountPath=PATH,parentFsnUuid=PARENTFSNUUID,ou=fed-fs
changeType: delete
7.1.5 FSL_CREATE
Description
Creates a new Fileset location at the given location denoted by HOST:PATH for
the given FSN. An fsl_uuid may be provided as an optional UUID for the FSL.
Normally an FSL is identified by the HOST:PATH pair. A UUID is an optional way to
identify an FSL if it is recovered to a different HOST:PATH after a
backup/restore. If the FSL belongs to an FSN that has another FSN mounted under
it then there would be a related junction_create operation.
Errors
ERR_OK
ERR_EXIST
ERR_NOTFOUND
ERR_INVALID
ERR_PERM
LDAP Request
The FSL create command will result in the admin server sending an LDAP ADD request
to create a new FslObject at the NSDB maintaining the given FSN. The example LDIF
is shown below. The FSL object definition is provided in Appendix B.
The HOST must be a fully qualified DNS name, and the PATH is the pathname where
the fileset is located on that host.
dn:fsl=HOST:PATH,fsnUuid=FSNUUID,nsdbName=NSDBNAME,ou=fed-fs
changeType: add
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objectClass: FslObject
fsnUuid: FSNUUID
nsdbName: NSDBNAME
fsl: HOST:PATH
type: nfs4
version: VERSION
7.1.6 FSL_DELETE
Description
Deletes the given Fileset location. The admin requests the NSDB location storing
the FslObject to delete it from its database. This operation does not result in
the fileset location's data being deleted at the fileserver.
Errors
ERR_OK
ERR_NOTFOUND
ERR_INVALID
ERR_PERM
LDAP Request
dn: fsl=HOST:PATH,fsnUuid=FSNUUID,nsdbName=NSDBNAME,ou=fed-fs
changeType: delete
7.1.7 FSL_UPDATE
Description
Update the attributes of a given FSL. This command results in a change in the
attributes of the FslObject at the NSDB server maintaining this FSL. The
attributes that must not change are the FSL UUID (if assigned) and the FSN UUID of
the fileset this FSL implements.
Errors
ERR_OK
ERR_NOTFOUND
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ERR_INVALID
ERR_PERM
LDAP Request
dn: fsl=HOST:PATH,fsnUuid=FSNUUID,nsdbName=NSDBNAME,ou=fed-fs
changeType: modify
replace: ATTRIBUTE-TYPE
7.1.8 FSL_STAT
Description
Find all attributes of a given FSL from the FSLObject stored at the NSDB location.
Errors
ERR_OK
ERR_NOTFOUND
ERR_INVALID
ERR_PERM
7.2 FILESERVER to NSDB OPERATIONS
7.2.1 FSN_GET_FSL
Description
Return the list of FSLs for the given FSN (fsn_foo) matching the filter. The
fileserver will convert the list of FSLs to the NFSv4 fs_locations.
The filter specify the type of protocol (v4, v3), or type of data access (ro, rw).
Errors
ERR_OK
ERR_NOTFOUND
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ERR_INVALID
ERR_PERM
LDAP Request
Query: ((&objectClass=FslObject)(fsnUuid=FSNUUID))
Response:
count: N
entries:
dn: fsl=HOST:PATH,fsnUuid=FSNUUID,nsdbName=NSDBNAME,ou=fed-fs
fslHost: HOST
fslPath: PATH
type: NFSv4
The server can scan through the results and find results whose type corresponds to
the type of the client on whose behalf the server is performing the request,
extracting the fslHost and fslPath (and possibly additional attributes) and using
them to create a list of fs_locations that the client can use.
7.3 ADMIN to FILESERVER OPERATIONS
Because the fileserver is not required to act as an LDAP server, the protocol for
the admin to communicate with the fileserver is not required to be LDAP. We
define these message exchanges using XDR to describe SUNRPC calls by the admin and
responses from the fileset server.
7.3.1 Basic Definitions
We begin by defining basic constants and structs, in XDR notation, that will be
used to specify the types of the RPCs described in the rest of this subsection.
#define FEDFS_MAX_UUID_LEN 64
#define FEDFS_MAX_NSDBNAME_LEN 256
#define FEDFS_MAX_HOSTNAME_LEN 128
#define FEDFS_MAX_PATHNAME_LEN 1024
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typedef opaque FedFsFsnUuid<FEDFS_MAX_UUID_LEN>;
typedef opaque FedFsHostName<FEDFS_MAX_HOSTNAME_LEN>;
typedef opaque FedFsNsdbName<FEDFS_MAX_NSDBNAME_LEN>;
typedef opaque FedFsPathName<FEDFS_MAX_PATHNAME_LEN>;
struct FedFsFsn {
FedFsFsnUuid junctionKey;
FedFsNsdbName nsdb;
};
struct FedFsFsl {
FedFsHostName host;
FedFsPathName path;
};
struct FedFsJunctionTarget {
FedFsFsnUuid uuid;
FedFsNsdbName nsdb;
FedFsPathName path;
};
union FedFsFslsRes switch (bool status) {
case ERR_OK :
FedFsFsl fsls<>;
default :
void;
};
union FedFsFsnsRes switch (bool status) {
case ERR_OK :
FedFsFsn fsns<>;
default :
void;
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};
program FEDFS_PROG {
version FEDFS_VERSION {
void FEDFS_NULL(void) = 0;
FedFsFslsRes FEDFS_HOST_FSLS(FedFsHostName host) = 1;
FedFsFsnsRes FEDFS_HOST_FSNS(FedFsHostName host) = 2;
FedFsFslsRes FEDFS_HOSTPATH_FSLS(FedFsHostName host,
FedFsPathName path) = 3;
FedFsCreateJunctionRes FEDFS_CREATE_JUNCTION(FedFsFsn fsn,
FedFsPathName path) = 4;
FedFsCreateExportRes FEDFS_CREATE_EXPORT(FedFsPathName path,
FedFsPathName exportPath) = 5;
} = 1;
} = 100205;
7.3.2 FEDFS_HOST_FSLS, FEDFS_HOST_FSNS, FEDFS_HOSTPATH_FSLS
Function
These functions return lists of FSLs or FSNs that are served by the host. For
FEDFS_HOSTPATH_FSLS, only the FSLs associated with a specific path are returned.
Return the list of matching FSLs or FSNs for a given host/path at a fileserver.
If successful, the status is ERR_OK and the value of the fsls or fsns is a list of
matching FSNs or FSLs. If unsuccessful, the status code indicates the cause of
the failure.
Description
Find all FSL or FSNs for a given host or find the FSL given a host:path pair.
Errors
ERR_OK
ERR_NOTFOUND
ERR_INVALID
ERR_NAMETOOLONG
ERR_PERM
7.3.3 FEDFS_CREATE_JUNCTION
Description
Create a junction from the given path on the server to the given fsn.
Note that how the fileserver represents or maintains the junction is not defined
by the fed-fs protocol.
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Errors
ERR_OK
ERR_NOTFOUND
ERR_INVALID
ERR_PERM
7.3.4 FEDFS_CREATE_EXPORT
Description
Export the fileset rooted at the given path as an FSL at the given export path.
Errors
ERR_OK
ERR_NOTFOUND
ERR_INVALID
ERR_PERM
8 Security Considerations
To be added.
9 IANA Considerations
None
10 Conclusions
The federated filesystem protocol manages multiple independently administered
fileservers to share namespace and referral information to enable clients to
traverse seamlessly across them.
11 Glossary
Administrator: user with the necessary authority to initiate
administrative tasks on one or more servers.
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Admin entity: A server or agent that administers a collection of
fileservers and persistently stores the namespace information.
Client: Any client that accesses the fileserver data using a
supported filesystem access protocol.
Federation: A set of server collections and singleton servers that
use a common set of interfaces and protocols in order to provide
to their clients a federated namespace accessible through a
filesystem access protocol.
Fileserver: A server exporting a filesystem via a network filesystem
access protocol.
Fileset: The abstraction of a set of files and their containing
directory tree. A fileset is the fundamental unit of data
management in the federation.
Note that all files within a fileset are descendants of one directory, and that
filesets do not span filesystems.
Filesystem: A self-contained unit of export for a fileserver, and
the mechanism used to implement filesets. The fileset does not
need to be rooted at the root of the filesystem, nor at the export
point for the filesystem.
A single filesystem MAY implement more than one fileset, if the client protocol
and the fileserver permit this.
Filesystem access protocol: A network filesystem access protocol
such as NFSv2 ([RFC1094]), NFSv3 ([RFC1813]), NFSv4 ([RFC3530]),
or CIFS.
FSL (Fileset location): The location of the implementation of a
fileset at a particular moment in time. A FSL MUST be something
that can be translated into a protocol-specific description of a
resource that a client can access directly, such as a fs_location
(for NFSv4), or share name (for CIFS). Note that not all FSLs
need to be explicitly exported as long as they are contained
within an exported path on the fileserver.
FSN (Fileset name): A platform-independent and globally unique name
for a fileset. Two FSLs that implement replicas of the same
fileset MUST have the same FSN, and if a fileset is migrated from
one location to another, the FSN of that fileset MUST remain the
same.
Junction: A filesystem object used to link a directory name in the
current fileset with an object within another fileset. The
server-side "link" from a leaf node in one fileset to the root of
another fileset.
Junction key: The key to lookup a junction within an NSDB node or a
local table of information about junctions.
Namespace: A filename/directory tree that a sufficiently-authorized
client can observe.
NSDB (Namespace Database Service): A service that maps FSNs to FSLs.
The NSDB may also be used to store other information, such as
annotations for these mappings and their components.
NSDB Node: The name or location of a server that implements part of
the NSDB service and is responsible for keeping track of the FSLs
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(and related info) that implement a given partition of the FSNs.
Referral: A server response to a client access that directs the
client to evaluate the current object as a reference to an object
at a different location (specified by an FSL) in another fileset,
and possibly hosted on another fileserver. The client re-attempts
the access to the object at the new location.
Replica: A replica is a redundant implementation of a fileset. Each
replica shares the same FSN, but has a different FSL.
Replicas may be used to increase availability or performance. Updates to
replicas of the same fileset MUST appear to occur in the same order, and therefore
each replica is self-consistent at any moment.
We do not assume that updates to each replica occur simultaneously -- if a
replica is offline or unreachable, the other replicas may be updated.
Server Collection: A set of fileservers administered as a unit. A
server collection may be administered with vendor-specific
software.
The namespace provided by a server collection could be part of the federated
namespace.
Singleton Server: A server collection containing only one server; a
stand-alone fileserver.
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Appendix B. Namespace Schema Class Objects
objectclass ( 1.3.6.1.4.1.4203.666.121.5 NAME 'FsnObject'
DESC 'Representing a Fed-fs Fileset'
STRUCTURAL
SUP Base
MUST ( fsnUuid $
nsdbName $
type )
MAY ( descr $
annotation )
)
objectclass ( 1.3.6.1.4.1.4203.666.121.7 NAME 'FslObject'
DESC 'Represents a physical instance of a fileset'
STRUCTURAL
SUP Base
MUST ( fsl $
fsnUuid $
nsdbName $
fslHost $
fslPath $
type $
state $
fsType )
MAY ( version $
exportOptions $
descr $
annotation )
)
objectclass ( 1.3.6.1.4.1.4203.666.121.9 NAME 'FSNJunctionObject'
DESC 'Represents a mount point'
STRUCTURAL
SUP Base
MUST ( parentFsnUuid $
targetFsnUuid $
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nsdbName $
mountPath )
MAY ( descr $
annotation )
)
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12 References
12.1 Normative References
[draft-fed-fs-req] Ellard, D., et al., Requirements for Federated File
Systems, Internet Draft, June 2007.
[RFC1094] Nowicki, B., "NFS: Network File System Protocol
specification", RFC 1094, March 1989.
[RFC1813] Callaghan, B., Pawlowski, B., and P. Staubach, "NFS
Version 3 Protocol Specification", RFC 1813, June 12995.
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
[RFC2203] Eisler, M., Chiu, A., and L. Ling, "RPCSEC_GSS Protocol
Specification", RFC 2203, September 1997.
[RFC2743] Linn, J., "Generic Security Service Application Program
Interface Version 2, Update 1", RFC 2743, January 2000.
[RFC3530] Shepler, S., Callaghan, B., Robinson, D., Thurlow, R.,
Beame, C., Eisler, M., and D. Noveck, "Network File System
(NFS) version 4 Protocol", RFC 3530, April 2003.
[RFC3552] Rescorla, E. and B. Korver, "Guidelines for Writing RFC
Text on Security Considerations", BCP 72, RFC 3552,
July 2003.
[RFC4122] Leach, P., Mealling, M., and R. Salz, "A Universally
Unique IDentifier (UUID) URN Namespace", RFC 4122,
July 2005.
[RFC4346] Dierks, T. and E. Rescorla, "The Transport Layer Security
(TLS) Protocol Version 1.1", RFC 4346, April 2006.
[RFC4511] Sermersheim, J., "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
(LDAP): The Protocol", RFC 4511, June 2006.
[RFC4513] Harrison, R., "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
(LDAP): Authentication Methods and Security Mechanisms",
RFC 4513, June 2006.
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Author's Addresses
Renu Tewari
IBM Almaden
650 Harry Rd
San Jose, CA 95120
US
Email: tewarir@us.ibm.com
Manoj Naik
IBM Almaden
650 Harry Rd
San Jose, CA 95120
US
Email: manoj@almaden.ibm.com
Daniel Ellard
Network Appliance, Inc.
1601 Trapelo Rd, Suite 16
Waltham, MA 02451
US
Phone: +1 781-768-5421
Email: ellard@netapp.com
Craig Everhart
Network Appliance, Inc.
7301 Kit Creek Rd
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
US
Phone: +1 919-476-5320
Email: everhart@netapp.com
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