Using DNS SRV to Specify a Global File Namespace with NFS Version 4
RFC 6641
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) C. Everhart
Request for Comments: 6641 W. Adamson
Category: Standards Track NetApp
ISSN: 2070-1721 J. Zhang
Google
June 2012
Using DNS SRV to Specify a Global File Namespace with NFS Version 4
Abstract
The NFS version 4 (NFSv4) protocol provides a mechanism for a
collection of NFS file servers to collaborate in providing an
organization-wide file namespace. The DNS SRV Resource Record (RR)
allows a simple way for an organization to publish the root of its
file system namespace, even to clients that might not be intimately
associated with such an organization. The DNS SRV RR can be used to
join these organization-wide file namespaces together to allow
construction of a global, uniform NFS file namespace.
Status of This Memo
This is an Internet Standards Track document.
This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has
received public review and has been approved for publication by the
Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Further information on
Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 5741.
Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6641.
Everhart, et al. Standards Track [Page 1]
RFC 6641 NFSv4 Global Namespace with DNS SRV June 2012
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Table of Contents
1. Background ......................................................3
2. Requirements Notation ...........................................3
3. Use of the SRV Resource Record in DNS ...........................3
4. Integration with Use of NFS Version 4 ...........................5
4.1. Globally Useful Names: Conventional Mount Point ............5
4.2. Mount Options ..............................................6
4.3. File System Integration Issues .............................6
4.4. Multicast DNS ..............................................7
5. Where Is This Integration Carried Out? ..........................7
6. Security Considerations .........................................7
7. IANA Considerations .............................................9
8. References ......................................................9
8.1. Normative References .......................................9
8.2. Informative References ....................................10
Everhart, et al. Standards Track [Page 2]
RFC 6641 NFSv4 Global Namespace with DNS SRV June 2012
1. Background
Version 4 of the NFS protocol [RFC3530] introduced the fs_locations
attribute. Use of this attribute was elaborated further in the NFSv4
minor version 1 protocol [RFC5661], which also defined an extended
version of the attribute as fs_locations_info. With the advent of
these attributes, NFS servers can cooperate to build a file namespace
that crosses server boundaries. The fs_locations and
fs_locations_info attributes are used as referrals, so that a file
server may indicate to its client that the file name tree beneath a
given name in the server is not present on itself but is represented
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