Parallel NFS (pNFS) Block Disk Protection
RFC 6688

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Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                     D. Black, Ed.
Request for Comments: 6688                               EMC Corporation
Updates: 5663                                                 J. Glasgow
Category: Standards Track                                         Google
ISSN: 2070-1721                                               S. Faibish
                                                         EMC Corporation
                                                               July 2012

               Parallel NFS (pNFS) Block Disk Protection

Abstract

   Parallel NFS (pNFS) extends the Network File System version 4 (NFSv4)
   to enable direct client access to file data on storage devices and
   bypass the NFSv4 server.  This can increase both performance and
   parallelism, but it requires additional client functionality, some of
   which depends upon the type of storage used.  The pNFS specification
   for block storage (RFC 5663) describes how clients can identify the
   volumes used for pNFS, but this mechanism requires communication with
   the NFSv4 server.  This document updates RFC 5663 to add a mechanism
   that enables identification of block storage devices used by pNFS
   file systems without communicating with the server.  This enables
   clients to control access to pNFS block devices when the client
   initially boots, as opposed to waiting until the client can
   communicate with the NFSv4 server.

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/rfc6688.

Black, et al.                Standards Track                    [Page 1]
RFC 6688               pNFS Block Disk Protection              July 2012

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2012 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.  Code Components extracted from this document must
   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction ....................................................3
   2. Conventions Used in This Document ...............................4
   3. GPT Partition Table Entry .......................................4
   4. Security Considerations .........................................5
   5. References ......................................................5
      5.1. Normative References .......................................5
      5.2. Informative References .....................................6
   6. Acknowledgements.................................................6

Black, et al.                Standards Track                    [Page 2]
RFC 6688               pNFS Block Disk Protection              July 2012

1.  Introduction

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

       +-----------+
       |+-----------+                                 +-----------+
       ||+-----------+                                |           |
       |||           |       NFSv4.1 + pNFS           |           |
       +||  Clients  |<------------------------------>|    MDS    |
        +|           |                                |           |
         +-----------+                                |           |
              |||                                     +-----------+
              |||                                           |
              |||                                           |
              ||| Storage        +-----------+              |
              ||| Protocol       |+-----------+             |
              ||+----------------||+-----------+  Control   |
              |+-----------------|||           |  Protocol  |
              +------------------+||  Storage  |------------+
                                  +|  Devices  |
                                   +-----------+

                       Figure 1.  pNFS Architecture

   In this document, "storage device" is used as a general term for a
   data server and/or storage server for any pNFS layout type.  The