This document is obsolete. Please
refer to RFC 8881.
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) S. Shepler, Ed. Request for Comments: 5661 Storspeed, Inc. Category: Standards Track M. Eisler, Ed. ISSN: 2070-1721 D. Noveck, Ed. NetApp January 2010
Network File System (NFS) Version 4 Minor Version 1 Protocol
Abstract
This document describes the Network File System (NFS) version 4 minor version 1, including features retained from the base protocol (NFS version 4 minor version 0, which is specified in RFC 3530) and protocol extensions made subsequently. Major extensions introduced in NFS version 4 minor version 1 include Sessions, Directory Delegations, and parallel NFS (pNFS). NFS version 4 minor version 1 has no dependencies on NFS version 4 minor version 0, and it is considered a separate protocol. Thus, this document neither updates nor obsoletes RFC 3530. NFS minor version 1 is deemed superior to NFS minor version 0 with no loss of functionality, and its use is preferred over version 0. Both NFS minor versions 0 and 1 can be used simultaneously on the same network, between the same client and 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/rfc5661.
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Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2010 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.
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction ....................................................9 1.1. The NFS Version 4 Minor Version 1 Protocol .................9 1.2. Requirements Language ......................................9 1.3. Scope of This Document .....................................9 1.4. NFSv4 Goals ...............................................10 1.5. NFSv4.1 Goals .............................................10 1.6. General Definitions .......................................11 1.7. Overview of NFSv4.1 Features ..............................13 1.8. Differences from NFSv4.0 ..................................17 2. Core Infrastructure ............................................18 2.1. Introduction ..............................................18 2.2. RPC and XDR ...............................................19 2.3. COMPOUND and CB_COMPOUND ..................................22 2.4. Client Identifiers and Client Owners ......................23 2.5. Server Owners .............................................28 2.6. Security Service Negotiation ..............................29 2.7. Minor Versioning ..........................................34 2.8. Non-RPC-Based Security Services ...........................37 2.9. Transport Layers ..........................................37 2.10. Session ..................................................40 3. Protocol Constants and Data Types ..............................86 3.1. Basic Constants ...........................................86 3.2. Basic Data Types ..........................................87 3.3. Structured Data Types .....................................89 4. Filehandles ....................................................97 4.1. Obtaining the First Filehandle ............................98 4.2. Filehandle Types ..........................................99 4.3. One Method of Constructing a Volatile Filehandle .........101 4.4. Client Recovery from Filehandle Expiration ...............102 5. File Attributes ...............................................103 5.1.REQUIRED Attributes ......................................104 5.2.RECOMMENDED Attributes ...................................104 5.3. Named Attributes .........................................105 5.4. Classification of Attributes .............................106 5.5. Set-Only and Get-Only Attributes .........................107 5.6.REQUIRED Attributes - List and Definition References .....107 5.7.RECOMMENDED Attributes - List and Definition References ..108 5.8. Attribute Definitions ....................................110 5.9. Interpreting owner and owner_group .......................119 5.10. Character Case Attributes ...............................121 5.11. Directory Notification Attributes .......................121 5.12. pNFS Attribute Definitions ..............................122 5.13. Retention Attributes ....................................123 6. Access Control Attributes .....................................126 6.1. Goals ....................................................126 6.2. File Attributes Discussion ...............................128
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6.3. Common Methods ...........................................144 6.4. Requirements .............................................147 7. Single-Server Namespace .......................................153 7.1. Server Exports ...........................................153 7.2. Browsing Exports .........................................153 7.3. Server Pseudo File System ................................154 7.4. Multiple Roots ...........................................155 7.5. Filehandle Volatility ....................................155 7.6. Exported Root ............................................155 7.7. Mount Point Crossing .....................................156 7.8. Security Policy and Namespace Presentation ...............156 8. State Management ..............................................157 8.1. Client and Session ID ....................................158 8.2. Stateid Definition .......................................158 8.3. Lease Renewal ............................................167 8.4. Crash Recovery ...........................................170 8.5. Server Revocation of Locks ...............................181 8.6. Short and Long Leases ....................................182 8.7. Clocks, Propagation Delay, and Calculating Lease Expiration ...............................................182 8.8. Obsolete Locking Infrastructure from NFSv4.0 .............183 9. File Locking and Share Reservations ...........................184 9.1. Opens and Byte-Range Locks ...............................184 9.2. Lock Ranges ..............................................188 9.3. Upgrading and Downgrading Locks ..........................188 9.4. Stateid Seqid Values and Byte-Range Locks ................189 9.5. Issues with Multiple Open-Owners .........................189 9.6. Blocking Locks ...........................................190 9.7. Share Reservations .......................................191 9.8. OPEN/CLOSE Operations ....................................192 9.9. Open Upgrade and Downgrade ...............................192 9.10. Parallel OPENs ..........................................193 9.11. Reclaim of Open and Byte-Range Locks ....................194 10. Client-Side Caching ..........................................194 10.1. Performance Challenges for Client-Side Caching ..........195 10.2. Delegation and Callbacks ................................196 10.3. Data Caching ............................................200 10.4. Open Delegation .........................................205 10.5. Data Caching and Revocation .............................216 10.6. Attribute Caching .......................................218 10.7. Data and Metadata Caching and Memory Mapped Files .......220 10.8. Name and Directory Caching without Directory Delegations .............................................222 10.9. Directory Delegations ...................................225 11. Multi-Server Namespace .......................................228 11.1. Location Attributes .....................................228 11.2. File System Presence or Absence .........................229 11.3. Getting Attributes for an Absent File System ............230
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11.4. Uses of Location Information ............................232 11.5. Location Entries and Server Identity ....................236 11.6. Additional Client-Side Considerations ...................237 11.7. Effecting File System Transitions .......................238 11.8. Effecting File System Referrals .........................251 11.9. The Attribute fs_locations ..............................258 11.10. The Attribute fs_locations_info ........................261 11.11. The Attribute fs_status ................................273 12. Parallel NFS (pNFS) ..........................................277 12.1. Introduction ............................................277 12.2. pNFS Definitions ........................................278 12.3. pNFS Operations .........................................284 12.4. pNFS Attributes .........................................285 12.5. Layout Semantics ........................................285 12.6. pNFS Mechanics ..........................................300 12.7. Recovery ................................................302 12.8. Metadata and Storage Device Roles .......................307 12.9. Security Considerations for pNFS ........................307 13. NFSv4.1 as a Storage Protocol in pNFS: the File Layout Type ..309 13.1. Client ID and Session Considerations ....................309 13.2. File Layout Definitions .................................312 13.3. File Layout Data Types ..................................312 13.4. Interpreting the File Layout ............................317 13.5. Data Server Multipathing ................................324 13.6. Operations Sent to NFSv4.1 Data Servers .................325 13.7. COMMIT through Metadata Server ..........................327 13.8. The Layout Iomode .......................................328 13.9. Metadata and Data Server State Coordination .............329 13.10. Data Server Component File Size ........................332 13.11. Layout Revocation and Fencing ..........................333 13.12. Security Considerations for the File Layout Type .......334 14. Internationalization .........................................334 14.1. Stringprep profile for the utf8str_cs type ..............336 14.2. Stringprep profile for the utf8str_cis type .............337 14.3. Stringprep profile for the utf8str_mixed type ...........338 14.4. UTF-8 Capabilities ......................................340 14.5. UTF-8 Related Errors ....................................340 15. Error Values .................................................341 15.1. Error Definitions .......................................341 15.2. Operations and Their Valid Errors .......................361 15.3. Callback Operations and Their Valid Errors ..............376 15.4. Errors and the Operations That Use Them .................379 16. NFSv4.1 Procedures ...........................................391 16.1. Procedure 0: NULL - No Operation ........................392 16.2. Procedure 1: COMPOUND - Compound Operations .............392 17. Operations: REQUIRED, RECOMMENDED, or OPTIONAL ...............403 18. NFSv4.1 Operations ...........................................407 18.1. Operation 3: ACCESS - Check Access Rights ...............407
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18.2. Operation 4: CLOSE - Close File .........................413 18.3. Operation 5: COMMIT - Commit Cached Data ................414 18.4. Operation 6: CREATE - Create a Non-Regular File Object ..417 18.5. Operation 7: DELEGPURGE - Purge Delegations Awaiting Recovery .......................................419 18.6. Operation 8: DELEGRETURN - Return Delegation ............420 18.7. Operation 9: GETATTR - Get Attributes ...................421 18.8. Operation 10: GETFH - Get Current Filehandle ............423 18.9. Operation 11: LINK - Create Link to a File ..............424 18.10. Operation 12: LOCK - Create Lock .......................426 18.11. Operation 13: LOCKT - Test for Lock ....................430 18.12. Operation 14: LOCKU - Unlock File ......................432 18.13. Operation 15: LOOKUP - Lookup Filename .................433 18.14. Operation 16: LOOKUPP - Lookup Parent Directory ........435 18.15. Operation 17: NVERIFY - Verify Difference in Attributes .............................................436 18.16. Operation 18: OPEN - Open a Regular File ...............437 18.17. Operation 19: OPENATTR - Open Named Attribute Directory ..............................................458 18.18. Operation 21: OPEN_DOWNGRADE - Reduce Open File Access .................................................459 18.19. Operation 22: PUTFH - Set Current Filehandle ...........461 18.20. Operation 23: PUTPUBFH - Set Public Filehandle .........461 18.21. Operation 24: PUTROOTFH - Set Root Filehandle ..........463 18.22. Operation 25: READ - Read from File ....................464 18.23. Operation 26: READDIR - Read Directory .................466 18.24. Operation 27: READLINK - Read Symbolic Link ............469 18.25. Operation 28: REMOVE - Remove File System Object .......470 18.26. Operation 29: RENAME - Rename Directory Entry ..........473 18.27. Operation 31: RESTOREFH - Restore Saved Filehandle .....477 18.28. Operation 32: SAVEFH - Save Current Filehandle .........478 18.29. Operation 33: SECINFO - Obtain Available Security ......479 18.30. Operation 34: SETATTR - Set Attributes .................482 18.31. Operation 37: VERIFY - Verify Same Attributes ..........485 18.32. Operation 38: WRITE - Write to File ....................486 18.33. Operation 40: BACKCHANNEL_CTL - Backchannel Control ....491 18.34. Operation 41: BIND_CONN_TO_SESSION - Associate Connection with Session ................................492 18.35. Operation 42: EXCHANGE_ID - Instantiate Client ID ......495 18.36. Operation 43: CREATE_SESSION - Create New Session and Confirm Client ID ..........................513 18.37. Operation 44: DESTROY_SESSION - Destroy a Session ......523 18.38. Operation 45: FREE_STATEID - Free Stateid with No Locks ...............................................525 18.39. Operation 46: GET_DIR_DELEGATION - Get a Directory Delegation ...................................526 18.40. Operation 47: GETDEVICEINFO - Get Device Information ...530 18.41. Operation 48: GETDEVICELIST - Get All Device
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Mappings for a File System .............................533 18.42. Operation 49: LAYOUTCOMMIT - Commit Writes Made Using a Layout .........................................534 18.43. Operation 50: LAYOUTGET - Get Layout Information .......538 18.44. Operation 51: LAYOUTRETURN - Release Layout Information ............................................547 18.45. Operation 52: SECINFO_NO_NAME - Get Security on Unnamed Object .........................................552 18.46. Operation 53: SEQUENCE - Supply Per-Procedure Sequencing and Control .................................553 18.47. Operation 54: SET_SSV - Update SSV for a Client ID .....559 18.48. Operation 55: TEST_STATEID - Test Stateids for Validity ...............................................561 18.49. Operation 56: WANT_DELEGATION - Request Delegation .....563 18.50. Operation 57: DESTROY_CLIENTID - Destroy a Client ID ...566 18.51. Operation 58: RECLAIM_COMPLETE - Indicates Reclaims Finished ......................................567 18.52. Operation 10044: ILLEGAL - Illegal Operation ...........569 19. NFSv4.1 Callback Procedures ..................................570 19.1. Procedure 0: CB_NULL - No Operation .....................570 19.2. Procedure 1: CB_COMPOUND - Compound Operations ..........571 20. NFSv4.1 Callback Operations ..................................574 20.1. Operation 3: CB_GETATTR - Get Attributes ................574 20.2. Operation 4: CB_RECALL - Recall a Delegation ............575 20.3. Operation 5: CB_LAYOUTRECALL - Recall Layout from Client .............................................576 20.4. Operation 6: CB_NOTIFY - Notify Client of Directory Changes .......................................580 20.5. Operation 7: CB_PUSH_DELEG - Offer Previously Requested Delegation to Client ..........................583 20.6. Operation 8: CB_RECALL_ANY - Keep Any N Recallable Objects ......................................584 20.7. Operation 9: CB_RECALLABLE_OBJ_AVAIL - Signal Resources for Recallable Objects ........................588 20.8. Operation 10: CB_RECALL_SLOT - Change Flow Control Limits ..........................................588 20.9. Operation 11: CB_SEQUENCE - Supply Backchannel Sequencing and Control ..................................589 20.10. Operation 12: CB_WANTS_CANCELLED - Cancel Pending Delegation Wants ...............................592 20.11. Operation 13: CB_NOTIFY_LOCK - Notify Client of Possible Lock Availability .............................593 20.12. Operation 14: CB_NOTIFY_DEVICEID - Notify Client of Device ID Changes ............................594 20.13. Operation 10044: CB_ILLEGAL - Illegal Callback Operation ..............................................596 21. Security Considerations ......................................597 22. IANA Considerations ..........................................598
The NFS version 4 minor version 1 (NFSv4.1) protocol is the second minor version of the NFS version 4 (NFSv4) protocol. The first minor version, NFSv4.0, is described in [30]. It generally follows the guidelines for minor versioning that are listed in Section 10 of RFC 3530. However, it diverges from guidelines 11 ("a client and server that support minor version X must support minor versions 0 through X-1") and 12 ("no new features may be introduced as mandatory in a minor version"). These divergences are due to the introduction of the sessions model for managing non-idempotent operations and the RECLAIM_COMPLETE operation. These two new features are infrastructural in nature and simplify implementation of existing and other new features. Making them anything but REQUIRED would add undue complexity to protocol definition and implementation. NFSv4.1 accordingly updates the minor versioning guidelines (Section 2.7).
As a minor version, NFSv4.1 is consistent with the overall goals for NFSv4, but extends the protocol so as to better meet those goals, based on experiences with NFSv4.0. In addition, NFSv4.1 has adopted some additional goals, which motivate some of the major extensions in NFSv4.1.
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].
The NFSv4 protocol is a further revision of the NFS protocol defined already by NFSv3 [31]. It retains the essential characteristics of previous versions: easy recovery; independence of transport protocols, operating systems, and file systems; simplicity; and good performance. NFSv4 has the following goals:
o Improved access and good performance on the Internet
The protocol is designed to transit firewalls easily, perform well where latency is high and bandwidth is low, and scale to very large numbers of clients per server.
o Strong security with negotiation built into the protocol
The protocol builds on the work of the ONCRPC working group in supporting the RPCSEC_GSS protocol. Additionally, the NFSv4.1 protocol provides a mechanism to allow clients and servers the ability to negotiate security and require clients and servers to support a minimal set of security schemes.
o Good cross-platform interoperability
The protocol features a file system model that provides a useful, common set of features that does not unduly favor one file system or operating system over another.
o Designed for protocol extensions
The protocol is designed to accept standard extensions within a framework that enables and encourages backward compatibility.
NFSv4.1 has the following goals, within the framework established by the overall NFSv4 goals.
o To correct significant structural weaknesses and oversights discovered in the base protocol.
o To add clarity and specificity to areas left unaddressed or not addressed in sufficient detail in the base protocol. However, as stated in Section 1.3, it is not a goal to clarify the NFSv4.0 protocol in the NFSv4.1 specification.
o To add specific features based on experience with the existing protocol and recent industry developments.
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o To provide protocol support to take advantage of clustered server deployments including the ability to provide scalable parallel access to files distributed among multiple servers.
The following definitions provide an appropriate context for the reader.
Byte: In this document, a byte is 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 that 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.
A client is uniquely identified by a client owner.
With reference to byte-range locking, the client is also the entity that maintains a set of locks on behalf of one or more applications. This client is responsible for crash or failure recovery for those locks it manages.
Note that multiple clients may share the same transport and connection and multiple clients may exist on the same network node.
Client ID: The client ID is a 64-bit quantity used as a unique, short-hand reference to a client-supplied verifier and client owner. The server is responsible for supplying the client ID.
Client Owner: The client owner is a unique string, opaque to the server, that identifies a client. Multiple network connections and source network addresses originating from those connections may share a client owner. The server is expected to treat requests from connections with the same client owner as coming from the same client.
File System: The file system is the collection of objects on a server (as identified by the major identifier of a server owner, which is defined later in this section) that share the same fsid attribute (see Section 5.8.1.9).
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Lease: A lease is an interval of time defined by the server for which the client is irrevocably granted locks. At the end of a lease period, locks may be revoked if the lease has not been extended. A lock must be revoked if a conflicting lock has been granted after the lease interval.
A server grants a client a single lease for all state.
Lock: The term "lock" is used to refer to byte-range (in UNIX environments, also known as record) locks, share reservations, delegations, or layouts unless specifically stated otherwise.
Secret State Verifier (SSV): The SSV is a unique secret key shared between a client and server. The SSV serves as the secret key for an internal (that is, internal to NFSv4.1) Generic Security Services (GSS) mechanism (the SSV GSS mechanism; see Section 2.10.9). The SSV GSS mechanism uses the SSV to compute message integrity code (MIC) and Wrap tokens. See Section 2.10.8.3 for more details on how NFSv4.1 uses the SSV and the SSV GSS mechanism.
Server: The Server is the entity responsible for coordinating client access to a set of file systems and is identified by a server owner. A server can span multiple network addresses.
Server Owner: The server owner identifies the server to the client. The server owner consists of a major identifier and a minor identifier. When the client has two connections each to a peer with the same major identifier, the client assumes that both peers are the same server (the server namespace is the same via each connection) and that lock state is sharable across both connections. When each peer has both the same major and minor identifiers, the client assumes that each connection might be associable with the same session.
Stable Storage: Stable storage is storage from which data stored by an NFSv4.1 server can be recovered without data loss from multiple power failures (including cascading power failures, that is, several power failures in quick succession), operating system failures, and/or hardware failure of components other than the storage medium itself (such as disk, nonvolatile RAM, flash memory, etc.).
Some examples of stable storage that are allowable for an NFS server include:
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1. Media commit of data; that is, the modified data has been successfully written to the disk media, for example, the disk platter.
2. An immediate reply disk drive with battery-backed, on-drive intermediate storage or uninterruptible power system (UPS).
3. Server commit of data with battery-backed intermediate storage and recovery software.
4. Cache commit with uninterruptible power system (UPS) and recovery software.
Stateid: A stateid is a 128-bit quantity returned by a server that uniquely defines the open and locking states provided by the server for a specific open-owner or lock-owner/open-owner pair for a specific file and type of lock.
Verifier: A verifier is a 64-bit quantity generated by the client that the server can use to determine if the client has restarted and lost all previous lock state.
The major features of the NFSv4.1 protocol will be reviewed in brief. This will be done to provide an appropriate context for both the reader who is familiar with the previous versions of the NFS protocol and the reader who is new to the NFS protocols. For the reader new to the NFS protocols, there is still a set of fundamental knowledge that is expected. The reader should be familiar with the External Data Representation (XDR) and Remote Procedure Call (RPC) protocols as described in [2] and [3]. A basic knowledge of file systems and distributed file systems is expected as well.
In general, this specification of NFSv4.1 will not distinguish those features added in minor version 1 from those present in the base protocol but will treat NFSv4.1 as a unified whole. See Section 1.8 for a summary of the differences between NFSv4.0 and NFSv4.1.
As with previous versions of NFS, the External Data Representation (XDR) and Remote Procedure Call (RPC) mechanisms used for the NFSv4.1 protocol are those defined in [2] and [3]. To meet end-to-end security requirements, the RPCSEC_GSS framework [4] is used to extend the basic RPC security. With the use of RPCSEC_GSS, various mechanisms can be provided to offer authentication, integrity, and
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privacy to the NFSv4 protocol. Kerberos V5 is used as described in [5] to provide one security framework. With the use of RPCSEC_GSS, other mechanisms may also be specified and used for NFSv4.1 security.
To enable in-band security negotiation, the NFSv4.1 protocol has operations that provide the client a method of querying the server about its policies regarding which security mechanisms must be used for access to the server's file system resources. With this, the client can securely match the security mechanism that meets the policies specified at both the client and server.
NFSv4.1 introduces parallel access (see Section 1.7.2.2), which is called pNFS. The security framework described in this section is significantly modified by the introduction of pNFS (see Section 12.9), because data access is sometimes not over RPC. The level of significance varies with the storage protocol (see Section 12.2.5) and can be as low as zero impact (see Section 13.12).
Unlike NFSv3, which used a series of ancillary protocols (e.g., NLM, NSM (Network Status Monitor), MOUNT), within all minor versions of NFSv4 a single RPC protocol is used to make requests to the server. Facilities that had been separate protocols, such as locking, are now integrated within a single unified protocol.
Minor version 1 supports high-performance data access to a clustered server implementation by enabling a separation of metadata access and data access, with the latter done to multiple servers in parallel.
Such parallel data access is controlled by recallable objects known as "layouts", which are integrated into the protocol locking model. Clients direct requests for data access to a set of data servers specified by the layout via a data storage protocol which may be NFSv4.1 or may be another protocol.
Because the protocols used for parallel data access are not necessarily RPC-based, the RPC-based security model (Section 1.7.1) is obviously impacted (see Section 12.9). The degree of impact varies with the storage protocol (see Section 12.2.5) used for data access, and can be as low as zero (see Section 13.12).
The general file system model used for the NFSv4.1 protocol is the same as previous versions. The server file system is hierarchical with the regular files contained within being treated as opaque byte streams. In a slight departure, file and directory names are encoded with UTF-8 to deal with the basics of internationalization.
The NFSv4.1 protocol does not require a separate protocol to provide for the initial mapping between path name and filehandle. All file systems exported by a server are presented as a tree so that all file systems are reachable from a special per-server global root filehandle. This allows LOOKUP operations to be used to perform functions previously provided by the MOUNT protocol. The server provides any necessary pseudo file systems to bridge any gaps that arise due to unexported gaps between exported file systems.
As in previous versions of the NFS protocol, opaque filehandles are used to identify individual files and directories. Lookup-type and create operations translate file and directory names to filehandles, which are then used to identify objects in subsequent operations.
The NFSv4.1 protocol provides support for persistent filehandles, guaranteed to be valid for the lifetime of the file system object designated. In addition, it provides support to servers to provide filehandles with more limited validity guarantees, called volatile filehandles.
The NFSv4.1 protocol has a rich and extensible file object attribute structure, which is divided into REQUIRED, RECOMMENDED, and named attributes (see Section 5).
Several (but not all) of the REQUIRED attributes are derived from the attributes of NFSv3 (see the definition of the fattr3 data type in [31]). An example of a REQUIRED attribute is the file object's type (Section 5.8.1.2) so that regular files can be distinguished from directories (also known as folders in some operating environments) and other types of objects. REQUIRED attributes are discussed in Section 5.1.
An example of three RECOMMENDED attributes are acl, sacl, and dacl. These attributes define an Access Control List (ACL) on a file object (Section 6). An ACL provides directory and file access control beyond the model used in NFSv3. The ACL definition allows for
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specification of specific sets of permissions for individual users and groups. In addition, ACL inheritance allows propagation of access permissions and restrictions down a directory tree as file system objects are created. RECOMMENDED attributes are discussed in Section 5.2.
A named attribute is an opaque byte stream that is associated with a directory or file and referred to by a string name. Named attributes are meant to be used by client applications as a method to associate application-specific data with a regular file or directory. NFSv4.1 modifies named attributes relative to NFSv4.0 by tightening the allowed operations in order to prevent the development of non- interoperable implementations. Named attributes are discussed in Section 5.3.
NFSv4.1 contains a number of features to allow implementation of namespaces that cross server boundaries and that allow and facilitate a non-disruptive transfer of support for individual file systems between servers. They are all based upon attributes that allow one file system to specify alternate or new locations for that file system.
These attributes may be used together with the concept of absent file systems, which provide specifications for additional locations but no actual file system content. This allows a number of important facilities:
o Location attributes may be used with absent file systems to implement referrals whereby one server may direct the client to a file system provided by another server. This allows extensive multi-server namespaces to be constructed.
o Location attributes may be provided for present file systems to provide the locations of alternate file system instances or replicas to be used in the event that the current file system instance becomes unavailable.
o Location attributes may be provided when a previously present file system becomes absent. This allows non-disruptive migration of file systems to alternate servers.
As mentioned previously, NFSv4.1 is a single protocol that includes locking facilities. These locking facilities include support for many types of locks including a number of sorts of recallable locks.
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Recallable locks such as delegations allow the client to be assured that certain events will not occur so long as that lock is held. When circumstances change, the lock is recalled via a callback request. The assurances provided by delegations allow more extensive caching to be done safely when circumstances allow it.
The types of locks are:
o Share reservations as established by OPEN operations.
o Byte-range locks.
o File delegations, which are recallable locks that assure the holder that inconsistent opens and file changes cannot occur so long as the delegation is held.
o Directory delegations, which are recallable locks that assure the holder that inconsistent directory modifications cannot occur so long as the delegation is held.
o Layouts, which are recallable objects that assure the holder that direct access to the file data may be performed directly by the client and that no change to the data's location that is inconsistent with that access may be made so long as the layout is held.
All locks for a given client are tied together under a single client- wide lease. All requests made on sessions associated with the client renew that lease. When the client's lease is not promptly renewed, the client's locks are subject to revocation. In the event of server restart, clients have the opportunity to safely reclaim their locks within a special grace period.
* A method to allow a server to indicate that it is recalling one or more delegations for resource management reasons, and thus a method to allow the client to pick which delegations to return (Section 20.6).
o Attributes can be set atomically during exclusive file create via the OPEN operation (see the new EXCLUSIVE4_1 creation method in Section 18.16).
o Open files can be preserved if removed and the hard link count ("hard link" is defined in an Open Group [6] standard) goes to zero, thus obviating the need for clients to rename deleted files to partially hidden names -- colloquially called "silly rename" (see the new OPEN4_RESULT_PRESERVE_UNLINKED reply flag in Section 18.16).
o Identification of the implementation of the NFS client and server (Section 18.35).
o Support for notification of the availability of byte-range locks (see the new OPEN4_RESULT_MAY_NOTIFY_LOCK reply flag in Section 18.16 and see Section 20.11).
o In NFSv4.1, LIPKEY and SPKM-3 are not required security mechanisms [32].
The NFSv4.1 protocol is a Remote Procedure Call (RPC) application that uses RPC version 2 and the corresponding eXternal Data Representation (XDR) as defined in [3] and [2].
Previous NFS versions have been thought of as having a host-based authentication model, where the NFS server authenticates the NFS client, and trusts the client to authenticate all users. Actually, NFS has always depended on RPC for authentication. One of the first forms of RPC authentication, AUTH_SYS, had no strong authentication and required a host-based authentication approach. NFSv4.1 also depends on RPC for basic security services and mandates RPC support for a user-based authentication model. The user-based authentication model has user principals authenticated by a server, and in turn the server authenticated by user principals. RPC provides some basic security services that are used by NFSv4.1.
As described in Section 7.2 ("Authentication") of [3], RPC security is encapsulated in the RPC header, via a security or authentication flavor, and information specific to the specified security flavor. Every RPC header conveys information used to identify and authenticate a client and server. As discussed in Section 2.2.1.1.1, some security flavors provide additional security services.
NFSv4.1 clients and servers MUST implement RPCSEC_GSS. (This requirement to implement is not a requirement to use.) Other flavors, such as AUTH_NONE and AUTH_SYS, MAY be implemented as well.
RPCSEC_GSS [4] uses the functionality of GSS-API [7]. This allows for the use of various security mechanisms by the RPC layer without the additional implementation overhead of adding RPC security flavors.
Via the GSS-API, RPCSEC_GSS can be used to identify and authenticate users on clients to servers, and servers to users. It can also perform integrity checking on the entire RPC message, including the RPC header, and on the arguments or results. Finally, privacy, usually via encryption, is a service available with RPCSEC_GSS. Privacy is performed on the arguments and results. Note that if
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privacy is selected, integrity, authentication, and identification are enabled. If privacy is not selected, but integrity is selected, authentication and identification are enabled. If integrity and privacy are not selected, but authentication is enabled, identification is enabled. RPCSEC_GSS does not provide identification as a separate service.
Although GSS-API has an authentication service distinct from its privacy and integrity services, GSS-API's authentication service is not used for RPCSEC_GSS's authentication service. Instead, each RPC request and response header is integrity protected with the GSS-API integrity service, and this allows RPCSEC_GSS to offer per-RPC authentication and identity. See [4] for more information.
NFSv4.1 client and servers MUST support RPCSEC_GSS's integrity and authentication service. NFSv4.1 servers MUST support RPCSEC_GSS's privacy service. NFSv4.1 clients SHOULD support RPCSEC_GSS's privacy service.
RPCSEC_GSS, via GSS-API, normalizes access to mechanisms that provide security services. Therefore, NFSv4.1 clients and servers MUST support the Kerberos V5 security mechanism.
The use of RPCSEC_GSS requires selection of mechanism, quality of protection (QOP), and service (authentication, integrity, privacy). For the mandated security mechanisms, NFSv4.1 specifies that a QOP of zero is used, leaving it up to the mechanism or the mechanism's configuration to map QOP zero to an appropriate level of protection. Each mandated mechanism specifies a minimum set of cryptographic algorithms for implementing integrity and privacy. NFSv4.1 clients and servers MUST be implemented on operating environments that comply with the REQUIRED cryptographic algorithms of each REQUIRED mechanism.
The Kerberos V5 GSS-API mechanism as described in [5] MUST be implemented with the RPCSEC_GSS services as specified in the following table:
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column descriptions: 1 == number of pseudo flavor 2 == name of pseudo flavor 3 == mechanism's OID 4 == RPCSEC_GSS service 5 == NFSv4.1 clients MUST support 6 == NFSv4.1 servers MUST support
Note that the number and name of the pseudo flavor are presented here as a mapping aid to the implementor. Because the NFSv4.1 protocol includes a method to negotiate security and it understands the GSS- API mechanism, the pseudo flavor is not needed. The pseudo flavor is needed for the NFSv3 since the security negotiation is done via the MOUNT protocol as described in [33].
At the time NFSv4.1 was specified, the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) with HMAC-SHA1 was a REQUIRED algorithm set for Kerberos V5. In contrast, when NFSv4.0 was specified, weaker algorithm sets were REQUIRED for Kerberos V5, and were REQUIRED in the NFSv4.0 specification, because the Kerberos V5 specification at the time did not specify stronger algorithms. The NFSv4.1 specification does not specify REQUIRED algorithms for Kerberos V5, and instead, the implementor is expected to track the evolution of the Kerberos V5 standard if and when stronger algorithms are specified.
2.2.1.1.1.2.1.1. Security Considerations for Cryptographic Algorithms in Kerberos V5
When deploying NFSv4.1, the strength of the security achieved depends on the existing Kerberos V5 infrastructure. The algorithms of Kerberos V5 are not directly exposed to or selectable by the client or server, so there is some due diligence required by the user of NFSv4.1 to ensure that security is acceptable where needed.
Regardless of what security mechanism under RPCSEC_GSS is being used, the NFS server MUST identify itself in GSS-API via a GSS_C_NT_HOSTBASED_SERVICE name type. GSS_C_NT_HOSTBASED_SERVICE names are of the form:
service@hostname
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For NFS, the "service" element is
nfs
Implementations of security mechanisms will convert nfs@hostname to various different forms. For Kerberos V5, the following form is RECOMMENDED:
A significant departure from the versions of the NFS protocol before NFSv4 is the introduction of the COMPOUND procedure. For the NFSv4 protocol, in all minor versions, there are exactly two RPC procedures, NULL and COMPOUND. The COMPOUND procedure is defined as a series of individual operations and these operations perform the sorts of functions performed by traditional NFS procedures.
The operations combined within a COMPOUND request are evaluated in order by the server, without any atomicity guarantees. A limited set of facilities exist to pass results from one operation to another. Once an operation returns a failing result, the evaluation ends and the results of all evaluated operations are returned to the client.
With the use of the COMPOUND procedure, the client is able to build simple or complex requests. These COMPOUND requests allow for a reduction in the number of RPCs needed for logical file system operations. For example, multi-component look up requests can be constructed by combining multiple LOOKUP operations. Those can be further combined with operations such as GETATTR, READDIR, or OPEN plus READ to do more complicated sets of operation without incurring additional latency.
NFSv4.1 also contains a considerable set of callback operations in which the server makes an RPC directed at the client. Callback RPCs have a similar structure to that of the normal server requests. In all minor versions of the NFSv4 protocol, there are two callback RPC procedures: CB_NULL and CB_COMPOUND. The CB_COMPOUND procedure is defined in an analogous fashion to that of COMPOUND with its own set of callback operations.
The addition of new server and callback operations within the COMPOUND and CB_COMPOUND request framework provides a means of extending the protocol in subsequent minor versions.
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Except for a small number of operations needed for session creation, server requests and callback requests are performed within the context of a session. Sessions provide a client context for every request and support robust reply protection for non-idempotent requests.
For each operation that obtains or depends on locking state, the specific client needs to be identifiable by the server.
Each distinct client instance is represented by a client ID. A client ID is a 64-bit identifier representing a specific client at a given time. The client ID is changed whenever the client re- initializes, and may change when the server re-initializes. Client IDs are used to support lock identification and crash recovery.
During steady state operation, the client ID associated with each operation is derived from the session (see Section 2.10) on which the operation is sent. A session is associated with a client ID when the session is created.
Unlike NFSv4.0, the only NFSv4.1 operations possible before a client ID is established are those needed to establish the client ID.
A sequence of an EXCHANGE_ID operation followed by a CREATE_SESSION operation using that client ID (eir_clientid as returned from EXCHANGE_ID) is required to establish and confirm the client ID on the server. Establishment of identification by a new incarnation of the client also has the effect of immediately releasing any locking state that a previous incarnation of that same client might have had on the server. Such released state would include all byte-range lock, share reservation, layout state, and -- where the server supports neither the CLAIM_DELEGATE_PREV nor CLAIM_DELEG_CUR_FH claim types -- all delegation state associated with the same client with the same identity. For discussion of delegation state recovery, see Section 10.2.1. For discussion of layout state recovery, see Section 12.7.1.
Releasing such state requires that the server be able to determine that one client instance is the successor of another. Where this cannot be done, for any of a number of reasons, the locking state will remain for a time subject to lease expiration (see Section 8.3) and the new client will need to wait for such state to be removed, if it makes conflicting lock requests.
Client identification is encapsulated in the following client owner data type:
The first field, co_verifier, is a client incarnation verifier. The server will start the process of canceling the client's leased state if co_verifier is different than what the server has previously recorded for the identified client (as specified in the co_ownerid field).
The second field, co_ownerid, is a variable length string that uniquely defines the client so that subsequent instances of the same client bear the same co_ownerid with a different verifier.
There are several considerations for how the client generates the co_ownerid string:
o The string should be unique so that multiple clients do not present the same string. The consequences of two clients presenting the same string range from one client getting an error to one client having its leased state abruptly and unexpectedly cancelled.
o The string should be selected so that subsequent incarnations (e.g., restarts) of the same client cause the client to present the same string. The implementor is cautioned from an approach that requires the string to be recorded in a local file because this precludes the use of the implementation in an environment where there is no local disk and all file access is from an NFSv4.1 server.
o The string should be the same for each server network address that the client accesses. This way, if a server has multiple interfaces, the client can trunk traffic over multiple network paths as described in Section 2.10.5. (Note: the precise opposite was advised in the NFSv4.0 specification [30].)
o The algorithm for generating the string should not assume that the client's network address will not change, unless the client implementation knows it is using statically assigned network addresses. This includes changes between client incarnations and even changes while the client is still running in its current incarnation. Thus, with dynamic address assignment, if the client includes just the client's network address in the co_ownerid string, there is a real risk that after the client gives up the
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network address, another client, using a similar algorithm for generating the co_ownerid string, would generate a conflicting co_ownerid string.
Given the above considerations, an example of a well-generated co_ownerid string is one that includes:
o If applicable, the client's statically assigned network address.
o Additional information that tends to be unique, such as one or more of:
* The client machine's serial number (for privacy reasons, it is best to perform some one-way function on the serial number).
* A Media Access Control (MAC) address (again, a one-way function should be performed).
* The timestamp of when the NFSv4.1 software was first installed on the client (though this is subject to the previously mentioned caution about using information that is stored in a file, because the file might only be accessible over NFSv4.1).
* A true random number. However, since this number ought to be the same between client incarnations, this shares the same problem as that of using the timestamp of the software installation.
o For a user-level NFSv4.1 client, it should contain additional information to distinguish the client from other user-level clients running on the same host, such as a process identifier or other unique sequence.
The client ID is assigned by the server (the eir_clientid result from EXCHANGE_ID) and should be chosen so that it will not conflict with a client ID previously assigned by the server. This applies across server restarts.
In the event of a server restart, a client may find out that its current client ID is no longer valid when it receives an NFS4ERR_STALE_CLIENTID error. The precise circumstances depend on the characteristics of the sessions involved, specifically whether the session is persistent (see Section 2.10.6.5), but in each case the client will receive this error when it attempts to establish a new session with the existing client ID and receives the error NFS4ERR_STALE_CLIENTID, indicating that a new client ID needs to be obtained via EXCHANGE_ID and the new session established with that client ID.
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When a session is not persistent, the client will find out that it needs to create a new session as a result of getting an NFS4ERR_BADSESSION, since the session in question was lost as part of a server restart. When the existing client ID is presented to a server as part of creating a session and that client ID is not recognized, as would happen after a server restart, the server will reject the request with the error NFS4ERR_STALE_CLIENTID.
In the case of the session being persistent, the client will re- establish communication using the existing session after the restart. This session will be associated with the existing client ID but may only be used to retransmit operations that the client previously transmitted and did not see replies to. Replies to operations that the server previously performed will come from the reply cache; otherwise, NFS4ERR_DEADSESSION will be returned. Hence, such a session is referred to as "dead". In this situation, in order to perform new operations, the client needs to establish a new session. If an attempt is made to establish this new session with the existing client ID, the server will reject the request with NFS4ERR_STALE_CLIENTID.
When NFS4ERR_STALE_CLIENTID is received in either of these situations, the client needs to obtain a new client ID by use of the EXCHANGE_ID operation, then use that client ID as the basis of a new session, and then proceed to any other necessary recovery for the server restart case (see Section 8.4.2).
See the descriptions of EXCHANGE_ID (Section 18.35) and CREATE_SESSION (Section 18.36) for a complete specification of these operations.
To facilitate upgrade from NFSv4.0 to NFSv4.1, a server may compare a value of data type client_owner4 in an EXCHANGE_ID with a value of data type nfs_client_id4 that was established using the SETCLIENTID operation of NFSv4.0. A server that does so will allow an upgraded client to avoid waiting until the lease (i.e., the lease established by the NFSv4.0 instance client) expires. This requires that the value of data type client_owner4 be constructed the same way as the value of data type nfs_client_id4. If the latter's contents included the server's network address (per the recommendations of the NFSv4.0 specification [30]), and the NFSv4.1 client does not wish to use a client ID that prevents trunking, it should send two EXCHANGE_ID operations. The first EXCHANGE_ID will have a client_owner4 equal to the nfs_client_id4. This will clear the state created by the NFSv4.0 client. The second EXCHANGE_ID will not have the server's network
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address. The state created for the second EXCHANGE_ID will not have to wait for lease expiration, because there will be no state to expire.
NFSv4.1 introduces a new operation called DESTROY_CLIENTID (Section 18.50), which the client SHOULD use to destroy a client ID it no longer needs. This permits graceful, bilateral release of a client ID. The operation cannot be used if there are sessions associated with the client ID, or state with an unexpired lease.
If the server determines that the client holds no associated state for its client ID (associated state includes unrevoked sessions, opens, locks, delegations, layouts, and wants), the server MAY choose to unilaterally release the client ID in order to conserve resources. If the client contacts the server after this release, the server MUST ensure that the client receives the appropriate error so that it will use the EXCHANGE_ID/CREATE_SESSION sequence to establish a new client ID. The server ought to be very hesitant to release a client ID since the resulting work on the client to recover from such an event will be the same burden as if the server had failed and restarted. Typically, a server would not release a client ID unless there had been no activity from that client for many minutes. As long as there are sessions, opens, locks, delegations, layouts, or wants, the server MUST NOT release the client ID. See Section 2.10.13.1.4 for discussion on releasing inactive sessions.
When the server gets an EXCHANGE_ID for a client owner that currently has no state, or that has state but the lease has expired, the server MUST allow the EXCHANGE_ID and confirm the new client ID if followed by the appropriate CREATE_SESSION.
When the server gets an EXCHANGE_ID for a new incarnation of a client owner that currently has an old incarnation with state and an unexpired lease, the server is allowed to dispose of the state of the previous incarnation of the client owner if one of the following is true:
o The principal that created the client ID for the client owner is the same as the principal that is sending the EXCHANGE_ID operation. Note that if the client ID was created with SP4_MACH_CRED state protection (Section 18.35), the principal MUST be based on RPCSEC_GSS authentication, the RPCSEC_GSS service used
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MUST be integrity or privacy, and the same GSS mechanism and principal MUST be used as that used when the client ID was created.
o The client ID was established with SP4_SSV protection (Section 18.35, Section 2.10.8.3) and the client sends the EXCHANGE_ID with the security flavor set to RPCSEC_GSS using the GSS SSV mechanism (Section 2.10.9).
o The client ID was established with SP4_SSV protection, and under the conditions described herein, the EXCHANGE_ID was sent with SP4_MACH_CRED state protection. Because the SSV might not persist across client and server restart, and because the first time a client sends EXCHANGE_ID to a server it does not have an SSV, the client MAY send the subsequent EXCHANGE_ID without an SSV RPCSEC_GSS handle. Instead, as with SP4_MACH_CRED protection, the principal MUST be based on RPCSEC_GSS authentication, the RPCSEC_GSS service used MUST be integrity or privacy, and the same GSS mechanism and principal MUST be used as that used when the client ID was created.
If none of the above situations apply, the server MUST return NFS4ERR_CLID_INUSE.
If the server accepts the principal and co_ownerid as matching that which created the client ID, and the co_verifier in the EXCHANGE_ID differs from the co_verifier used when the client ID was created, then after the server receives a CREATE_SESSION that confirms the client ID, the server deletes state. If the co_verifier values are the same (e.g., the client either is updating properties of the client ID (Section 18.35) or is attempting trunking (Section 2.10.5), the server MUST NOT delete state.
The server owner is similar to a client owner (Section 2.4), but unlike the client owner, there is no shorthand server ID. The server owner is defined in the following data type:
The server owner is returned from EXCHANGE_ID. When the so_major_id fields are the same in two EXCHANGE_ID results, the connections that each EXCHANGE_ID were sent over can be assumed to address the same
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server (as defined in Section 1.6). If the so_minor_id fields are also the same, then not only do both connections connect to the same server, but the session can be shared across both connections. The reader is cautioned that multiple servers may deliberately or accidentally claim to have the same so_major_id or so_major_id/ so_minor_id; the reader should examine Sections 2.10.5 and 18.35 in order to avoid acting on falsely matching server owner values.
The considerations for generating a so_major_id are similar to that for generating a co_ownerid string (see Section 2.4). The consequences of two servers generating conflicting so_major_id values are less dire than they are for co_ownerid conflicts because the client can use RPCSEC_GSS to compare the authenticity of each server (see Section 2.10.5).
With the NFSv4.1 server potentially offering multiple security mechanisms, the client needs a method to determine or negotiate which mechanism is to be used for its communication with the server. The NFS server may have multiple points within its file system namespace that are available for use by NFS clients. These points can be considered security policy boundaries, and, in some NFS implementations, are tied to NFS export points. In turn, the NFS server may be configured such that each of these security policy boundaries may have different or multiple security mechanisms in use.
The security negotiation between client and server SHOULD be done with a secure channel to eliminate the possibility of a third party intercepting the negotiation sequence and forcing the client and server to choose a lower level of security than required or desired. See Section 21 for further discussion.
An NFS server can assign one or more "security tuples" to each security policy boundary in its namespace. Each security tuple consists of a security flavor (see Section 2.2.1.1) and, if the flavor is RPCSEC_GSS, a GSS-API mechanism Object Identifier (OID), a GSS-API quality of protection, and an RPCSEC_GSS service.
The SECINFO and SECINFO_NO_NAME operations allow the client to determine, on a per-filehandle basis, what security tuple is to be used for server access. In general, the client will not have to use either operation except during initial communication with the server or when the client crosses security policy boundaries at the server.
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However, the server's policies may also change at any time and force the client to negotiate a new security tuple.
Where the use of different security tuples would affect the type of access that would be allowed if a request was sent over the same connection used for the SECINFO or SECINFO_NO_NAME operation (e.g., read-only vs. read-write) access, security tuples that allow greater access should be presented first. Where the general level of access is the same and different security flavors limit the range of principals whose privileges are recognized (e.g., allowing or disallowing root access), flavors supporting the greatest range of principals should be listed first.
Based on the assumption that each NFSv4.1 client and server MUST support a minimum set of security (i.e., Kerberos V5 under RPCSEC_GSS), the NFS client will initiate file access to the server with one of the minimal security tuples. During communication with the server, the client may receive an NFS error of NFS4ERR_WRONGSEC. This error allows the server to notify the client that the security tuple currently being used contravenes the server's security policy. The client is then responsible for determining (see Section 2.6.3.1) what security tuples are available at the server and choosing one that is appropriate for the client.
2.6.3.1. Using NFS4ERR_WRONGSEC, SECINFO, and SECINFO_NO_NAME
This section explains the mechanics of NFSv4.1 security negotiation.
The term "put filehandle operation" refers to PUTROOTFH, PUTPUBFH, PUTFH, and RESTOREFH. Each of the subsections herein describes how the server handles a subseries of operations that starts with a put filehandle operation.
The client is saving a filehandle for a future RESTOREFH, LINK, or RENAME. SAVEFH MUST NOT return NFS4ERR_WRONGSEC. To determine whether or not the put filehandle operation returns NFS4ERR_WRONGSEC, the server implementation pretends SAVEFH is not in the series of operations and examines which of the situations described in the other subsections of Section 2.6.3.1.1 apply.
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2.6.3.1.1.2. Two or More Put Filehandle Operations
For a series of N put filehandle operations, the server MUST NOT return NFS4ERR_WRONGSEC to the first N-1 put filehandle operations. The Nth put filehandle operation is handled as if it is the first in a subseries of operations. For example, if the server received a COMPOUND request with this series of operations -- PUTFH, PUTROOTFH, LOOKUP -- then the PUTFH operation is ignored for NFS4ERR_WRONGSEC purposes, and the PUTROOTFH, LOOKUP subseries is processed as according to Section 2.6.3.1.1.3.
2.6.3.1.1.3. Put Filehandle Operation + LOOKUP (or OPEN of an Existing Name)
This situation also applies to a put filehandle operation followed by a LOOKUP or an OPEN operation that specifies an existing component name.
In this situation, the client is potentially crossing a security policy boundary, and the set of security tuples the parent directory supports may differ from those of the child. The server implementation may decide whether to impose any restrictions on security policy administration. There are at least three approaches (sec_policy_child is the tuple set of the child export, sec_policy_parent is that of the parent).
(a) sec_policy_child <= sec_policy_parent (<= for subset). This means that the set of security tuples specified on the security policy of a child directory is always a subset of its parent directory.
(b) sec_policy_child ^ sec_policy_parent != {} (^ for intersection, {} for the empty set). This means that the set of security tuples specified on the security policy of a child directory always has a non-empty intersection with that of the parent.
(c) sec_policy_child ^ sec_policy_parent == {}. This means that the set of security tuples specified on the security policy of a child directory may not intersect with that of the parent. In other words, there are no restrictions on how the system administrator may set up these tuples.
In order for a server to support approaches (b) (for the case when a client chooses a flavor that is not a member of sec_policy_parent) and (c), the put filehandle operation cannot return NFS4ERR_WRONGSEC when there is a security tuple mismatch. Instead, it should be returned from the LOOKUP (or OPEN by existing component name) that follows.
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Since the above guideline does not contradict approach (a), it should be followed in general. Even if approach (a) is implemented, it is possible for the security tuple used to be acceptable for the target of LOOKUP but not for the filehandles used in the put filehandle operation. The put filehandle operation could be a PUTROOTFH or PUTPUBFH, where the client cannot know the security tuples for the root or public filehandle. Or the security policy for the filehandle used by the put filehandle operation could have changed since the time the filehandle was obtained.
Therefore, an NFSv4.1 server MUST NOT return NFS4ERR_WRONGSEC in response to the put filehandle operation if the operation is immediately followed by a LOOKUP or an OPEN by component name.
Since SECINFO only works its way down, there is no way LOOKUPP can return NFS4ERR_WRONGSEC without SECINFO_NO_NAME. SECINFO_NO_NAME solves this issue via style SECINFO_STYLE4_PARENT, which works in the opposite direction as SECINFO. As with Section 2.6.3.1.1.3, a put filehandle operation that is followed by a LOOKUPP MUST NOT return NFS4ERR_WRONGSEC. If the server does not support SECINFO_NO_NAME, the client's only recourse is to send the put filehandle operation, LOOKUPP, GETFH sequence of operations with every security tuple it supports.
Regardless of whether SECINFO_NO_NAME is supported, an NFSv4.1 server MUST NOT return NFS4ERR_WRONGSEC in response to a put filehandle operation if the operation is immediately followed by a LOOKUPP.
2.6.3.1.1.5. Put Filehandle Operation + SECINFO/SECINFO_NO_NAME
A security-sensitive client is allowed to choose a strong security tuple when querying a server to determine a file object's permitted security tuples. The security tuple chosen by the client does not have to be included in the tuple list of the security policy of either the parent directory indicated in the put filehandle operation or the child file object indicated in SECINFO (or any parent directory indicated in SECINFO_NO_NAME). Of course, the server has to be configured for whatever security tuple the client selects; otherwise, the request will fail at the RPC layer with an appropriate authentication error.
In theory, there is no connection between the security flavor used by SECINFO or SECINFO_NO_NAME and those supported by the security policy. But in practice, the client may start looking for strong flavors from those supported by the security policy, followed by those in the REQUIRED set.
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The NFSv4.1 server MUST NOT return NFS4ERR_WRONGSEC to a put filehandle operation that is immediately followed by SECINFO or SECINFO_NO_NAME. The NFSv4.1 server MUST NOT return NFS4ERR_WRONGSEC from SECINFO or SECINFO_NO_NAME.
The NFSv4.1 server MUST NOT return NFS4ERR_WRONGSEC.
2.6.3.1.1.7. Put Filehandle Operation + Anything Else
"Anything Else" includes OPEN by filehandle.
The security policy enforcement applies to the filehandle specified in the put filehandle operation. Therefore, the put filehandle operation MUST return NFS4ERR_WRONGSEC when there is a security tuple mismatch. This avoids the complexity of adding NFS4ERR_WRONGSEC as an allowable error to every other operation.
A COMPOUND containing the series put filehandle operation + SECINFO_NO_NAME (style SECINFO_STYLE4_CURRENT_FH) is an efficient way for the client to recover from NFS4ERR_WRONGSEC.
The NFSv4.1 server MUST NOT return NFS4ERR_WRONGSEC to any operation other than a put filehandle operation, LOOKUP, LOOKUPP, and OPEN (by component name).
2.6.3.1.1.8. Operations after SECINFO and SECINFO_NO_NAME
Suppose a client sends a COMPOUND procedure containing the series SEQUENCE, PUTFH, SECINFO_NONAME, READ, and suppose the security tuple used does not match that required for the target file. By rule (see Section 2.6.3.1.1.5), neither PUTFH nor SECINFO_NO_NAME can return NFS4ERR_WRONGSEC. By rule (see Section 2.6.3.1.1.7), READ cannot return NFS4ERR_WRONGSEC. The issue is resolved by the fact that SECINFO and SECINFO_NO_NAME consume the current filehandle (note that this is a change from NFSv4.0). This leaves no current filehandle for READ to use, and READ returns NFS4ERR_NOFILEHANDLE.
The LINK and RENAME operations use both the current and saved filehandles. Technically, the server MAY return NFS4ERR_WRONGSEC from LINK or RENAME if the security policy of the saved filehandle rejects the security flavor used in the COMPOUND request's credentials. If the server does so, then if there is no intersection
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between the security policies of saved and current filehandles, this means that it will be impossible for the client to perform the intended LINK or RENAME operation.
For example, suppose the client sends this COMPOUND request: SEQUENCE, PUTFH bFH, SAVEFH, PUTFH aFH, RENAME "c" "d", where filehandles bFH and aFH refer to different directories. Suppose no common security tuple exists between the security policies of aFH and bFH. If the client sends the request using credentials acceptable to bFH's security policy but not aFH's policy, then the PUTFH aFH operation will fail with NFS4ERR_WRONGSEC. After a SECINFO_NO_NAME request, the client sends SEQUENCE, PUTFH bFH, SAVEFH, PUTFH aFH, RENAME "c" "d", using credentials acceptable to aFH's security policy but not bFH's policy. The server returns NFS4ERR_WRONGSEC on the RENAME operation.
To prevent a client from an endless sequence of a request containing LINK or RENAME, followed by a request containing SECINFO_NO_NAME or SECINFO, the server MUST detect when the security policies of the current and saved filehandles have no mutually acceptable security tuple, and MUST NOT return NFS4ERR_WRONGSEC from LINK or RENAME in that situation. Instead the server MUST do one of two things:
o The server can return NFS4ERR_XDEV.
o The server can allow the security policy of the current filehandle to override that of the saved filehandle, and so return NFS4_OK.
To address the requirement of an NFS protocol that can evolve as the need arises, the NFSv4.1 protocol contains the rules and framework to allow for future minor changes or versioning.
The base assumption with respect to minor versioning is that any future accepted minor version will be documented in one or more Standards Track RFCs. Minor version 0 of the NFSv4 protocol is represented by [30], and minor version 1 is represented by this RFC. The COMPOUND and CB_COMPOUND procedures support the encoding of the minor version being requested by the client.
The following items represent the basic rules for the development of minor versions. Note that a future minor version may modify or add to the following rules as part of the minor version definition.
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1. Procedures are not added or deleted.
To maintain the general RPC model, NFSv4 minor versions will not add to or delete procedures from the NFS program.
2. Minor versions may add operations to the COMPOUND and CB_COMPOUND procedures.
The addition of operations to the COMPOUND and CB_COMPOUND procedures does not affect the RPC model.
* Minor versions may append attributes to the bitmap4 that represents sets of attributes and to the fattr4 that represents sets of attribute values.
This allows for the expansion of the attribute model to allow for future growth or adaptation.
* Minor version X must append any new attributes after the last documented attribute.
Since attribute results are specified as an opaque array of per-attribute, XDR-encoded results, the complexity of adding new attributes in the midst of the current definitions would be too burdensome.
3. Minor versions must not modify the structure of an existing operation's arguments or results.
Again, the complexity of handling multiple structure definitions for a single operation is too burdensome. New operations should be added instead of modifying existing structures for a minor version.
This rule does not preclude the following adaptations in a minor version:
* adding bits to flag fields, such as new attributes to GETATTR's bitmap4 data type, and providing corresponding variants of opaque arrays, such as a notify4 used together with such bitmaps
* adding bits to existing attributes like ACLs that have flag words
* extending enumerated types (including NFS4ERR_*) with new values
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* adding cases to a switched union
4. Minor versions must not modify the structure of existing attributes.
7. Minor versions must not delete flag bits or enumeration values.
8. Minor versions may declare an operation MUST NOT be implemented.
Specifying that an operation MUST NOT be implemented is equivalent to obsoleting an operation. For the client, it means that the operation MUST NOT be sent to the server. For the server, an NFS error can be returned as opposed to "dropping" the request as an XDR decode error. This approach allows for the obsolescence of an operation while maintaining its structure so that a future minor version can reintroduce the operation.
1. Minor versions may declare that an attribute MUST NOT be implemented.
2. Minor versions may declare that a flag bit or enumeration value MUST NOT be implemented.
9. Minor versions may downgrade features from REQUIRED to RECOMMENDED, or RECOMMENDED to OPTIONAL.
10. Minor versions may upgrade features from OPTIONAL to RECOMMENDED, or RECOMMENDED to REQUIRED.
11. A client and server that support minor version X SHOULD support minor versions zero through X-1 as well.
12. Except for infrastructural changes, a minor version must not introduce REQUIRED new features.
This rule allows for the introduction of new functionality and forces the use of implementation experience before designating a feature as REQUIRED. On the other hand, some classes of features are infrastructural and have broad effects. Allowing infrastructural features to be RECOMMENDED or OPTIONAL complicates implementation of the minor version.
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13. A client MUST NOT attempt to use a stateid, filehandle, or similar returned object from the COMPOUND procedure with minor version X for another COMPOUND procedure with minor version Y, where X != Y.
As described in Section 2.2.1.1.1.1, NFSv4.1 relies on RPC for identification, authentication, integrity, and privacy. NFSv4.1 itself provides or enables additional security services as described in the next several subsections.
Authorization to access a file object via an NFSv4.1 operation is ultimately determined by the NFSv4.1 server. A client can predetermine its access to a file object via the OPEN (Section 18.16) and the ACCESS (Section 18.1) operations.
Principals with appropriate access rights can modify the authorization on a file object via the SETATTR (Section 18.30) operation. Attributes that affect access rights include mode, owner, owner_group, acl, dacl, and sacl. See Section 5.
NFSv4.1 provides auditing on a per-file object basis, via the acl and sacl attributes as described in Section 6. It is outside the scope of this specification to specify audit log formats or management policies.
NFSv4.1 provides alarm control on a per-file object basis, via the acl and sacl attributes as described in Section 6. Alarms may serve as the basis for intrusion detection. It is outside the scope of this specification to specify heuristics for detecting intrusion via alarms.
2.9.1.REQUIRED and RECOMMENDED Properties of Transports
NFSv4.1 works over Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) and non-RDMA- based transports with the following attributes:
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o The transport supports reliable delivery of data, which NFSv4.1 requires but neither NFSv4.1 nor RPC has facilities for ensuring [34].
o The transport delivers data in the order it was sent. Ordered delivery simplifies detection of transmit errors, and simplifies the sending of arbitrary sized requests and responses via the record marking protocol [3].
Where an NFSv4.1 implementation supports operation over the IP network protocol, any transport used between NFS and IP MUST be among the IETF-approved congestion control transport protocols. At the time this document was written, the only two transports that had the above attributes were TCP and the Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP). To enhance the possibilities for interoperability, an NFSv4.1 implementation MUST support operation over the TCP transport protocol.
Even if NFSv4.1 is used over a non-IP network protocol, it is RECOMMENDED that the transport support congestion control.
It is permissible for a connectionless transport to be used under NFSv4.1; however, reliable and in-order delivery of data combined with congestion control by the connectionless transport is REQUIRED. As a consequence, UDP by itself MUST NOT be used as an NFSv4.1 transport. NFSv4.1 assumes that a client transport address and server transport address used to send data over a transport together constitute a connection, even if the underlying transport eschews the concept of a connection.
If a connection-oriented transport (e.g., TCP) is used, the client and server SHOULD use long-lived connections for at least three reasons:
1. This will prevent the weakening of the transport's congestion control mechanisms via short-lived connections.
2. This will improve performance for the WAN environment by eliminating the need for connection setup handshakes.
3. The NFSv4.1 callback model differs from NFSv4.0, and requires the client and server to maintain a client-created backchannel (see Section 2.10.3.1) for the server to use.
In order to reduce congestion, if a connection-oriented transport is used, and the request is not the NULL procedure:
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o A requester MUST NOT retry a request unless the connection the request was sent over was lost before the reply was received.
o A replier MUST NOT silently drop a request, even if the request is a retry. (The silent drop behavior of RPCSEC_GSS [4] does not apply because this behavior happens at the RPCSEC_GSS layer, a lower layer in the request processing.) Instead, the replier SHOULD return an appropriate error (see Section 2.10.6.1), or it MAY disconnect the connection.
When sending a reply, the replier MUST send the reply to the same full network address (e.g., if using an IP-based transport, the source port of the requester is part of the full network address) from which the requester sent the request. If using a connection- oriented transport, replies MUST be sent on the same connection from which the request was received.
If a connection is dropped after the replier receives the request but before the replier sends the reply, the replier might have a pending reply. If a connection is established with the same source and destination full network address as the dropped connection, then the replier MUST NOT send the reply until the requester retries the request. The reason for this prohibition is that the requester MAY retry a request over a different connection (provided that connection is associated with the original request's session).
When using RDMA transports, there are other reasons for not tolerating retries over the same connection:
o RDMA transports use "credits" to enforce flow control, where a credit is a right to a peer to transmit a message. If one peer were to retransmit a request (or reply), it would consume an additional credit. If the replier retransmitted a reply, it would certainly result in an RDMA connection loss, since the requester would typically only post a single receive buffer for each request. If the requester retransmitted a request, the additional credit consumed on the server might lead to RDMA connection failure unless the client accounted for it and decreased its available credit, leading to wasted resources.
o RDMA credits present a new issue to the reply cache in NFSv4.1. The reply cache may be used when a connection within a session is lost, such as after the client reconnects. Credit information is a dynamic property of the RDMA connection, and stale values must not be replayed from the cache. This implies that the reply cache contents must not be blindly used when replies are sent from it, and credit information appropriate to the channel must be refreshed by the RPC layer.
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In addition, as described in Section 2.10.6.2, while a session is active, the NFSv4.1 requester MUST NOT stop waiting for a reply.
Historically, NFSv3 servers have listened over TCP port 2049. The registered port 2049 [35] for the NFS protocol should be the default configuration. NFSv4.1 clients SHOULD NOT use the RPC binding protocols as described in [36].
Previous versions and minor versions of NFS have suffered from the following:
o Lack of support for Exactly Once Semantics (EOS). This includes lack of support for EOS through server failure and recovery.
o Limited callback support, including no support for sending callbacks through firewalls, and races between replies to normal requests and callbacks.
o Limited trunking over multiple network paths.
o Requiring machine credentials for fully secure operation.
Through the introduction of a session, NFSv4.1 addresses the above shortfalls with practical solutions:
o EOS is enabled by a reply cache with a bounded size, making it feasible to keep the cache in persistent storage and enable EOS through server failure and recovery. One reason that previous revisions of NFS did not support EOS was because some EOS approaches often limited parallelism. As will be explained in Section 2.10.6, NFSv4.1 supports both EOS and unlimited parallelism.
o The NFSv4.1 client (defined in Section 1.6, Paragraph 2) creates transport connections and provides them to the server to use for sending callback requests, thus solving the firewall issue (Section 18.34). Races between responses from client requests and
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callbacks caused by the requests are detected via the session's sequencing properties that are a consequence of EOS (Section 2.10.6.3).
o The NFSv4.1 client can associate an arbitrary number of connections with the session, and thus provide trunking (Section 2.10.5).
o The NFSv4.1 client and server produces a session key independent of client and server machine credentials which can be used to compute a digest for protecting critical session management operations (Section 2.10.8.3).
o The NFSv4.1 client can also create secure RPCSEC_GSS contexts for use by the session's backchannel that do not require the server to authenticate to a client machine principal (Section 2.10.8.2).
A session is a dynamically created, long-lived server object created by a client and used over time from one or more transport connections. Its function is to maintain the server's state relative to the connection(s) belonging to a client instance. This state is entirely independent of the connection itself, and indeed the state exists whether or not the connection exists. A client may have one or more sessions associated with it so that client-associated state may be accessed using any of the sessions associated with that client's client ID, when connections are associated with those sessions. When no connections are associated with any of a client ID's sessions for an extended time, such objects as locks, opens, delegations, layouts, etc. are subject to expiration. The session serves as an object representing a means of access by a client to the associated client state on the server, independent of the physical means of access to that state.
A single client may create multiple sessions. A single session MUST NOT serve multiple clients.
Sessions are part of NFSv4.1 and not NFSv4.0. Normally, a major infrastructure change such as sessions would require a new major version number to an Open Network Computing (ONC) RPC program like NFS. However, because NFSv4 encapsulates its functionality in a single procedure, COMPOUND, and because COMPOUND can support an arbitrary number of operations, sessions have been added to NFSv4.1 with little difficulty. COMPOUND includes a minor version number field, and for NFSv4.1 this minor version is set to 1. When the NFSv4 server processes a COMPOUND with the minor version set to 1, it expects a different set of operations than it does for NFSv4.0.
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NFSv4.1 defines the SEQUENCE operation, which is required for every COMPOUND that operates over an established session, with the exception of some session administration operations, such as DESTROY_SESSION (Section 18.37).
In NFSv4.1, when the SEQUENCE operation is present, it MUST be the first operation in the COMPOUND procedure. The primary purpose of SEQUENCE is to carry the session identifier. The session identifier associates all other operations in the COMPOUND procedure with a particular session. SEQUENCE also contains required information for maintaining EOS (see Section 2.10.6). Session-enabled NFSv4.1 COMPOUND requests thus have the form:
+-----+--------------+-----------+------------+-----------+---- | tag | minorversion | numops |SEQUENCE op | op + args | ... | | (== 1) | (limited) | + args | | +-----+--------------+-----------+------------+-----------+----
and the replies have the form:
+------------+-----+--------+-------------------------------+--// |last status | tag | numres |status + SEQUENCE op + results | // +------------+-----+--------+-------------------------------+--// //-----------------------+---- // status + op + results | ... //-----------------------+----
A CB_COMPOUND procedure request and reply has a similar form to COMPOUND, but instead of a SEQUENCE operation, there is a CB_SEQUENCE operation. CB_COMPOUND also has an additional field called "callback_ident", which is superfluous in NFSv4.1 and MUST be ignored by the client. CB_SEQUENCE has the same information as SEQUENCE, and also includes other information needed to resolve callback races (Section 2.10.6.3).
Each client ID (Section 2.4) can have zero or more active sessions. A client ID and associated session are required to perform file access in NFSv4.1. Each time a session is used (whether by a client sending a request to the server or the client replying to a callback request from the server), the state leased to its associated client ID is automatically renewed.
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State (which can consist of share reservations, locks, delegations, and layouts (Section 1.7.4)) is tied to the client ID. Client state is not tied to any individual session. Successive state changing operations from a given state owner MAY go over different sessions, provided the session is associated with the same client ID. A callback MAY arrive over a different session than that of the request that originally acquired the state pertaining to the callback. For example, if session A is used to acquire a delegation, a request to recall the delegation MAY arrive over session B if both sessions are associated with the same client ID. Sections 2.10.8.1 and 2.10.8.2 discuss the security considerations around callbacks.
A channel is not a connection. A channel represents the direction ONC RPC requests are sent.
Each session has one or two channels: the fore channel and the backchannel. Because there are at most two channels per session, and because each channel has a distinct purpose, channels are not assigned identifiers.
The fore channel is used for ordinary requests from the client to the server, and carries COMPOUND requests and responses. A session always has a fore channel.
The backchannel is used for callback requests from server to client, and carries CB_COMPOUND requests and responses. Whether or not there is a backchannel is a decision made by the client; however, many features of NFSv4.1 require a backchannel. NFSv4.1 servers MUST support backchannels.
Each session has resources for each channel, including separate reply caches (see Section 2.10.6.1). Note that even the backchannel requires a reply cache (or, at least, a slot table in order to detect retries) because some callback operations are nonidempotent.
2.10.3.1. Association of Connections, Channels, and Sessions
Each channel is associated with zero or more transport connections (whether of the same transport protocol or different transport protocols). A connection can be associated with one channel or both channels of a session; the client and server negotiate whether a connection will carry traffic for one channel or both channels via the CREATE_SESSION (Section 18.36) and the BIND_CONN_TO_SESSION (Section 18.34) operations. When a session is created via CREATE_SESSION, the connection that transported the CREATE_SESSION request is automatically associated with the fore channel, and
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optionally the backchannel. If the client specifies no state protection (Section 18.35) when the session is created, then when SEQUENCE is transmitted on a different connection, the connection is automatically associated with the fore channel of the session specified in the SEQUENCE operation.
A connection's association with a session is not exclusive. A connection associated with the channel(s) of one session may be simultaneously associated with the channel(s) of other sessions including sessions associated with other client IDs.
It is permissible for connections of multiple transport types to be associated with the same channel. For example, both TCP and RDMA connections can be associated with the fore channel. In the event an RDMA and non-RDMA connection are associated with the same channel, the maximum number of slots SHOULD be at least one more than the total number of RDMA credits (Section 2.10.6.1). This way, if all RDMA credits are used, the non-RDMA connection can have at least one outstanding request. If a server supports multiple transport types, it MUST allow a client to associate connections from each transport to a channel.
It is permissible for a connection of one type of transport to be associated with the fore channel, and a connection of a different type to be associated with the backchannel.
Servers each specify a server scope value in the form of an opaque string eir_server_scope returned as part of the results of an EXCHANGE_ID operation. The purpose of the server scope is to allow a group of servers to indicate to clients that a set of servers sharing the same server scope value has arranged to use compatible values of otherwise opaque identifiers. Thus, the identifiers generated by one server of that set may be presented to another of that same scope.
The use of such compatible values does not imply that a value generated by one server will always be accepted by another. In most cases, it will not. However, a server will not accept a value generated by another inadvertently. When it does accept it, it will be because it is recognized as valid and carrying the same meaning as on another server of the same scope.
When servers are of the same server scope, this compatibility of values applies to the follow identifiers:
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o Filehandle values. A filehandle value accepted by two servers of the same server scope denotes the same object. A WRITE operation sent to one server is reflected immediately in a READ sent to the other, and locks obtained on one server conflict with those requested on the other.
o Session ID values. A session ID value accepted by two servers of the same server scope denotes the same session.
o Client ID values. A client ID value accepted as valid by two servers of the same server scope is associated with two clients with the same client owner and verifier.
o State ID values. A state ID value is recognized as valid when the corresponding client ID is recognized as valid. If the same stateid value is accepted as valid on two servers of the same scope and the client IDs on the two servers represent the same client owner and verifier, then the two stateid values designate the same set of locks and are for the same file.
o Server owner values. When the server scope values are the same, server owner value may be validly compared. In cases where the server scope values are different, server owner values are treated as different even if they contain all identical bytes.
The coordination among servers required to provide such compatibility can be quite minimal, and limited to a simple partition of the ID space. The recognition of common values requires additional implementation, but this can be tailored to the specific situations in which that recognition is desired.
Clients will have occasion to compare the server scope values of multiple servers under a number of circumstances, each of which will be discussed under the appropriate functional section:
o When server owner values received in response to EXCHANGE_ID operations sent to multiple network addresses are compared for the purpose of determining the validity of various forms of trunking, as described in Section 2.10.5.
o When network or server reconfiguration causes the same network address to possibly be directed to different servers, with the necessity for the client to determine when lock reclaim should be attempted, as described in Section 8.4.2.1.
o When file system migration causes the transfer of responsibility for a file system between servers and the client needs to determine whether state has been transferred with the file system
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(as described in Section 11.7.7) or whether the client needs to reclaim state on a similar basis as in the case of server restart, as described in Section 8.4.2.
When two replies from EXCHANGE_ID, each from two different server network addresses, have the same server scope, there are a number of ways a client can validate that the common server scope is due to two servers cooperating in a group.
o If both EXCHANGE_ID requests were sent with RPCSEC_GSS authentication and the server principal is the same for both targets, the equality of server scope is validated. It is RECOMMENDED that two servers intending to share the same server scope also share the same principal name.
o The client may accept the appearance of the second server in the fs_locations or fs_locations_info attribute for a relevant file system. For example, if there is a migration event for a particular file system or there are locks to be reclaimed on a particular file system, the attributes for that particular file system may be used. The client sends the GETATTR request to the first server for the fs_locations or fs_locations_info attribute with RPCSEC_GSS authentication. It may need to do this in advance of the need to verify the common server scope. If the client successfully authenticates the reply to GETATTR, and the GETATTR request and reply containing the fs_locations or fs_locations_info attribute refers to the second server, then the equality of server scope is supported. A client may choose to limit the use of this form of support to information relevant to the specific file system involved (e.g. a file system being migrated).
Trunking is the use of multiple connections between a client and server in order to increase the speed of data transfer. NFSv4.1 supports two types of trunking: session trunking and client ID trunking.
NFSv4.1 servers MUST support both forms of trunking within the context of a single server network address and MUST support both forms within the context of the set of network addresses used to access a single server. NFSv4.1 servers in a clustered configuration MAY allow network addresses for different servers to use client ID trunking.
Clients may use either form of trunking as long as they do not, when trunking between different server network addresses, violate the servers' mandates as to the kinds of trunking to be allowed (see
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below). With regard to callback channels, the client MUST allow the server to choose among all callback channels valid for a given client ID and MUST support trunking when the connections supporting the backchannel allow session or client ID trunking to be used for callbacks.
Session trunking is essentially the association of multiple connections, each with potentially different target and/or source network addresses, to the same session. When the target network addresses (server addresses) of the two connections are the same, the server MUST support such session trunking. When the target network addresses are different, the server MAY indicate such support using the data returned by the EXCHANGE_ID operation (see below).
Client ID trunking is the association of multiple sessions to the same client ID. Servers MUST support client ID trunking for two target network addresses whenever they allow session trunking for those same two network addresses. In addition, a server MAY, by presenting the same major server owner ID (Section 2.5) and server scope (Section 2.10.4), allow an additional case of client ID trunking. When two servers return the same major server owner and server scope, it means that the two servers are cooperating on locking state management, which is a prerequisite for client ID trunking.
Distinguishing when the client is allowed to use session and client ID trunking requires understanding how the results of the EXCHANGE_ID (Section 18.35) operation identify a server. Suppose a client sends EXCHANGE_IDs over two different connections, each with a possibly different target network address, but each EXCHANGE_ID operation has the same value in the eia_clientowner field. If the same NFSv4.1 server is listening over each connection, then each EXCHANGE_ID result MUST return the same values of eir_clientid, eir_server_owner.so_major_id, and eir_server_scope. The client can then treat each connection as referring to the same server (subject to verification; see Section 2.10.5.1 later in this section), and it can use each connection to trunk requests and replies. The client's choice is whether session trunking or client ID trunking applies.
Session Trunking. If the eia_clientowner argument is the same in two different EXCHANGE_ID requests, and the eir_clientid, eir_server_owner.so_major_id, eir_server_owner.so_minor_id, and eir_server_scope results match in both EXCHANGE_ID results, then the client is permitted to perform session trunking. If the client has no session mapping to the tuple of eir_clientid, eir_server_owner.so_major_id, eir_server_scope, and eir_server_owner.so_minor_id, then it creates the session via a CREATE_SESSION operation over one of the connections, which
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associates the connection to the session. If there is a session for the tuple, the client can send BIND_CONN_TO_SESSION to associate the connection to the session.
Of course, if the client does not desire to use session trunking, it is not required to do so. It can invoke CREATE_SESSION on the connection. This will result in client ID trunking as described below. It can also decide to drop the connection if it does not choose to use trunking.
Client ID Trunking. If the eia_clientowner argument is the same in two different EXCHANGE_ID requests, and the eir_clientid, eir_server_owner.so_major_id, and eir_server_scope results match in both EXCHANGE_ID results, then the client is permitted to perform client ID trunking (regardless of whether the eir_server_owner.so_minor_id results match). The client can associate each connection with different sessions, where each session is associated with the same server.
The client completes the act of client ID trunking by invoking CREATE_SESSION on each connection, using the same client ID that was returned in eir_clientid. These invocations create two sessions and also associate each connection with its respective session. The client is free to decline to use client ID trunking by simply dropping the connection at this point.
When doing client ID trunking, locking state is shared across sessions associated with that same client ID. This requires the server to coordinate state across sessions.
The client should be prepared for the possibility that eir_server_owner values may be different on subsequent EXCHANGE_ID requests made to the same network address, as a result of various sorts of reconfiguration events. When this happens and the changes result in the invalidation of previously valid forms of trunking, the client should cease to use those forms, either by dropping connections or by adding sessions. For a discussion of lock reclaim as it relates to such reconfiguration events, see Section 8.4.2.1.
2.10.5.1. Verifying Claims of Matching Server Identity
When two servers over two connections claim matching or partially matching eir_server_owner, eir_server_scope, and eir_clientid values, the client does not have to trust the servers' claims. The client may verify these claims before trunking traffic in the following ways:
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o For session trunking, clients SHOULD reliably verify if connections between different network paths are in fact associated with the same NFSv4.1 server and usable on the same session, and servers MUST allow clients to perform reliable verification. When a client ID is created, the client SHOULD specify that BIND_CONN_TO_SESSION is to be verified according to the SP4_SSV or SP4_MACH_CRED (Section 18.35) state protection options. For SP4_SSV, reliable verification depends on a shared secret (the SSV) that is established via the SET_SSV (Section 18.47) operation.
When a new connection is associated with the session (via the BIND_CONN_TO_SESSION operation, see Section 18.34), if the client specified SP4_SSV state protection for the BIND_CONN_TO_SESSION operation, the client MUST send the BIND_CONN_TO_SESSION with RPCSEC_GSS protection, using integrity or privacy, and an RPCSEC_GSS handle created with the GSS SSV mechanism (Section 2.10.9).
If the client mistakenly tries to associate a connection to a session of a wrong server, the server will either reject the attempt because it is not aware of the session identifier of the BIND_CONN_TO_SESSION arguments, or it will reject the attempt because the RPCSEC_GSS authentication fails. Even if the server mistakenly or maliciously accepts the connection association attempt, the RPCSEC_GSS verifier it computes in the response will not be verified by the client, so the client will know it cannot use the connection for trunking the specified session.
If the client specified SP4_MACH_CRED state protection, the BIND_CONN_TO_SESSION operation will use RPCSEC_GSS integrity or privacy, using the same credential that was used when the client ID was created. Mutual authentication via RPCSEC_GSS assures the client that the connection is associated with the correct session of the correct server.
o For client ID trunking, the client has at least two options for verifying that the same client ID obtained from two different EXCHANGE_ID operations came from the same server. The first option is to use RPCSEC_GSS authentication when sending each EXCHANGE_ID operation. Each time an EXCHANGE_ID is sent with RPCSEC_GSS authentication, the client notes the principal name of the GSS target. If the EXCHANGE_ID results indicate that client ID trunking is possible, and the GSS targets' principal names are the same, the servers are the same and client ID trunking is allowed.
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The second option for verification is to use SP4_SSV protection. When the client sends EXCHANGE_ID, it specifies SP4_SSV protection. The first EXCHANGE_ID the client sends always has to be confirmed by a CREATE_SESSION call. The client then sends SET_SSV. Later, the client sends EXCHANGE_ID to a second destination network address different from the one the first EXCHANGE_ID was sent to. The client checks that each EXCHANGE_ID reply has the same eir_clientid, eir_server_owner.so_major_id, and eir_server_scope. If so, the client verifies the claim by sending a CREATE_SESSION operation to the second destination address, protected with RPCSEC_GSS integrity using an RPCSEC_GSS handle returned by the second EXCHANGE_ID. If the server accepts the CREATE_SESSION request, and if the client verifies the RPCSEC_GSS verifier and integrity codes, then the client has proof the second server knows the SSV, and thus the two servers are cooperating for the purposes of specifying server scope and client ID trunking.
Via the session, NFSv4.1 offers exactly once semantics (EOS) for requests sent over a channel. EOS is supported on both the fore channel and backchannel.
Each COMPOUND or CB_COMPOUND request that is sent with a leading SEQUENCE or CB_SEQUENCE operation MUST be executed by the receiver exactly once. This requirement holds regardless of whether the request is sent with reply caching specified (see Section 2.10.6.1.3). The requirement holds even if the requester is sending the request over a session created between a pNFS data client and pNFS data server. To understand the rationale for this requirement, divide the requests into three classifications:
o Non-idempotent requests.
o Idempotent modifying requests.
o Idempotent non-modifying requests.
An example of a non-idempotent request is RENAME. Obviously, if a replier executes the same RENAME request twice, and the first execution succeeds, the re-execution will fail. If the replier returns the result from the re-execution, this result is incorrect. Therefore, EOS is required for non-idempotent requests.
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An example of an idempotent modifying request is a COMPOUND request containing a WRITE operation. Repeated execution of the same WRITE has the same effect as execution of that WRITE a single time. Nevertheless, enforcing EOS for WRITEs and other idempotent modifying requests is necessary to avoid data corruption.
Suppose a client sends WRITE A to a noncompliant server that does not enforce EOS, and receives no response, perhaps due to a network partition. The client reconnects to the server and re-sends WRITE A. Now, the server has outstanding two instances of A. The server can be in a situation in which it executes and replies to the retry of A, while the first A is still waiting in the server's internal I/O system for some resource. Upon receiving the reply to the second attempt of WRITE A, the client believes its WRITE is done so it is free to send WRITE B, which overlaps the byte-range of A. When the original A is dispatched from the server's I/O system and executed (thus the second time A will have been written), then what has been written by B can be overwritten and thus corrupted.
An example of an idempotent non-modifying request is a COMPOUND containing SEQUENCE, PUTFH, READLINK, and nothing else. The re- execution of such a request will not cause data corruption or produce an incorrect result. Nonetheless, to keep the implementation simple, the replier MUST enforce EOS for all requests, whether or not idempotent and non-modifying.
Note that true and complete EOS is not possible unless the server persists the reply cache in stable storage, and unless the server is somehow implemented to never require a restart (indeed, if such a server exists, the distinction between a reply cache kept in stable storage versus one that is not is one without meaning). See Section 2.10.6.5 for a discussion of persistence in the reply cache. Regardless, even if the server does not persist the reply cache, EOS improves robustness and correctness over previous versions of NFS because the legacy duplicate request/reply caches were based on the ONC RPC transaction identifier (XID). Section 2.10.6.1 explains the shortcomings of the XID as a basis for a reply cache and describes how NFSv4.1 sessions improve upon the XID.
The RPC layer provides a transaction ID (XID), which, while required to be unique, is not convenient for tracking requests for two reasons. First, the XID is only meaningful to the requester; it cannot be interpreted by the replier except to test for equality with previously sent requests. When consulting an RPC-based duplicate request cache, the opaqueness of the XID requires a computationally expensive look up (often via a hash that includes XID and source
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address). NFSv4.1 requests use a non-opaque slot ID, which is an index into a slot table, which is far more efficient. Second, because RPC requests can be executed by the replier in any order, there is no bound on the number of requests that may be outstanding at any time. To achieve perfect EOS, using ONC RPC would require storing all replies in the reply cache. XIDs are 32 bits; storing over four billion (2^32) replies in the reply cache is not practical. In practice, previous versions of NFS have chosen to store a fixed number of replies in the cache, and to use a least recently used (LRU) approach to replacing cache entries with new entries when the cache is full. In NFSv4.1, the number of outstanding requests is bounded by the size of the slot table, and a sequence ID per slot is used to tell the replier when it is safe to delete a cached reply.
In the NFSv4.1 reply cache, when the requester sends a new request, it selects a slot ID in the range 0..N, where N is the replier's current maximum slot ID granted to the requester on the session over which the request is to be sent. The value of N starts out as equal to ca_maxrequests - 1 (Section 18.36), but can be adjusted by the response to SEQUENCE or CB_SEQUENCE as described later in this section. The slot ID must be unused by any of the requests that the requester has already active on the session. "Unused" here means the requester has no outstanding request for that slot ID.
A slot contains a sequence ID and the cached reply corresponding to the request sent with that sequence ID. The sequence ID is a 32-bit unsigned value, and is therefore in the range 0..0xFFFFFFFF (2^32 - 1). The first time a slot is used, the requester MUST specify a sequence ID of one (Section 18.36). Each time a slot is reused, the request MUST specify a sequence ID that is one greater than that of the previous request on the slot. If the previous sequence ID was 0xFFFFFFFF, then the next request for the slot MUST have the sequence ID set to zero (i.e., (2^32 - 1) + 1 mod 2^32).
The sequence ID accompanies the slot ID in each request. It is for the critical check at the replier: it used to efficiently determine whether a request using a certain slot ID is a retransmit or a new, never-before-seen request. It is not feasible for the requester to assert that it is retransmitting to implement this, because for any given request the requester cannot know whether the replier has seen it unless the replier actually replies. Of course, if the requester has seen the reply, the requester would not retransmit.
The replier compares each received request's sequence ID with the last one previously received for that slot ID, to see if the new request is:
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o A new request, in which the sequence ID is one greater than that previously seen in the slot (accounting for sequence wraparound). The replier proceeds to execute the new request, and the replier MUST increase the slot's sequence ID by one.
o A retransmitted request, in which the sequence ID is equal to that currently recorded in the slot. If the original request has executed to completion, the replier returns the cached reply. See Section 2.10.6.2 for direction on how the replier deals with retries of requests that are still in progress.
o A misordered retry, in which the sequence ID is less than (accounting for sequence wraparound) that previously seen in the slot. The replier MUST return NFS4ERR_SEQ_MISORDERED (as the result from SEQUENCE or CB_SEQUENCE).
o A misordered new request, in which the sequence ID is two or more than (accounting for sequence wraparound) that previously seen in the slot. Note that because the sequence ID MUST wrap around to zero once it reaches 0xFFFFFFFF, a misordered new request and a misordered retry cannot be distinguished. Thus, the replier MUST return NFS4ERR_SEQ_MISORDERED (as the result from SEQUENCE or CB_SEQUENCE).
Unlike the XID, the slot ID is always within a specific range; this has two implications. The first implication is that for a given session, the replier need only cache the results of a limited number of COMPOUND requests. The second implication derives from the first, which is that unlike XID-indexed reply caches (also known as duplicate request caches - DRCs), the slot ID-based reply cache cannot be overflowed. Through use of the sequence ID to identify retransmitted requests, the replier does not need to actually cache the request itself, reducing the storage requirements of the reply cache further. These facilities make it practical to maintain all the required entries for an effective reply cache.
The slot ID, sequence ID, and session ID therefore take over the traditional role of the XID and source network address in the replier's reply cache implementation. This approach is considerably more portable and completely robust -- it is not subject to the reassignment of ports as clients reconnect over IP networks. In addition, the RPC XID is not used in the reply cache, enhancing robustness of the cache in the face of any rapid reuse of XIDs by the requester. While the replier does not care about the XID for the purposes of reply cache management (but the replier MUST return the same XID that was in the request), nonetheless there are considerations for the XID in NFSv4.1 that are the same as all other
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previous versions of NFS. The RPC XID remains in each message and needs to be formulated in NFSv4.1 requests as in any other ONC RPC request. The reasons include:
o The RPC layer retains its existing semantics and implementation.
o The requester and replier must be able to interoperate at the RPC layer, prior to the NFSv4.1 decoding of the SEQUENCE or CB_SEQUENCE operation.
o If an operation is being used that does not start with SEQUENCE or CB_SEQUENCE (e.g., BIND_CONN_TO_SESSION), then the RPC XID is needed for correct operation to match the reply to the request.
o The SEQUENCE or CB_SEQUENCE operation may generate an error. If so, the embedded slot ID, sequence ID, and session ID (if present) in the request will not be in the reply, and the requester has only the XID to match the reply to the request.
Given that well-formulated XIDs continue to be required, this begs the question: why do SEQUENCE and CB_SEQUENCE replies have a session ID, slot ID, and sequence ID? Having the session ID in the reply means that the requester does not have to use the XID to look up the session ID, which would be necessary if the connection were associated with multiple sessions. Having the slot ID and sequence ID in the reply means that the requester does not have to use the XID to look up the slot ID and sequence ID. Furthermore, since the XID is only 32 bits, it is too small to guarantee the re-association of a reply with its request [37]; having session ID, slot ID, and sequence ID in the reply allows the client to validate that the reply in fact belongs to the matched request.
The SEQUENCE (and CB_SEQUENCE) operation also carries a "highest_slotid" value, which carries additional requester slot usage information. The requester MUST always indicate the slot ID representing the outstanding request with the highest-numbered slot value. The requester should in all cases provide the most conservative value possible, although it can be increased somewhat above the actual instantaneous usage to maintain some minimum or optimal level. This provides a way for the requester to yield unused request slots back to the replier, which in turn can use the information to reallocate resources.
The replier responds with both a new target highest_slotid and an enforced highest_slotid, described as follows:
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o The target highest_slotid is an indication to the requester of the highest_slotid the replier wishes the requester to be using. This permits the replier to withdraw (or add) resources from a requester that has been found to not be using them, in order to more fairly share resources among a varying level of demand from other requesters. The requester must always comply with the replier's value updates, since they indicate newly established hard limits on the requester's access to session resources. However, because of request pipelining, the requester may have active requests in flight reflecting prior values; therefore, the replier must not immediately require the requester to comply.
o The enforced highest_slotid indicates the highest slot ID the requester is permitted to use on a subsequent SEQUENCE or CB_SEQUENCE operation. The replier's enforced highest_slotid SHOULD be no less than the highest_slotid the requester indicated in the SEQUENCE or CB_SEQUENCE arguments.
A requester can be intransigent with respect to lowering its highest_slotid argument to a Sequence operation, i.e. the requester continues to ignore the target highest_slotid in the response to a Sequence operation, and continues to set its highest_slotid argument to be higher than the target highest_slotid. This can be considered particularly egregious behavior when the replier knows there are no outstanding requests with slot IDs higher than its target highest_slotid. When faced with such intransigence, the replier is free to take more forceful action, and MAY reply with a new enforced highest_slotid that is less than its previous enforced highest_slotid. Thereafter, if the requester continues to send requests with a highest_slotid that is greater than the replier's new enforced highest_slotid, the server MAY return NFS4ERR_BAD_HIGH_SLOT, unless the slot ID in the request is greater than the new enforced highest_slotid and the request is a retry.
The replier SHOULD retain the slots it wants to retire until the requester sends a request with a highest_slotid less than or equal to the replier's new enforced highest_slotid.
The requester can also be intransigent with respect to sending non-retry requests that have a slot ID that exceeds the replier's highest_slotid. Once the replier has forcibly lowered the enforced highest_slotid, the requester is only allowed to send retries on slots that exceed the replier's highest_slotid. If a request is received with a slot ID that is higher than the new enforced highest_slotid, and the sequence ID is one higher than what is in the slot's reply cache, then the server can both retire the slot and return NFS4ERR_BADSLOT (however, the server MUST NOT
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do one and not the other). The reason it is safe to retire the slot is because by using the next sequence ID, the requester is indicating it has received the previous reply for the slot.
o The requester SHOULD use the lowest available slot when sending a new request. This way, the replier may be able to retire slot entries faster. However, where the replier is actively adjusting its granted highest_slotid, it will not be able to use only the receipt of the slot ID and highest_slotid in the request. Neither the slot ID nor the highest_slotid used in a request may reflect the replier's current idea of the requester's session limit, because the request may have been sent from the requester before the update was received. Therefore, in the downward adjustment case, the replier may have to retain a number of reply cache entries at least as large as the old value of maximum requests outstanding, until it can infer that the requester has seen a reply containing the new granted highest_slotid. The replier can infer that the requester has seen such a reply when it receives a new request with the same slot ID as the request replied to and the next higher sequence ID.
2.10.6.1.1. Caching of SEQUENCE and CB_SEQUENCE Replies
When a SEQUENCE or CB_SEQUENCE operation is successfully executed, its reply MUST always be cached. Specifically, session ID, sequence ID, and slot ID MUST be cached in the reply cache. The reply from SEQUENCE also includes the highest slot ID, target highest slot ID, and status flags. Instead of caching these values, the server MAY re-compute the values from the current state of the fore channel, session, and/or client ID as appropriate. Similarly, the reply from CB_SEQUENCE includes a highest slot ID and target highest slot ID. The client MAY re-compute the values from the current state of the session as appropriate.
Regardless of whether or not a replier is re-computing highest slot ID, target slot ID, and status on replies to retries, the requester MUST NOT assume that the values are being re-computed whenever it receives a reply after a retry is sent, since it has no way of knowing whether the reply it has received was sent by the replier in response to the retry or is a delayed response to the original request. Therefore, it may be the case that highest slot ID, target slot ID, or status bits may reflect the state of affairs when the request was first executed. Although acting based on such delayed information is valid, it may cause the receiver of the reply to do unneeded work. Requesters MAY choose to send additional requests to get the current state of affairs or use the state of affairs reported by subsequent requests, in preference to acting immediately on data that might be out of date.
Any time SEQUENCE or CB_SEQUENCE returns an error, the sequence ID of the slot MUST NOT change. The replier MUST NOT modify the reply cache entry for the slot whenever an error is returned from SEQUENCE or CB_SEQUENCE.
On a per-request basis, the requester can choose to direct the replier to cache the reply to all operations after the first operation (SEQUENCE or CB_SEQUENCE) via the sa_cachethis or csa_cachethis fields of the arguments to SEQUENCE or CB_SEQUENCE. The reason it would not direct the replier to cache the entire reply is that the request is composed of all idempotent operations [34]. Caching the reply may offer little benefit. If the reply is too large (see Section 2.10.6.4), it may not be cacheable anyway. Even if the reply to idempotent request is small enough to cache, unnecessarily caching the reply slows down the server and increases RPC latency.
Whether or not the requester requests the reply to be cached has no effect on the slot processing. If the results of SEQUENCE or CB_SEQUENCE are NFS4_OK, then the slot's sequence ID MUST be incremented by one. If a requester does not direct the replier to cache the reply, the replier MUST do one of following:
o The replier can cache the entire original reply. Even though sa_cachethis or csa_cachethis is FALSE, the replier is always free to cache. It may choose this approach in order to simplify implementation.
o The replier enters into its reply cache a reply consisting of the original results to the SEQUENCE or CB_SEQUENCE operation, and with the next operation in COMPOUND or CB_COMPOUND having the error NFS4ERR_RETRY_UNCACHED_REP. Thus, if the requester later retries the request, it will get NFS4ERR_RETRY_UNCACHED_REP. If a replier receives a retried Sequence operation where the reply to the COMPOUND or CB_COMPOUND was not cached, then the replier,
* MAY return NFS4ERR_RETRY_UNCACHED_REP in reply to a Sequence operation if the Sequence operation is not the first operation (granted, a requester that does so is in violation of the NFSv4.1 protocol).
* MUST NOT return NFS4ERR_RETRY_UNCACHED_REP in reply to a Sequence operation if the Sequence operation is the first operation.
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o If the second operation is an illegal operation, or an operation that was legal in a previous minor version of NFSv4 and MUST NOT be supported in the current minor version (e.g., SETCLIENTID), the replier MUST NOT ever return NFS4ERR_RETRY_UNCACHED_REP. Instead the replier MUST return NFS4ERR_OP_ILLEGAL or NFS4ERR_BADXDR or NFS4ERR_NOTSUPP as appropriate.
o If the second operation can result in another error status, the replier MAY return a status other than NFS4ERR_RETRY_UNCACHED_REP, provided the operation is not executed in such a way that the state of the replier is changed. Examples of such an error status include: NFS4ERR_NOTSUPP returned for an operation that is legal but not REQUIRED in the current minor versions, and thus not supported by the replier; NFS4ERR_SEQUENCE_POS; and NFS4ERR_REQ_TOO_BIG.
The discussion above assumes that the retried request matches the original one. Section 2.10.6.1.3.1 discusses what the replier might do, and MUST do when original and retried requests do not match. Since the replier may only cache a small amount of the information that would be required to determine whether this is a case of a false retry, the replier may send to the client any of the following responses:
o The cached reply to the original request (if the replier has cached it in its entirety and the users of the original request and retry match).
o A reply that consists only of the Sequence operation with the error NFS4ERR_FALSE_RETRY.
o A reply consisting of the response to Sequence with the status NFS4_OK, together with the second operation as it appeared in the retried request with an error of NFS4ERR_RETRY_UNCACHED_REP or other error as described above.
o A reply that consists of the response to Sequence with the status NFS4_OK, together with the second operation as it appeared in the original request with an error of NFS4ERR_RETRY_UNCACHED_REP or other error as described above.
If a requester sent a Sequence operation with a slot ID and sequence ID that are in the reply cache but the replier detected that the retried request is not the same as the original request, including a retry that has different operations or different arguments in the operations from the original and a retry that uses a different
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principal in the RPC request's credential field that translates to a different user, then this is a false retry. When the replier detects a false retry, it is permitted (but not always obligated) to return NFS4ERR_FALSE_RETRY in response to the Sequence operation when it detects a false retry.
Translations of particularly privileged user values to other users due to the lack of appropriately secure credentials, as configured on the replier, should be applied before determining whether the users are the same or different. If the replier determines the users are different between the original request and a retry, then the replier MUST return NFS4ERR_FALSE_RETRY.
If an operation of the retry is an illegal operation, or an operation that was legal in a previous minor version of NFSv4 and MUST NOT be supported in the current minor version (e.g., SETCLIENTID), the replier MAY return NFS4ERR_FALSE_RETRY (and MUST do so if the users of the original request and retry differ). Otherwise, the replier MAY return NFS4ERR_OP_ILLEGAL or NFS4ERR_BADXDR or NFS4ERR_NOTSUPP as appropriate. Note that the handling is in contrast for how the replier deals with retries requests with no cached reply. The difference is due to NFS4ERR_FALSE_RETRY being a valid error for only Sequence operations, whereas NFS4ERR_RETRY_UNCACHED_REP is a valid error for all operations except illegal operations and operations that MUST NOT be supported in the current minor version of NFSv4.
A requester MUST NOT retry a request, unless the connection it used to send the request disconnects. The requester can then reconnect and re-send the request, or it can re-send the request over a different connection that is associated with the same session.
If the requester is a server wanting to re-send a callback operation over the backchannel of a session, the requester of course cannot reconnect because only the client can associate connections with the backchannel. The server can re-send the request over another connection that is bound to the same session's backchannel. If there is no such connection, the server MUST indicate that the session has no backchannel by setting the SEQ4_STATUS_CB_PATH_DOWN_SESSION flag bit in the response to the next SEQUENCE operation from the client. The client MUST then associate a connection with the session (or destroy the session).
Note that it is not fatal for a requester to retry without a disconnect between the request and retry. However, the retry does consume resources, especially with RDMA, where each request, retry or not, consumes a credit. Retries for no reason, especially retries
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sent shortly after the previous attempt, are a poor use of network bandwidth and defeat the purpose of a transport's inherent congestion control system.
A requester MUST wait for a reply to a request before using the slot for another request. If it does not wait for a reply, then the requester does not know what sequence ID to use for the slot on its next request. For example, suppose a requester sends a request with sequence ID 1, and does not wait for the response. The next time it uses the slot, it sends the new request with sequence ID 2. If the replier has not seen the request with sequence ID 1, then the replier is not expecting sequence ID 2, and rejects the requester's new request with NFS4ERR_SEQ_MISORDERED (as the result from SEQUENCE or CB_SEQUENCE).
RDMA fabrics do not guarantee that the memory handles (Steering Tags) within each RPC/RDMA "chunk" [8] are valid on a scope outside that of a single connection. Therefore, handles used by the direct operations become invalid after connection loss. The server must ensure that any RDMA operations that must be replayed from the reply cache use the newly provided handle(s) from the most recent request.
A retry might be sent while the original request is still in progress on the replier. The replier SHOULD deal with the issue by returning NFS4ERR_DELAY as the reply to SEQUENCE or CB_SEQUENCE operation, but implementations MAY return NFS4ERR_MISORDERED. Since errors from SEQUENCE and CB_SEQUENCE are never recorded in the reply cache, this approach allows the results of the execution of the original request to be properly recorded in the reply cache (assuming that the requester specified the reply to be cached).
It is possible for server callbacks to arrive at the client before the reply from related fore channel operations. For example, a client may have been granted a delegation to a file it has opened, but the reply to the OPEN (informing the client of the granting of the delegation) may be delayed in the network. If a conflicting operation arrives at the server, it will recall the delegation using the backchannel, which may be on a different transport connection, perhaps even a different network, or even a different session associated with the same client ID.
The presence of a session between the client and server alleviates this issue. When a session is in place, each client request is uniquely identified by its { session ID, slot ID, sequence ID } triple. By the rules under which slot entries (reply cache entries) are retired, the server has knowledge whether the client has "seen"
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each of the server's replies. The server can therefore provide sufficient information to the client to allow it to disambiguate between an erroneous or conflicting callback race condition.
For each client operation that might result in some sort of server callback, the server SHOULD "remember" the { session ID, slot ID, sequence ID } triple of the client request until the slot ID retirement rules allow the server to determine that the client has, in fact, seen the server's reply. Until the time the { session ID, slot ID, sequence ID } request triple can be retired, any recalls of the associated object MUST carry an array of these referring identifiers (in the CB_SEQUENCE operation's arguments), for the benefit of the client. After this time, it is not necessary for the server to provide this information in related callbacks, since it is certain that a race condition can no longer occur.
The CB_SEQUENCE operation that begins each server callback carries a list of "referring" { session ID, slot ID, sequence ID } triples. If the client finds the request corresponding to the referring session ID, slot ID, and sequence ID to be currently outstanding (i.e., the server's reply has not been seen by the client), it can determine that the callback has raced the reply, and act accordingly. If the client does not find the request corresponding to the referring triple to be outstanding (including the case of a session ID referring to a destroyed session), then there is no race with respect to this triple. The server SHOULD limit the referring triples to requests that refer to just those that apply to the objects referred to in the CB_COMPOUND procedure.
The client must not simply wait forever for the expected server reply to arrive before responding to the CB_COMPOUND that won the race, because it is possible that it will be delayed indefinitely. The client should assume the likely case that the reply will arrive within the average round-trip time for COMPOUND requests to the server, and wait that period of time. If that period of time expires, it can respond to the CB_COMPOUND with NFS4ERR_DELAY. There are other scenarios under which callbacks may race replies. Among them are pNFS layout recalls as described in Section 12.5.5.2.
2.10.6.4. COMPOUND and CB_COMPOUND Construction Issues
Very large requests and replies may pose both buffer management issues (especially with RDMA) and reply cache issues. When the session is created (Section 18.36), for each channel (fore and back), the client and server negotiate the maximum-sized request they will send or process (ca_maxrequestsize), the maximum-sized reply they will return or process (ca_maxresponsesize), and the maximum-sized reply they will store in the reply cache (ca_maxresponsesize_cached).
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If a request exceeds ca_maxrequestsize, the reply will have the status NFS4ERR_REQ_TOO_BIG. A replier MAY return NFS4ERR_REQ_TOO_BIG as the status for the first operation (SEQUENCE or CB_SEQUENCE) in the request (which means that no operations in the request executed and that the state of the slot in the reply cache is unchanged), or it MAY opt to return it on a subsequent operation in the same COMPOUND or CB_COMPOUND request (which means that at least one operation did execute and that the state of the slot in the reply cache does change). The replier SHOULD set NFS4ERR_REQ_TOO_BIG on the operation that exceeds ca_maxrequestsize.
If a reply exceeds ca_maxresponsesize, the reply will have the status NFS4ERR_REP_TOO_BIG. A replier MAY return NFS4ERR_REP_TOO_BIG as the status for the first operation (SEQUENCE or CB_SEQUENCE) in the request, or it MAY opt to return it on a subsequent operation (in the same COMPOUND or CB_COMPOUND reply). A replier MAY return NFS4ERR_REP_TOO_BIG in the reply to SEQUENCE or CB_SEQUENCE, even if the response would still exceed ca_maxresponsesize.
If sa_cachethis or csa_cachethis is TRUE, then the replier MUST cache a reply except if an error is returned by the SEQUENCE or CB_SEQUENCE operation (see Section 2.10.6.1.2). If the reply exceeds ca_maxresponsesize_cached (and sa_cachethis or csa_cachethis is TRUE), then the server MUST return NFS4ERR_REP_TOO_BIG_TO_CACHE. Even if NFS4ERR_REP_TOO_BIG_TO_CACHE (or any other error for that matter) is returned on an operation other than the first operation (SEQUENCE or CB_SEQUENCE), then the reply MUST be cached if sa_cachethis or csa_cachethis is TRUE. For example, if a COMPOUND has eleven operations, including SEQUENCE, the fifth operation is a RENAME, and the tenth operation is a READ for one million bytes, the server may return NFS4ERR_REP_TOO_BIG_TO_CACHE on the tenth operation. Since the server executed several operations, especially the non-idempotent RENAME, the client's request to cache the reply needs to be honored in order for the correct operation of exactly once semantics. If the client retries the request, the server will have cached a reply that contains results for ten of the eleven requested operations, with the tenth operation having a status of NFS4ERR_REP_TOO_BIG_TO_CACHE.
A client needs to take care that when sending operations that change the current filehandle (except for PUTFH, PUTPUBFH, PUTROOTFH, and RESTOREFH), it not exceed the maximum reply buffer before the GETFH operation. Otherwise, the client will have to retry the operation that changed the current filehandle, in order to obtain the desired filehandle. For the OPEN operation (see Section 18.16), retry is not always available as an option. The following guidelines for the handling of filehandle-changing operations are advised:
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o Within the same COMPOUND procedure, a client SHOULD send GETFH immediately after a current filehandle-changing operation. A client MUST send GETFH after a current filehandle-changing operation that is also non-idempotent (e.g., the OPEN operation), unless the operation is RESTOREFH. RESTOREFH is an exception, because even though it is non-idempotent, the filehandle RESTOREFH produced originated from an operation that is either idempotent (e.g., PUTFH, LOOKUP), or non-idempotent (e.g., OPEN, CREATE). If the origin is non-idempotent, then because the client MUST send GETFH after the origin operation, the client can recover if RESTOREFH returns an error.
o A server MAY return NFS4ERR_REP_TOO_BIG or NFS4ERR_REP_TOO_BIG_TO_CACHE (if sa_cachethis is TRUE) on a filehandle-changing operation if the reply would be too large on the next operation.
o A server SHOULD return NFS4ERR_REP_TOO_BIG or NFS4ERR_REP_TOO_BIG_TO_CACHE (if sa_cachethis is TRUE) on a filehandle-changing, non-idempotent operation if the reply would be too large on the next operation, especially if the operation is OPEN.
o A server MAY return NFS4ERR_UNSAFE_COMPOUND to a non-idempotent current filehandle-changing operation, if it looks at the next operation (in the same COMPOUND procedure) and finds it is not GETFH. The server SHOULD do this if it is unable to determine in advance whether the total response size would exceed ca_maxresponsesize_cached or ca_maxresponsesize.
Since the reply cache is bounded, it is practical for the reply cache to persist across server restarts. The replier MUST persist the following information if it agreed to persist the session (when the session was created; see Section 18.36):
o The session ID.
o The slot table including the sequence ID and cached reply for each slot.
The above are sufficient for a replier to provide EOS semantics for any requests that were sent and executed before the server restarted. If the replier is a client, then there is no need for it to persist any more information, unless the client will be persisting all other state across client restart, in which case, the server will never see any NFSv4.1-level protocol manifestation of a client restart. If the
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replier is a server, with just the slot table and session ID persisting, any requests the client retries after the server restart will return the results that are cached in the reply cache, and any new requests (i.e., the sequence ID is one greater than the slot's sequence ID) MUST be rejected with NFS4ERR_DEADSESSION (returned by SEQUENCE). Such a session is considered dead. A server MAY re- animate a session after a server restart so that the session will accept new requests as well as retries. To re-animate a session, the server needs to persist additional information through server restart:
o The client ID. This is a prerequisite to let the client create more sessions associated with the same client ID as the re- animated session.
o The client ID's sequence ID that is used for creating sessions (see Sections 18.35 and 18.36). This is a prerequisite to let the client create more sessions.
o The principal that created the client ID. This allows the server to authenticate the client when it sends EXCHANGE_ID.
o The SSV, if SP4_SSV state protection was specified when the client ID was created (see Section 18.35). This lets the client create new sessions, and associate connections with the new and existing sessions.
o The properties of the client ID as defined in Section 18.35.
A persistent reply cache places certain demands on the server. The execution of the sequence of operations (starting with SEQUENCE) and placement of its results in the persistent cache MUST be atomic. If a client retries a sequence of operations that was previously executed on the server, the only acceptable outcomes are either the original cached reply or an indication that the client ID or session has been lost (indicating a catastrophic loss of the reply cache or a session that has been deleted because the client failed to use the session for an extended period of time).
A server could fail and restart in the middle of a COMPOUND procedure that contains one or more non-idempotent or idempotent-but-modifying operations. This creates an even higher challenge for atomic execution and placement of results in the reply cache. One way to view the problem is as a single transaction consisting of each operation in the COMPOUND followed by storing the result in persistent storage, then finally a transaction commit. If there is a failure before the transaction is committed, then the server rolls
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back the transaction. If the server itself fails, then when it restarts, its recovery logic could roll back the transaction before starting the NFSv4.1 server.
While the description of the implementation for atomic execution of the request and caching of the reply is beyond the scope of this document, an example implementation for NFSv2 [38] is described in [39].
A complete discussion of the operation of RPC-based protocols over RDMA transports is in [8]. A discussion of the operation of NFSv4, including NFSv4.1, over RDMA is in [9]. Where RDMA is considered, this specification assumes the use of such a layering; it addresses only the upper-layer issues relevant to making best use of RPC/RDMA.
RDMA requires its consumers to register memory and post buffers of a specific size and number for receive operations.
Registration of memory can be a relatively high-overhead operation, since it requires pinning of buffers, assignment of attributes (e.g., readable/writable), and initialization of hardware translation. Preregistration is desirable to reduce overhead. These registrations are specific to hardware interfaces and even to RDMA connection endpoints; therefore, negotiation of their limits is desirable to manage resources effectively.
Following basic registration, these buffers must be posted by the RPC layer to handle receives. These buffers remain in use by the RPC/ NFSv4.1 implementation; the size and number of them must be known to the remote peer in order to avoid RDMA errors that would cause a fatal error on the RDMA connection.
NFSv4.1 manages slots as resources on a per-session basis (see Section 2.10), while RDMA connections manage credits on a per- connection basis. This means that in order for a peer to send data over RDMA to a remote buffer, it has to have both an NFSv4.1 slot and an RDMA credit. If multiple RDMA connections are associated with a session, then if the total number of credits across all RDMA connections associated with the session is X, and the number of slots in the session is Y, then the maximum number of outstanding requests is the lesser of X and Y.
Previous versions of NFS do not provide flow control; instead, they rely on the windowing provided by transports like TCP to throttle requests. This does not work with RDMA, which provides no operation flow control and will terminate a connection in error when limits are exceeded. Limits such as maximum number of requests outstanding are therefore negotiated when a session is created (see the ca_maxrequests field in Section 18.36). These limits then provide the maxima within which each connection associated with the session's channel(s) must remain. RDMA connections are managed within these limits as described in Section 3.3 of [8]; if there are multiple RDMA connections, then the maximum number of requests for a channel will be divided among the RDMA connections. Put a different way, the onus is on the replier to ensure that the total number of RDMA credits across all connections associated with the replier's channel does exceed the channel's maximum number of outstanding requests.
The limits may also be modified dynamically at the replier's choosing by manipulating certain parameters present in each NFSv4.1 reply. In addition, the CB_RECALL_SLOT callback operation (see Section 20.8) can be sent by a server to a client to return RDMA credits to the server, thereby lowering the maximum number of requests a client can have outstanding to the server.
Header padding is requested by each peer at session initiation (see the ca_headerpadsize argument to CREATE_SESSION in Section 18.36), and subsequently used by the RPC RDMA layer, as described in [8]. Zero padding is permitted.
Padding leverages the useful property that RDMA preserve alignment of data, even when they are placed into anonymous (untagged) buffers. If requested, client inline writes will insert appropriate pad bytes within the request header to align the data payload on the specified boundary. The client is encouraged to add sufficient padding (up to the negotiated size) so that the "data" field of the WRITE operation is aligned. Most servers can make good use of such padding, which allows them to chain receive buffers in such a way that any data carried by client requests will be placed into appropriate buffers at the server, ready for file system processing. The receiver's RPC layer encounters no overhead from skipping over pad bytes, and the RDMA layer's high performance makes the insertion and transmission of padding on the sender a significant optimization. In this way, the need for servers to perform RDMA Read to satisfy all but the largest
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client writes is obviated. An added benefit is the reduction of message round trips on the network -- a potentially good trade, where latency is present.
The value to choose for padding is subject to a number of criteria. A primary source of variable-length data in the RPC header is the authentication information, the form of which is client-determined, possibly in response to server specification. The contents of COMPOUNDs, sizes of strings such as those passed to RENAME, etc. all go into the determination of a maximal NFSv4.1 request size and therefore minimal buffer size. The client must select its offered value carefully, so as to avoid overburdening the server, and vice versa. The benefit of an appropriate padding value is higher performance.
In the above case, the server may recycle unused buffers to the next posted receive if unused by the actual received request, or may pass the now-complete buffers by reference for normal write processing. For a server that can make use of it, this removes any need for data copies of incoming data, without resorting to complicated end-to-end buffer advertisement and management. This includes most kernel-based and integrated server designs, among many others. The client may perform similar optimizations, if desired.
Some RDMA transports (e.g., RFC 5040 [10]) permit a "streaming" (non- RDMA) phase, where ordinary traffic might flow before "stepping up" to RDMA mode, commencing RDMA traffic. Some RDMA transports start connections always in RDMA mode. NFSv4.1 allows, but does not assume, a streaming phase before RDMA mode. When a connection is associated with a session, the client and server negotiate whether the connection is used in RDMA or non-RDMA mode (see Sections 18.36 and 18.34).
Via session/connection association, NFSv4.1 improves security over that provided by NFSv4.0 for the backchannel. The connection is client-initiated (see Section 18.34) and subject to the same firewall and routing checks as the fore channel. At the client's option (see Section 18.35), connection association is fully authenticated before being activated (see Section 18.34). Traffic from the server over the backchannel is authenticated exactly as the client specifies (see Section 2.10.8.2).
When the NFSv4.1 client establishes the backchannel, it informs the server of the security flavors and principals to use when sending requests. If the security flavor is RPCSEC_GSS, the client expresses the principal in the form of an established RPCSEC_GSS context. The server is free to use any of the flavor/principal combinations the client offers, but it MUST NOT use unoffered combinations. This way, the client need not provide a target GSS principal for the backchannel as it did with NFSv4.0, nor does the server have to implement an RPCSEC_GSS initiator as it did with NFSv4.0 [30].
The CREATE_SESSION (Section 18.36) and BACKCHANNEL_CTL (Section 18.33) operations allow the client to specify flavor/ principal combinations.
Also note that the SP4_SSV state protection mode (see Sections 18.35 and 2.10.8.3) has the side benefit of providing SSV-derived RPCSEC_GSS contexts (Section 2.10.9).
2.10.8.3. Protection from Unauthorized State Changes
As described to this point in the specification, the state model of NFSv4.1 is vulnerable to an attacker that sends a SEQUENCE operation with a forged session ID and with a slot ID that it expects the legitimate client to use next. When the legitimate client uses the slot ID with the same sequence number, the server returns the attacker's result from the reply cache, which disrupts the legitimate client and thus denies service to it. Similarly, an attacker could send a CREATE_SESSION with a forged client ID to create a new session associated with the client ID. The attacker could send requests using the new session that change locking state, such as LOCKU operations to release locks the legitimate client has acquired. Setting a security policy on the file that requires RPCSEC_GSS credentials when manipulating the file's state is one potential work
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around, but has the disadvantage of preventing a legitimate client from releasing state when RPCSEC_GSS is required to do so, but a GSS context cannot be obtained (possibly because the user has logged off the client).
NFSv4.1 provides three options to a client for state protection, which are specified when a client creates a client ID via EXCHANGE_ID (Section 18.35).
The first (SP4_NONE) is to simply waive state protection.
The other two options (SP4_MACH_CRED and SP4_SSV) share several traits:
o An RPCSEC_GSS-based credential is used to authenticate client ID and session maintenance operations, including creating and destroying a session, associating a connection with the session, and destroying the client ID.
o Because RPCSEC_GSS is used to authenticate client ID and session maintenance, the attacker cannot associate a rogue connection with a legitimate session, or associate a rogue session with a legitimate client ID in order to maliciously alter the client ID's lock state via CLOSE, LOCKU, DELEGRETURN, LAYOUTRETURN, etc.
o In cases where the server's security policies on a portion of its namespace require RPCSEC_GSS authentication, a client may have to use an RPCSEC_GSS credential to remove per-file state (e.g., LOCKU, CLOSE, etc.). The server may require that the principal that removes the state match certain criteria (e.g., the principal might have to be the same as the one that acquired the state). However, the client might not have an RPCSEC_GSS context for such a principal, and might not be able to create such a context (perhaps because the user has logged off). When the client establishes SP4_MACH_CRED or SP4_SSV protection, it can specify a list of operations that the server MUST allow using the machine credential (if SP4_MACH_CRED is used) or the SSV credential (if SP4_SSV is used).
The SP4_MACH_CRED state protection option uses a machine credential where the principal that creates the client ID MUST also be the principal that performs client ID and session maintenance operations. The security of the machine credential state protection approach depends entirely on safe guarding the per-machine credential. Assuming a proper safeguard using the per-machine credential for operations like CREATE_SESSION, BIND_CONN_TO_SESSION,
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DESTROY_SESSION, and DESTROY_CLIENTID will prevent an attacker from associating a rogue connection with a session, or associating a rogue session with a client ID.
There are at least three scenarios for the SP4_MACH_CRED option:
1. The system administrator configures a unique, permanent per- machine credential for one of the mandated GSS mechanisms (e.g., if Kerberos V5 is used, a "keytab" containing a principal derived from a client host name could be used).
2. The client is used by a single user, and so the client ID and its sessions are used by just that user. If the user's credential expires, then session and client ID maintenance cannot occur, but since the client has a single user, only that user is inconvenienced.
3. The physical client has multiple users, but the client implementation has a unique client ID for each user. This is effectively the same as the second scenario, but a disadvantage is that each user needs to be allocated at least one session each, so the approach suffers from lack of economy.
The SP4_SSV protection option uses the SSV (Section 1.6), via RPCSEC_GSS and the SSV GSS mechanism (Section 2.10.9), to protect state from attack. The SP4_SSV protection option is intended for the situation comprised of a client that has multiple active users and a system administrator who wants to avoid the burden of installing a permanent machine credential on each client. The SSV is established and updated on the server via SET_SSV (see Section 18.47). To prevent eavesdropping, a client SHOULD send SET_SSV via RPCSEC_GSS with the privacy service. Several aspects of the SSV make it intractable for an attacker to guess the SSV, and thus associate rogue connections with a session, and rogue sessions with a client ID:
o The arguments to and results of SET_SSV include digests of the old and new SSV, respectively.
o Because the initial value of the SSV is zero, therefore known, the client that opts for SP4_SSV protection and opts to apply SP4_SSV protection to BIND_CONN_TO_SESSION and CREATE_SESSION MUST send at least one SET_SSV operation before the first BIND_CONN_TO_SESSION operation or before the second CREATE_SESSION operation on a client ID. If it does not, the SSV mechanism will not generate tokens (Section 2.10.9). A client SHOULD send SET_SSV as soon as a session is created.
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o A SET_SSV request does not replace the SSV with the argument to SET_SSV. Instead, the current SSV on the server is logically exclusive ORed (XORed) with the argument to SET_SSV. Each time a new principal uses a client ID for the first time, the client SHOULD send a SET_SSV with that principal's RPCSEC_GSS credentials, with RPCSEC_GSS service set to RPC_GSS_SVC_PRIVACY.
Here are the types of attacks that can be attempted by an attacker named Eve on a victim named Bob, and how SP4_SSV protection foils each attack:
o Suppose Eve is the first user to log into a legitimate client. Eve's use of an NFSv4.1 file system will cause the legitimate client to create a client ID with SP4_SSV protection, specifying that the BIND_CONN_TO_SESSION operation MUST use the SSV credential. Eve's use of the file system also causes an SSV to be created. The SET_SSV operation that creates the SSV will be protected by the RPCSEC_GSS context created by the legitimate client, which uses Eve's GSS principal and credentials. Eve can eavesdrop on the network while her RPCSEC_GSS context is created and the SET_SSV using her context is sent. Even if the legitimate client sends the SET_SSV with RPC_GSS_SVC_PRIVACY, because Eve knows her own credentials, she can decrypt the SSV. Eve can compute an RPCSEC_GSS credential that BIND_CONN_TO_SESSION will accept, and so associate a new connection with the legitimate session. Eve can change the slot ID and sequence state of a legitimate session, and/or the SSV state, in such a way that when Bob accesses the server via the same legitimate client, the legitimate client will be unable to use the session.
The client's only recourse is to create a new client ID for Bob to use, and establish a new SSV for the client ID. The client will be unable to delete the old client ID, and will let the lease on the old client ID expire.
Once the legitimate client establishes an SSV over the new session using Bob's RPCSEC_GSS context, Eve can use the new session via the legitimate client, but she cannot disrupt Bob. Moreover, because the client SHOULD have modified the SSV due to Eve using the new session, Bob cannot get revenge on Eve by associating a rogue connection with the session.
The question is how did the legitimate client detect that Eve has hijacked the old session? When the client detects that a new principal, Bob, wants to use the session, it SHOULD have sent a SET_SSV, which leads to the following sub-scenarios:
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* Let us suppose that from the rogue connection, Eve sent a SET_SSV with the same slot ID and sequence ID that the legitimate client later uses. The server will assume the SET_SSV sent with Bob's credentials is a retry, and return to the legitimate client the reply it sent Eve. However, unless Eve can correctly guess the SSV the legitimate client will use, the digest verification checks in the SET_SSV response will fail. That is an indication to the client that the session has apparently been hijacked.
* Alternatively, Eve sent a SET_SSV with a different slot ID than the legitimate client uses for its SET_SSV. Then the digest verification of the SET_SSV sent with Bob's credentials fails on the server, and the error returned to the client makes it apparent that the session has been hijacked.
* Alternatively, Eve sent an operation other than SET_SSV, but with the same slot ID and sequence that the legitimate client uses for its SET_SSV. The server returns to the legitimate client the response it sent Eve. The client sees that the response is not at all what it expects. The client assumes either session hijacking or a server bug, and either way destroys the old session.
o Eve associates a rogue connection with the session as above, and then destroys the session. Again, Bob goes to use the server from the legitimate client, which sends a SET_SSV using Bob's credentials. The client receives an error that indicates that the session does not exist. When the client tries to create a new session, this will fail because the SSV it has does not match that which the server has, and now the client knows the session was hijacked. The legitimate client establishes a new client ID.
o If Eve creates a connection before the legitimate client establishes an SSV, because the initial value of the SSV is zero and therefore known, Eve can send a SET_SSV that will pass the digest verification check. However, because the new connection has not been associated with the session, the SET_SSV is rejected for that reason.
In summary, an attacker's disruption of state when SP4_SSV protection is in use is limited to the formative period of a client ID, its first session, and the establishment of the SSV. Once a non- malicious user uses the client ID, the client quickly detects any hijack and rectifies the situation. Once a non-malicious user successfully modifies the SSV, the attacker cannot use NFSv4.1 operations to disrupt the non-malicious user.
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Note that neither the SP4_MACH_CRED nor SP4_SSV protection approaches prevent hijacking of a transport connection that has previously been associated with a session. If the goal of a counter-threat strategy is to prevent connection hijacking, the use of IPsec is RECOMMENDED.
If a connection hijack occurs, the hijacker could in theory change locking state and negatively impact the service to legitimate clients. However, if the server is configured to require the use of RPCSEC_GSS with integrity or privacy on the affected file objects, and if EXCHGID4_FLAG_BIND_PRINC_STATEID capability (Section 18.35) is in force, this will thwart unauthorized attempts to change locking state.
2.10.9. The Secret State Verifier (SSV) GSS Mechanism
The SSV provides the secret key for a GSS mechanism internal to NFSv4.1 that NFSv4.1 uses for state protection. Contexts for this mechanism are not established via the RPCSEC_GSS protocol. Instead, the contexts are automatically created when EXCHANGE_ID specifies SP4_SSV protection. The only tokens defined are the PerMsgToken (emitted by GSS_GetMIC) and the SealedMessage token (emitted by GSS_Wrap).
The mechanism OID for the SSV mechanism is iso.org.dod.internet.private.enterprise.Michael Eisler.nfs.ssv_mech (1.3.6.1.4.1.28882.1.1). While the SSV mechanism does not define any initial context tokens, the OID can be used to let servers indicate that the SSV mechanism is acceptable whenever the client sends a SECINFO or SECINFO_NO_NAME operation (see Section 2.6).
The SSV mechanism defines four subkeys derived from the SSV value. Each time SET_SSV is invoked, the subkeys are recalculated by the client and server. The calculation of each of the four subkeys depends on each of the four respective ssv_subkey4 enumerated values. The calculation uses the HMAC [11] algorithm, using the current SSV as the key, the one-way hash algorithm as negotiated by EXCHANGE_ID, and the input text as represented by the XDR encoded enumeration value for that subkey of data type ssv_subkey4. If the length of the output of the HMAC algorithm exceeds the length of key of the encryption algorithm (which is also negotiated by EXCHANGE_ID), then the subkey MUST be truncated from the HMAC output, i.e., if the subkey is of N bytes long, then the first N bytes of the HMAC output MUST be used for the subkey. The specification of EXCHANGE_ID states that the length of the output of the HMAC algorithm MUST NOT be less than the length of subkey needed for the encryption algorithm (see Section 18.35).
The subkey derived from SSV4_SUBKEY_MIC_I2T is used for calculating message integrity codes (MICs) that originate from the NFSv4.1 client, whether as part of a request over the fore channel or a response over the backchannel. The subkey derived from SSV4_SUBKEY_MIC_T2I is used for MICs originating from the NFSv4.1 server. The subkey derived from SSV4_SUBKEY_SEAL_I2T is used for encryption text originating from the NFSv4.1 client, and the subkey derived from SSV4_SUBKEY_SEAL_T2I is used for encryption text originating from the NFSv4.1 server.
The PerMsgToken description is based on an XDR definition:
The field smt_hmac is an HMAC calculated by using the subkey derived from SSV4_SUBKEY_MIC_I2T or SSV4_SUBKEY_MIC_T2I as the key, the one- way hash algorithm as negotiated by EXCHANGE_ID, and the input text as represented by data of type ssv_mic_plain_tkn4. The field smpt_ssv_seq is the same as smt_ssv_seq. The field smpt_orig_plain is the "message" input passed to GSS_GetMIC() (see Section 2.3.1 of [7]). The caller of GSS_GetMIC() provides a pointer to a buffer containing the plain text. The SSV mechanism's entry point for GSS_GetMIC() encodes this into an opaque array, and the encoding will include an initial four-byte length, plus any necessary padding. Prepended to this will be the XDR encoded value of smpt_ssv_seq, thus making up an XDR encoding of a value of data type ssv_mic_plain_tkn4, which in turn is the input into the HMAC.
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The token emitted by GSS_GetMIC() is XDR encoded and of XDR data type ssv_mic_tkn4. The field smt_ssv_seq comes from the SSV sequence number, which is equal to one after SET_SSV (Section 18.47) is called the first time on a client ID. Thereafter, the SSV sequence number is incremented on each SET_SSV. Thus, smt_ssv_seq represents the version of the SSV at the time GSS_GetMIC() was called. As noted in Section 18.35, the client and server can maintain multiple concurrent versions of the SSV. This allows the SSV to be changed without serializing all RPC calls that use the SSV mechanism with SET_SSV operations. Once the HMAC is calculated, it is XDR encoded into smt_hmac, which will include an initial four-byte length, and any necessary padding. Prepended to this will be the XDR encoded value of smt_ssv_seq.
The SealedMessage description is based on an XDR definition:
/* Input for computing ssct_encr_data and ssct_hmac */ struct ssv_seal_plain_tkn4 { opaque sspt_confounder<>; uint32_t sspt_ssv_seq; opaque sspt_orig_plain<>; opaque sspt_pad<>; };
The token emitted by GSS_Wrap() is XDR encoded and of XDR data type ssv_seal_cipher_tkn4.
The ssct_ssv_seq field has the same meaning as smt_ssv_seq.
The ssct_encr_data field is the result of encrypting a value of the XDR encoded data type ssv_seal_plain_tkn4. The encryption key is the subkey derived from SSV4_SUBKEY_SEAL_I2T or SSV4_SUBKEY_SEAL_T2I, and the encryption algorithm is that negotiated by EXCHANGE_ID.
The ssct_iv field is the initialization vector (IV) for the encryption algorithm (if applicable) and is sent in clear text. The content and size of the IV MUST comply with the specification of the encryption algorithm. For example, the id-aes256-CBC algorithm MUST
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use a 16-byte initialization vector (IV), which MUST be unpredictable for each instance of a value of data type ssv_seal_plain_tkn4 that is encrypted with a particular SSV key.
The ssct_hmac field is the result of computing an HMAC using the value of the XDR encoded data type ssv_seal_plain_tkn4 as the input text. The key is the subkey derived from SSV4_SUBKEY_MIC_I2T or SSV4_SUBKEY_MIC_T2I, and the one-way hash algorithm is that negotiated by EXCHANGE_ID.
The sspt_confounder field is a random value.
The sspt_ssv_seq field is the same as ssvt_ssv_seq.
The field sspt_orig_plain field is the original plaintext and is the "input_message" input passed to GSS_Wrap() (see Section 2.3.3 of [7]). As with the handling of the plaintext by the SSV mechanism's GSS_GetMIC() entry point, the entry point for GSS_Wrap() expects a pointer to the plaintext, and will XDR encode an opaque array into sspt_orig_plain representing the plain text, along with the other fields of an instance of data type ssv_seal_plain_tkn4.
The sspt_pad field is present to support encryption algorithms that require inputs to be in fixed-sized blocks. The content of sspt_pad is zero filled except for the length. Beware that the XDR encoding of ssv_seal_plain_tkn4 contains three variable-length arrays, and so each array consumes four bytes for an array length, and each array that follows the length is always padded to a multiple of four bytes per the XDR standard.
For example, suppose the encryption algorithm uses 16-byte blocks, and the sspt_confounder is three bytes long, and the sspt_orig_plain field is 15 bytes long. The XDR encoding of sspt_confounder uses eight bytes (4 + 3 + 1 byte pad), the XDR encoding of sspt_ssv_seq uses four bytes, the XDR encoding of sspt_orig_plain uses 20 bytes (4 + 15 + 1 byte pad), and the smallest XDR encoding of the sspt_pad field is four bytes. This totals 36 bytes. The next multiple of 16 is 48; thus, the length field of sspt_pad needs to be set to 12 bytes, or a total encoding of 16 bytes. The total number of XDR encoded bytes is thus 8 + 4 + 20 + 16 = 48.
GSS_Wrap() emits a token that is an XDR encoding of a value of data type ssv_seal_cipher_tkn4. Note that regardless of whether or not the caller of GSS_Wrap() requests confidentiality, the token always has confidentiality. This is because the SSV mechanism is for RPCSEC_GSS, and RPCSEC_GSS never produces GSS_wrap() tokens without confidentiality.
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There is one SSV per client ID. There is a single GSS context for a client ID / SSV pair. All SSV mechanism RPCSEC_GSS handles of a client ID / SSV pair share the same GSS context. SSV GSS contexts do not expire except when the SSV is destroyed (causes would include the client ID being destroyed or a server restart). Since one purpose of context expiration is to replace keys that have been in use for "too long", hence vulnerable to compromise by brute force or accident, the client can replace the SSV key by sending periodic SET_SSV operations, which is done by cycling through different users' RPCSEC_GSS credentials. This way, the SSV is replaced without destroying the SSV's GSS contexts.
SSV RPCSEC_GSS handles can be expired or deleted by the server at any time, and the EXCHANGE_ID operation can be used to create more SSV RPCSEC_GSS handles. Expiration of SSV RPCSEC_GSS handles does not imply that the SSV or its GSS context has expired.
The client MUST establish an SSV via SET_SSV before the SSV GSS context can be used to emit tokens from GSS_Wrap() and GSS_GetMIC(). If SET_SSV has not been successfully called, attempts to emit tokens MUST fail.
The SSV mechanism does not support replay detection and sequencing in its tokens because RPCSEC_GSS does not use those features (See Section 5.2.2, "Context Creation Requests", in [4]). However, Section 2.10.10 discusses special considerations for the SSV mechanism when used with RPCSEC_GSS.
2.10.10. Security Considerations for RPCSEC_GSS When Using the SSV Mechanism
When a client ID is created with SP4_SSV state protection (see Section 18.35), the client is permitted to associate multiple RPCSEC_GSS handles with the single SSV GSS context (see Section 2.10.9). Because of the way RPCSEC_GSS (both version 1 and version 2, see [4] and [12]) calculate the verifier of the reply, special care must be taken by the implementation of the NFSv4.1 client to prevent attacks by a man-in-the-middle. The verifier of an RPCSEC_GSS reply is the output of GSS_GetMIC() applied to the input value of the seq_num field of the RPCSEC_GSS credential (data type rpc_gss_cred_ver_1_t) (see Section 5.3.3.2 of [4]). If multiple RPCSEC_GSS handles share the same GSS context, then if one handle is used to send a request with the same seq_num value as another handle, an attacker could block the reply, and replace it with the verifier used for the other handle.
There are multiple ways to prevent the attack on the SSV RPCSEC_GSS verifier in the reply. The simplest is believed to be as follows.
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o Each time one or more new SSV RPCSEC_GSS handles are created via EXCHANGE_ID, the client SHOULD send a SET_SSV operation to modify the SSV. By changing the SSV, the new handles will not result in the re-use of an SSV RPCSEC_GSS verifier in a reply.
o When a requester decides to use N SSV RPCSEC_GSS handles, it SHOULD assign a unique and non-overlapping range of seq_nums to each SSV RPCSEC_GSS handle. The size of each range SHOULD be equal to MAXSEQ / N (see Section 5 of [4] for the definition of MAXSEQ). When an SSV RPCSEC_GSS handle reaches its maximum, it SHOULD force the replier to destroy the handle by sending a NULL RPC request with seq_num set to MAXSEQ + 1 (see Section 5.3.3.3 of [4]).
o When the requester wants to increase or decrease N, it SHOULD force the replier to destroy all N handles by sending a NULL RPC request on each handle with seq_num set to MAXSEQ + 1. If the requester is the client, it SHOULD send a SET_SSV operation before using new handles. If the requester is the server, then the client SHOULD send a SET_SSV operation when it detects that the server has forced it to destroy a backchannel's SSV RPCSEC_GSS handle. By sending a SET_SSV operation, the SSV will change, and so the attacker will be unavailable to successfully replay a previous verifier in a reply to the requester.
Note that if the replier carefully creates the SSV RPCSEC_GSS handles, the related risk of a man-in-the-middle splicing a forged SSV RPCSEC_GSS credential with a verifier for another handle does not exist. This is because the verifier in an RPCSEC_GSS request is computed from input that includes both the RPCSEC_GSS handle and seq_num (see Section 5.3.1 of [4]). Provided the replier takes care to avoid re-using the value of an RPCSEC_GSS handle that it creates, such as by including a generation number in the handle, the man-in- the-middle will not be able to successfully replay a previous verifier in the request to a replier.
The server has the primary obligation to monitor the state of backchannel resources that the client has created for the server (RPCSEC_GSS contexts and backchannel connections). If these resources vanish, the server takes action as specified in Section 2.10.13.2.
The client SHOULD honor the following obligations in order to utilize the session:
o Keep a necessary session from going idle on the server. A client that requires a session but nonetheless is not sending operations risks having the session be destroyed by the server. This is because sessions consume resources, and resource limitations may force the server to cull an inactive session. A server MAY consider a session to be inactive if the client has not used the session before the session inactivity timer (Section 2.10.12) has expired.
o Destroy the session when not needed. If a client has multiple sessions, one of which has no requests waiting for replies, and has been idle for some period of time, it SHOULD destroy the session.
o Maintain GSS contexts and RPCSEC_GSS handles for the backchannel. If the client requires the server to use the RPCSEC_GSS security flavor for callbacks, then it needs to be sure the RPCSEC_GSS handles and/or their GSS contexts that are handed to the server via BACKCHANNEL_CTL or CREATE_SESSION are unexpired.
o Preserve a connection for a backchannel. The server requires a backchannel in order to gracefully recall recallable state or notify the client of certain events. Note that if the connection is not being used for the fore channel, there is no way for the client to tell if the connection is still alive (e.g., the server restarted without sending a disconnect). The onus is on the server, not the client, to determine if the backchannel's connection is alive, and to indicate in the response to a SEQUENCE operation when the last connection associated with a session's backchannel has disconnected.
2.10.11.3. Steps the Client Takes to Establish a Session
If the client does not have a client ID, the client sends EXCHANGE_ID to establish a client ID. If it opts for SP4_MACH_CRED or SP4_SSV protection, in the spo_must_enforce list of operations, it SHOULD at minimum specify CREATE_SESSION, DESTROY_SESSION, BIND_CONN_TO_SESSION, BACKCHANNEL_CTL, and DESTROY_CLIENTID. If it opts for SP4_SSV protection, the client needs to ask for SSV-based RPCSEC_GSS handles.
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The client uses the client ID to send a CREATE_SESSION on a connection to the server. The results of CREATE_SESSION indicate whether or not the server will persist the session reply cache through a server that has restarted, and the client notes this for future reference.
If the client specified SP4_SSV state protection when the client ID was created, then it SHOULD send SET_SSV in the first COMPOUND after the session is created. Each time a new principal goes to use the client ID, it SHOULD send a SET_SSV again.
If the client wants to use delegations, layouts, directory notifications, or any other state that requires a backchannel, then it needs to add a connection to the backchannel if CREATE_SESSION did not already do so. The client creates a connection, and calls BIND_CONN_TO_SESSION to associate the connection with the session and the session's backchannel. If CREATE_SESSION did not already do so, the client MUST tell the server what security is required in order for the client to accept callbacks. The client does this via BACKCHANNEL_CTL. If the client selected SP4_MACH_CRED or SP4_SSV protection when it called EXCHANGE_ID, then the client SHOULD specify that the backchannel use RPCSEC_GSS contexts for security.
If the client wants to use additional connections for the backchannel, then it needs to call BIND_CONN_TO_SESSION on each connection it wants to use with the session. If the client wants to use additional connections for the fore channel, then it needs to call BIND_CONN_TO_SESSION if it specified SP4_SSV or SP4_MACH_CRED state protection when the client ID was created.
At this point, the session has reached steady state.
The server MAY maintain a session inactivity timer for each session. If the session inactivity timer expires, then the server MAY destroy the session. To avoid losing a session due to inactivity, the client MUST renew the session inactivity timer. The length of session inactivity timer MUST NOT be less than the lease_time attribute (Section 5.8.1.11). As with lease renewal (Section 8.3), when the server receives a SEQUENCE operation, it resets the session inactivity timer, and MUST NOT allow the timer to expire while the rest of the operations in the COMPOUND procedure's request are still executing. Once the last operation has finished, the server MUST set the session inactivity timer to expire no sooner than the sum of the current time and the value of the lease_time attribute.
The following events require client action to recover.
2.10.13.1.1. RPCSEC_GSS Context Loss by Callback Path
If all RPCSEC_GSS handles granted by the client to the server for callback use have expired, the client MUST establish a new handle via BACKCHANNEL_CTL. The sr_status_flags field of the SEQUENCE results indicates when callback handles are nearly expired, or fully expired (see Section 18.46.3).
If the client loses the last connection of the session and wants to retain the session, then it needs to create a new connection, and if, when the client ID was created, BIND_CONN_TO_SESSION was specified in the spo_must_enforce list, the client MUST use BIND_CONN_TO_SESSION to associate the connection with the session.
If there was a request outstanding at the time of connection loss, then if the client wants to continue to use the session, it MUST retry the request, as described in Section 2.10.6.2. Note that it is not necessary to retry requests over a connection with the same source network address or the same destination network address as the lost connection. As long as the session ID, slot ID, and sequence ID in the retry match that of the original request, the server will recognize the request as a retry if it executed the request prior to disconnect.
If the connection that was lost was the last one associated with the backchannel, and the client wants to retain the backchannel and/or prevent revocation of recallable state, the client needs to reconnect, and if it does, it MUST associate the connection to the session and backchannel via BIND_CONN_TO_SESSION. The server SHOULD indicate when it has no callback connection via the sr_status_flags result from SEQUENCE.
Via the sr_status_flags result of the SEQUENCE operation or other means, the client will learn if some or all of the RPCSEC_GSS contexts it assigned to the backchannel have been lost. If the client wants to retain the backchannel and/or not put recallable state subject to revocation, the client needs to use BACKCHANNEL_CTL to assign new contexts.
The replier might lose a record of the session. Causes include:
o Replier failure and restart.
o A catastrophe that causes the reply cache to be corrupted or lost on the media on which it was stored. This applies even if the replier indicated in the CREATE_SESSION results that it would persist the cache.
o The server purges the session of a client that has been inactive for a very extended period of time.
o As a result of configuration changes among a set of clustered servers, a network address previously connected to one server becomes connected to a different server that has no knowledge of the session in question. Such a configuration change will generally only happen when the original server ceases to function for a time.
Loss of reply cache is equivalent to loss of session. The replier indicates loss of session to the requester by returning NFS4ERR_BADSESSION on the next operation that uses the session ID that refers to the lost session.
After an event like a server restart, the client may have lost its connections. The client assumes for the moment that the session has not been lost. It reconnects, and if it specified connection association enforcement when the session was created, it invokes BIND_CONN_TO_SESSION using the session ID. Otherwise, it invokes SEQUENCE. If BIND_CONN_TO_SESSION or SEQUENCE returns NFS4ERR_BADSESSION, the client knows the session is not available to it when communicating with that network address. If the connection survives session loss, then the next SEQUENCE operation the client sends over the connection will get back NFS4ERR_BADSESSION. The client again knows the session was lost.
Here is one suggested algorithm for the client when it gets NFS4ERR_BADSESSION. It is not obligatory in that, if a client does not want to take advantage of such features as trunking, it may omit parts of it. However, it is a useful example that draws attention to various possible recovery issues:
1. If the client has other connections to other server network addresses associated with the same session, attempt a COMPOUND with a single operation, SEQUENCE, on each of the other connections.
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2. If the attempts succeed, the session is still alive, and this is a strong indicator that the server's network address has moved. The client might send an EXCHANGE_ID on the connection that returned NFS4ERR_BADSESSION to see if there are opportunities for client ID trunking (i.e., the same client ID and so_major are returned). The client might use DNS to see if the moved network address was replaced with another, so that the performance and availability benefits of session trunking can continue.
3. If the SEQUENCE requests fail with NFS4ERR_BADSESSION, then the session no longer exists on any of the server network addresses for which the client has connections associated with that session ID. It is possible the session is still alive and available on other network addresses. The client sends an EXCHANGE_ID on all the connections to see if the server owner is still listening on those network addresses. If the same server owner is returned but a new client ID is returned, this is a strong indicator of a server restart. If both the same server owner and same client ID are returned, then this is a strong indication that the server did delete the session, and the client will need to send a CREATE_SESSION if it has no other sessions for that client ID. If a different server owner is returned, the client can use DNS to find other network addresses. If it does not, or if DNS does not find any other addresses for the server, then the client will be unable to provide NFSv4.1 service, and fatal errors should be returned to processes that were using the server. If the client is using a "mount" paradigm, unmounting the server is advised.
4. If the client knows of no other connections associated with the session ID and server network addresses that are, or have been, associated with the session ID, then the client can use DNS to find other network addresses. If it does not, or if DNS does not find any other addresses for the server, then the client will be unable to provide NFSv4.1 service, and fatal errors should be returned to processes that were using the server. If the client is using a "mount" paradigm, unmounting the server is advised.
If there is a reconfiguration event that results in the same network address being assigned to servers where the eir_server_scope value is different, it cannot be guaranteed that a session ID generated by the first will be recognized as invalid by the first. Therefore, in managing server reconfigurations among servers with different server scope values, it is necessary to make sure that all clients have disconnected from the first server before effecting the reconfiguration. Nonetheless, clients should not assume that servers will always adhere to this requirement; clients MUST be prepared to deal with unexpected effects of server reconfigurations. Even where a session ID is inappropriately recognized as valid, it is likely
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either that the connection will not be recognized as valid or that a sequence value for a slot will not be correct. Therefore, when a client receives results indicating such unexpected errors, the use of EXCHANGE_ID to determine the current server configuration is RECOMMENDED.
A variation on the above is that after a server's network address moves, there is no NFSv4.1 server listening, e.g., no listener on port 2049. In this example, one of the following occur: the NFSv4 server returns NFS4ERR_MINOR_VERS_MISMATCH, the NFS server returns a PROG_MISMATCH error, the RPC listener on 2049 returns PROG_UNVAIL, or attempts to reconnect to the network address timeout. These SHOULD be treated as equivalent to SEQUENCE returning NFS4ERR_BADSESSION for these purposes.
When the client detects session loss, it needs to call CREATE_SESSION to recover. Any non-idempotent operations that were in progress might have been performed on the server at the time of session loss. The client has no general way to recover from this.
Note that loss of session does not imply loss of byte-range lock, open, delegation, or layout state because locks, opens, delegations, and layouts are tied to the client ID and depend on the client ID, not the session. Nor does loss of byte-range lock, open, delegation, or layout state imply loss of session state, because the session depends on the client ID; loss of client ID however does imply loss of session, byte-range lock, open, delegation, and layout state. See Section 8.4.2. A session can survive a server restart, but lock recovery may still be needed.
It is possible that CREATE_SESSION will fail with NFS4ERR_STALE_CLIENTID (e.g., the server restarts and does not preserve client ID state). If so, the client needs to call EXCHANGE_ID, followed by CREATE_SESSION.
If a client crashes and never comes back, it will never send EXCHANGE_ID with its old client owner. Thus, the server has session state that will never be used again. After an extended period of time, and if the server has resource constraints, it MAY destroy the old session as well as locking state.
To the server, the extended network partition may be no different from a client crash with no restart (see Section 2.10.13.2.2). Unless the server can discern that there is a network partition, it is free to treat the situation as if the client has crashed permanently.
If there were callback requests outstanding at the time of a connection loss, then the server MUST retry the requests, as described in Section 2.10.6.2. Note that it is not necessary to retry requests over a connection with the same source network address or the same destination network address as the lost connection. As long as the session ID, slot ID, and sequence ID in the retry match that of the original request, the callback target will recognize the request as a retry even if it did see the request prior to disconnect.
If the connection lost is the last one associated with the backchannel, then the server MUST indicate that in the sr_status_flags field of every SEQUENCE reply until the backchannel is re-established. There are two situations, each of which uses different status flags: no connectivity for the session's backchannel and no connectivity for any session backchannel of the client. See Section 18.46 for a description of the appropriate flags in sr_status_flags.
The server SHOULD monitor when the number of RPCSEC_GSS handles assigned to the backchannel reaches one, and when that one handle is near expiry (i.e., between one and two periods of lease time), and indicate so in the sr_status_flags field of all SEQUENCE replies. The server MUST indicate when all of the backchannel's assigned RPCSEC_GSS handles have expired via the sr_status_flags field of all SEQUENCE replies.
A client and server can potentially be a non-pNFS implementation, a metadata server implementation, a data server implementation, or two or three types of implementations. The EXCHGID4_FLAG_USE_NON_PNFS, EXCHGID4_FLAG_USE_PNFS_MDS, and EXCHGID4_FLAG_USE_PNFS_DS flags (not mutually exclusive) are passed in the EXCHANGE_ID arguments and results to allow the client to indicate how it wants to use sessions created under the client ID, and to allow the server to indicate how it will allow the sessions to be used. See Section 13.1 for pNFS sessions considerations.
3. Protocol Constants and Data Types
The syntax and semantics to describe the data types of the NFSv4.1 protocol are defined in the XDR RFC 4506 [2] and RPC RFC 5531 [3] documents. The next sections build upon the XDR data types to define constants, types, and structures specific to this protocol. The full list of XDR data types is in [13].
The nfstime4 data type gives the number of seconds and nanoseconds since midnight or zero hour January 1, 1970 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Values greater than zero for the seconds field denote dates after the zero hour January 1, 1970. Values less than zero for the seconds field denote dates before the zero hour January 1, 1970. In both cases, the nseconds field is to be added to the seconds field for the final time representation. For example, if the time to be represented is one-half second before zero hour January 1, 1970, the seconds field would have a value of negative one (-1) and the nseconds field would have a value of one-half second (500000000). Values greater than 999,999,999 for nseconds are invalid.
This data type is used to pass time and date information. A server converts to and from its local representation of time when processing time values, preserving as much accuracy as possible. If the precision of timestamps stored for a file system object is less than defined, loss of precision can occur. An adjunct time maintenance protocol is RECOMMENDED to reduce client and server time skew.
union settime4 switch (time_how4 set_it) { case SET_TO_CLIENT_TIME4: nfstime4 time; default: void; };
The time_how4 and settime4 data types are used for setting timestamps in file object attributes. If set_it is SET_TO_SERVER_TIME4, then the server uses its local representation of time for the time value.
The change_policy4 data type is used for the change_policy RECOMMENDED attribute. It provides change sequencing indication analogous to the change attribute. To enable the server to present a value valid across server re-initialization without requiring persistent storage, two 64-bit quantities are used, allowing one to be a server instance ID and the second to be incremented non- persistently, within a given server instance.
The fattr4 data type is used to represent file and directory attributes.
The bitmap is a counted array of 32-bit integers used to contain bit values. The position of the integer in the array that contains bit n can be computed from the expression (n / 32), and its bit within that integer is (n mod 32).
This data type is used with the CREATE, LINK, OPEN, REMOVE, and RENAME operations to let the client know the value of the change attribute for the directory in which the target file system object resides.
struct netaddr4 { /* see struct rpcb in RFC 1833 */ string na_r_netid<>; /* network id */ string na_r_addr<>; /* universal address */ };
The netaddr4 data type is used to identify network transport endpoints. The r_netid and r_addr fields respectively contain a netid and uaddr. The netid and uaddr concepts are defined in [15]. The netid and uaddr formats for TCP over IPv4 and TCP over IPv6 are defined in [15], specifically Tables 2 and 3 and Sections 5.2.3.3 and 5.2.3.4.
This data type is used for the first LOCK operation done for an open_owner4. It provides both the open_stateid and lock_owner, such that the transition is made from a valid open_stateid sequence to that of the new lock_stateid sequence. Using this mechanism avoids the confirmation of the lock_owner/lock_seqid pair since it is tied to established state in the form of the open_stateid/open_seqid.
This data type is used for the various state sharing mechanisms between the client and server. The client never modifies a value of data type stateid. The starting value of the "seqid" field is undefined. The server is required to increment the "seqid" field by one at each transition of the stateid. This is important since the client will inspect the seqid in OPEN stateids to determine the order of OPEN processing done by the server.
This data type indicates what type of layout is being used. The file server advertises the layout types it supports through the fs_layout_type file system attribute (Section 5.12.1). A client asks for layouts of a particular type in LAYOUTGET, and processes those layouts in its layout-type-specific logic.
The layouttype4 data type is 32 bits in length. The range represented by the layout type is split into three parts. Type 0x0 is reserved. Types within the range 0x00000001-0x7FFFFFFF are globally unique and are assigned according to the description in Section 22.4; they are maintained by IANA. Types within the range 0x80000000-0xFFFFFFFF are site specific and for private use only.
The LAYOUT4_NFSV4_1_FILES enumeration specifies that the NFSv4.1 file layout type, as defined in Section 13, is to be used. The LAYOUT4_OSD2_OBJECTS enumeration specifies that the object layout, as defined in [40], is to be used. Similarly, the LAYOUT4_BLOCK_VOLUME enumeration specifies that the block/volume layout, as defined in [41], is to be used.
Layout information includes device IDs that specify a storage device through a compact handle. Addressing and type information is obtained with the GETDEVICEINFO operation. Device IDs are not guaranteed to be valid across metadata server restarts. A device ID is unique per client ID and layout type. See Section 12.2.10 for more details.
The device address is used to set up a communication channel with the storage device. Different layout types will require different data types to define how they communicate with storage devices. The opaque da_addr_body field is interpreted based on the specified da_layout_type field.
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This document defines the device address for the NFSv4.1 file layout (see Section 13.3), which identifies a storage device by network IP address and port number. This is sufficient for the clients to communicate with the NFSv4.1 storage devices, and may be sufficient for other layout types as well. Device types for object-based storage devices and block storage devices (e.g., Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) volume labels) are defined by their respective layout specifications.
The loc_body field is interpreted based on the layout type (loc_type). This document defines the loc_body for the NFSv4.1 file layout type; see Section 13.3 for its definition.
The layout4 data type defines a layout for a file. The layout type specific data is opaque within lo_content. Since layouts are sub- dividable, the offset and length together with the file's filehandle, the client ID, iomode, and layout type identify the layout.
The layoutupdate4 data type is used by the client to return updated layout information to the metadata server via the LAYOUTCOMMIT (Section 18.42) operation. This data type provides a channel to pass layout type specific information (in field lou_body) back to the metadata server. For example, for the block/volume layout type, this could include the list of reserved blocks that were written. The contents of the opaque lou_body argument are determined by the layout
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type. The NFSv4.1 file-based layout does not use this data type; if lou_type is LAYOUT4_NFSV4_1_FILES, the lou_body field MUST have a zero length.
The layouthint4 data type is used by the client to pass in a hint about the type of layout it would like created for a particular file. It is the data type specified by the layout_hint attribute described in Section 5.12.4. The metadata server may ignore the hint or may selectively ignore fields within the hint. This hint should be provided at create time as part of the initial attributes within OPEN. The loh_body field is specific to the type of layout (loh_type). The NFSv4.1 file-based layout uses the nfsv4_1_file_layouthint4 data type as defined in Section 13.3.
The iomode specifies whether the client intends to just read or both read and write the data represented by the layout. While the LAYOUTIOMODE4_ANY iomode MUST NOT be used in the arguments to the LAYOUTGET operation, it MAY be used in the arguments to the LAYOUTRETURN and CB_LAYOUTRECALL operations. The LAYOUTIOMODE4_ANY iomode specifies that layouts pertaining to both LAYOUTIOMODE4_READ and LAYOUTIOMODE4_RW iomodes are being returned or recalled, respectively. The metadata server's use of the iomode may depend on the layout type being used. The storage devices MAY validate I/O accesses against the iomode and reject invalid accesses.
This data type is used to identify client and server implementation details. The nii_domain field is the DNS domain name with which the implementor is associated. The nii_name field is the product name of the implementation and is completely free form. It is RECOMMENDED that the nii_name be used to distinguish machine architecture, machine platforms, revisions, versions, and patch levels. The nii_date field is the timestamp of when the software instance was published or built.
This data type contains a list of hints specific to a layout type for helping the client determine when it should send I/O directly through the metadata server versus the storage devices. The data type consists of the layout type (thi_layout_type), a bitmap (thi_hintset) describing the set of hints supported by the server (they may differ based on the layout type), and a list of hints (thi_hintlist) whose content is determined by the hintset bitmap. See the mdsthreshold attribute for more details.
The thi_hintset field is a bitmap of the following values:
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+-------------------------+---+---------+---------------------------+ | name | # | Data | Description | | | | Type | | +-------------------------+---+---------+---------------------------+ | threshold4_read_size | 0 | length4 | If a file's length is | | | | | less than the value of | | | | | threshold4_read_size, | | | | | then it is RECOMMENDED | | | | | that the client read from | | | | | the file via the MDS and | | | | | not a storage device. | | threshold4_write_size | 1 | length4 | If a file's length is | | | | | less than the value of | | | | | threshold4_write_size, | | | | | then it is RECOMMENDED | | | | | that the client write to | | | | | the file via the MDS and | | | | | not a storage device. | | threshold4_read_iosize | 2 | length4 | For read I/O sizes below | | | | | this threshold, it is | | | | | RECOMMENDED to read data | | | | | through the MDS. | | threshold4_write_iosize | 3 | length4 | For write I/O sizes below | | | | | this threshold, it is | | | | | RECOMMENDED to write data | | | | | through the MDS. | +-------------------------+---+---------+---------------------------+
This data type holds an array of elements of data type threshold_item4, each of which is valid for a particular layout type. An array is necessary because a server can support multiple layout types for a single file.
4. Filehandles
The filehandle in the NFS protocol is a per-server unique identifier for a file system object. The contents of the filehandle are opaque to the client. Therefore, the server is responsible for translating the filehandle to an internal representation of the file system object.
The operations of the NFS protocol are defined in terms of one or more filehandles. Therefore, the client needs a filehandle to initiate communication with the server. With the NFSv3 protocol (RFC 1813 [31]), there exists an ancillary protocol to obtain this first filehandle. The MOUNT protocol, RPC program number 100005, provides the mechanism of translating a string-based file system pathname to a filehandle, which can then be used by the NFS protocols.
The MOUNT protocol has deficiencies in the area of security and use via firewalls. This is one reason that the use of the public filehandle was introduced in RFC 2054 [42] and RFC 2055 [43]. With the use of the public filehandle in combination with the LOOKUP operation in the NFSv3 protocol, it has been demonstrated that the MOUNT protocol is unnecessary for viable interaction between NFS client and server.
Therefore, the NFSv4.1 protocol will not use an ancillary protocol for translation from string-based pathnames to a filehandle. Two special filehandles will be used as starting points for the NFS client.
The first of the special filehandles is the ROOT filehandle. The ROOT filehandle is the "conceptual" root of the file system namespace at the NFS server. The client uses or starts with the ROOT filehandle by employing the PUTROOTFH operation. The PUTROOTFH operation instructs the server to set the "current" filehandle to the ROOT of the server's file tree. Once this PUTROOTFH operation is used, the client can then traverse the entirety of the server's file tree with the LOOKUP operation. A complete discussion of the server namespace is in Section 7.
The second special filehandle is the PUBLIC filehandle. Unlike the ROOT filehandle, the PUBLIC filehandle may be bound or represent an arbitrary file system object at the server. The server is responsible for this binding. It may be that the PUBLIC filehandle and the ROOT filehandle refer to the same file system object. However, it is up to the administrative software at the server and the policies of the server administrator to define the binding of the PUBLIC filehandle and server file system object. The client may not make any assumptions about this binding. The client uses the PUBLIC filehandle via the PUTPUBFH operation.
In the NFSv3 protocol, there was one type of filehandle with a single set of semantics. This type of filehandle is termed "persistent" in NFSv4.1. The semantics of a persistent filehandle remain the same as before. A new type of filehandle introduced in NFSv4.1 is the "volatile" filehandle, which attempts to accommodate certain server environments.
The volatile filehandle type was introduced to address server functionality or implementation issues that make correct implementation of a persistent filehandle infeasible. Some server environments do not provide a file-system-level invariant that can be used to construct a persistent filehandle. The underlying server file system may not provide the invariant or the server's file system programming interfaces may not provide access to the needed invariant. Volatile filehandles may ease the implementation of server functionality such as hierarchical storage management or file system reorganization or migration. However, the volatile filehandle increases the implementation burden for the client.
Since the client will need to handle persistent and volatile filehandles differently, a file attribute is defined that may be used by the client to determine the filehandle types being returned by the server.
The filehandle contains all the information the server needs to distinguish an individual file. To the client, the filehandle is opaque. The client stores filehandles for use in a later request and can compare two filehandles from the same server for equality by doing a byte-by-byte comparison. However, the client MUST NOT otherwise interpret the contents of filehandles. If two filehandles from the same server are equal, they MUST refer to the same file. Servers SHOULD try to maintain a one-to-one correspondence between filehandles and files, but this is not required. Clients MUST use filehandle comparisons only to improve performance, not for correct behavior. All clients need to be prepared for situations in which it cannot be determined whether two filehandles denote the same object and in such cases, avoid making invalid assumptions that might cause incorrect behavior. Further discussion of filehandle and attribute comparison in the context of data caching is presented in Section 10.3.4.
As an example, in the case that two different pathnames when traversed at the server terminate at the same file system object, the server SHOULD return the same filehandle for each path. This can
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occur if a hard link (see [6]) is used to create two file names that refer to the same underlying file object and associated data. For example, if paths /a/b/c and /a/d/c refer to the same file, the server SHOULD return the same filehandle for both pathnames' traversals.
A persistent filehandle is defined as having a fixed value for the lifetime of the file system object to which it refers. Once the server creates the filehandle for a file system object, the server MUST accept the same filehandle for the object for the lifetime of the object. If the server restarts, the NFS server MUST honor the same filehandle value as it did in the server's previous instantiation. Similarly, if the file system is migrated, the new NFS server MUST honor the same filehandle as the old NFS server.
The persistent filehandle will be become stale or invalid when the file system object is removed. When the server is presented with a persistent filehandle that refers to a deleted object, it MUST return an error of NFS4ERR_STALE. A filehandle may become stale when the file system containing the object is no longer available. The file system may become unavailable if it exists on removable media and the media is no longer available at the server or the file system in whole has been destroyed or the file system has simply been removed from the server's namespace (i.e., unmounted in a UNIX environment).
A volatile filehandle does not share the same longevity characteristics of a persistent filehandle. The server may determine that a volatile filehandle is no longer valid at many different points in time. If the server can definitively determine that a volatile filehandle refers to an object that has been removed, the server should return NFS4ERR_STALE to the client (as is the case for persistent filehandles). In all other cases where the server determines that a volatile filehandle can no longer be used, it should return an error of NFS4ERR_FHEXPIRED.
The REQUIRED attribute "fh_expire_type" is used by the client to determine what type of filehandle the server is providing for a particular file system. This attribute is a bitmask with the following values:
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FH4_PERSISTENT The value of FH4_PERSISTENT is used to indicate a persistent filehandle, which is valid until the object is removed from the file system. The server will not return NFS4ERR_FHEXPIRED for this filehandle. FH4_PERSISTENT is defined as a value in which none of the bits specified below are set.
FH4_VOLATILE_ANY The filehandle may expire at any time, except as specifically excluded (i.e., FH4_NO_EXPIRE_WITH_OPEN).
FH4_NOEXPIRE_WITH_OPEN May only be set when FH4_VOLATILE_ANY is set. If this bit is set, then the meaning of FH4_VOLATILE_ANY is qualified to exclude any expiration of the filehandle when it is open.
FH4_VOL_MIGRATION The filehandle will expire as a result of a file system transition (migration or replication), in those cases in which the continuity of filehandle use is not specified by handle class information within the fs_locations_info attribute. When this bit is set, clients without access to fs_locations_info information should assume that filehandles will expire on file system transitions.
FH4_VOL_RENAME The filehandle will expire during rename. This includes a rename by the requesting client or a rename by any other client. If FH4_VOL_ANY is set, FH4_VOL_RENAME is redundant.
Servers that provide volatile filehandles that can expire while open require special care as regards handling of RENAMEs and REMOVEs. This situation can arise if FH4_VOL_MIGRATION or FH4_VOL_RENAME is set, if FH4_VOLATILE_ANY is set and FH4_NOEXPIRE_WITH_OPEN is not set, or if a non-read-only file system has a transition target in a different handle class. In these cases, the server should deny a RENAME or REMOVE that would affect an OPEN file of any of the components leading to the OPEN file. In addition, the server should deny all RENAME or REMOVE requests during the grace period, in order to make sure that reclaims of files where filehandles may have expired do not do a reclaim for the wrong file.
Volatile filehandles are especially suitable for implementation of the pseudo file systems used to bridge exports. See Section 7.5 for a discussion of this.
4.3. One Method of Constructing a Volatile Filehandle
A volatile filehandle, while opaque to the client, could contain:
[volatile bit = 1 | server boot time | slot | generation number]
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o slot is an index in the server volatile filehandle table
o generation number is the generation number for the table entry/ slot
When the client presents a volatile filehandle, the server makes the following checks, which assume that the check for the volatile bit has passed. If the server boot time is less than the current server boot time, return NFS4ERR_FHEXPIRED. If slot is out of range, return NFS4ERR_BADHANDLE. If the generation number does not match, return NFS4ERR_FHEXPIRED.
When the server restarts, the table is gone (it is volatile).
If the volatile bit is 0, then it is a persistent filehandle with a different structure following it.
If possible, the client SHOULD recover from the receipt of an NFS4ERR_FHEXPIRED error. The client must take on additional responsibility so that it may prepare itself to recover from the expiration of a volatile filehandle. If the server returns persistent filehandles, the client does not need these additional steps.
For volatile filehandles, most commonly the client will need to store the component names leading up to and including the file system object in question. With these names, the client should be able to recover by finding a filehandle in the namespace that is still available or by starting at the root of the server's file system namespace.
If the expired filehandle refers to an object that has been removed from the file system, obviously the client will not be able to recover from the expired filehandle.
It is also possible that the expired filehandle refers to a file that has been renamed. If the file was renamed by another client, again it is possible that the original client will not be able to recover. However, in the case that the client itself is renaming the file and the file is open, it is possible that the client may be able to recover. The client can determine the new pathname based on the processing of the rename request. The client can then regenerate the new filehandle based on the new pathname. The client could also use the COMPOUND procedure to construct a series of operations like:
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RENAME A B LOOKUP B GETFH
Note that the COMPOUND procedure does not provide atomicity. This example only reduces the overhead of recovering from an expired filehandle.
5. File Attributes
To meet the requirements of extensibility and increased interoperability with non-UNIX platforms, attributes need to be handled in a flexible manner. The NFSv3 fattr3 structure contains a fixed list of attributes that not all clients and servers are able to support or care about. The fattr3 structure cannot be extended as new needs arise and it provides no way to indicate non-support. With the NFSv4.1 protocol, the client is able to query what attributes the server supports and construct requests with only those supported attributes (or a subset thereof).
To this end, attributes are divided into three groups: REQUIRED, RECOMMENDED, and named. Both REQUIRED and RECOMMENDED attributes are supported in the NFSv4.1 protocol by a specific and well-defined encoding and are identified by number. They are requested by setting a bit in the bit vector sent in the GETATTR request; the server response includes a bit vector to list what attributes were returned in the response. New REQUIRED or RECOMMENDED attributes may be added to the NFSv4 protocol as part of a new minor version by publishing a Standards Track RFC that allocates a new attribute number value and defines the encoding for the attribute. See Section 2.7 for further discussion.
Named attributes are accessed by the new OPENATTR operation, which accesses a hidden directory of attributes associated with a file system object. OPENATTR takes a filehandle for the object and returns the filehandle for the attribute hierarchy. The filehandle for the named attributes is a directory object accessible by LOOKUP or READDIR and contains files whose names represent the named attributes and whose data bytes are the value of the attribute. For example:
+----------+-----------+---------------------------------+ | LOOKUP | "foo" | ; look up file | | GETATTR | attrbits | | | OPENATTR | | ; access foo's named attributes | | LOOKUP | "x11icon" | ; look up specific attribute | | READ | 0,4096 | ; read stream of bytes | +----------+-----------+---------------------------------+
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Named attributes are intended for data needed by applications rather than by an NFS client implementation. NFS implementors are strongly encouraged to define their new attributes as RECOMMENDED attributes by bringing them to the IETF Standards Track process.
The set of attributes that are classified as REQUIRED is deliberately small since servers need to do whatever it takes to support them. A server should support as many of the RECOMMENDED attributes as possible but, by their definition, the server is not required to support all of them. Attributes are deemed REQUIRED if the data is both needed by a large number of clients and is not otherwise reasonably computable by the client when support is not provided on the server.
Note that the hidden directory returned by OPENATTR is a convenience for protocol processing. The client should not make any assumptions about the server's implementation of named attributes and whether or not the underlying file system at the server has a named attribute directory. Therefore, operations such as SETATTR and GETATTR on the named attribute directory are undefined.
These MUST be supported by every NFSv4.1 client and server in order to ensure a minimum level of interoperability. The server MUST store and return these attributes, and the client MUST be able to function with an attribute set limited to these attributes. With just the REQUIRED attributes some client functionality may be impaired or limited in some ways. A client may ask for any of these attributes to be returned by setting a bit in the GETATTR request, and the server MUST return their value.
These attributes are understood well enough to warrant support in the NFSv4.1 protocol. However, they may not be supported on all clients and servers. A client may ask for any of these attributes to be returned by setting a bit in the GETATTR request but must handle the case where the server does not return them. A client MAY ask for the set of attributes the server supports and SHOULD NOT request attributes the server does not support. A server should be tolerant of requests for unsupported attributes and simply not return them rather than considering the request an error. It is expected that servers will support all attributes they comfortably can and only fail to support attributes that are difficult to support in their operating environments. A server should provide attributes whenever they don't have to "tell lies" to the client. For example, a file modification time should be either an accurate time or should not be
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supported by the server. At times this will be difficult for clients, but a client is better positioned to decide whether and how to fabricate or construct an attribute or whether to do without the attribute.
These attributes are not supported by direct encoding in the NFSv4 protocol but are accessed by string names rather than numbers and correspond to an uninterpreted stream of bytes that are stored with the file system object. The namespace for these attributes may be accessed by using the OPENATTR operation. The OPENATTR operation returns a filehandle for a virtual "named attribute directory", and further perusal and modification of the namespace may be done using operations that work on more typical directories. In particular, READDIR may be used to get a list of such named attributes, and LOOKUP and OPEN may select a particular attribute. Creation of a new named attribute may be the result of an OPEN specifying file creation.
Once an OPEN is done, named attributes may be examined and changed by normal READ and WRITE operations using the filehandles and stateids returned by OPEN.
Named attributes and the named attribute directory may have their own (non-named) attributes. Each of these objects MUST have all of the REQUIRED attributes and may have additional RECOMMENDED attributes. However, the set of attributes for named attributes and the named attribute directory need not be, and typically will not be, as large as that for other objects in that file system.
Named attributes and the named attribute directory might be the target of delegations (in the case of the named attribute directory, these will be directory delegations). However, since granting delegations is at the server's discretion, a server need not support delegations on named attributes or the named attribute directory.
It is RECOMMENDED that servers support arbitrary named attributes. A client should not depend on the ability to store any named attributes in the server's file system. If a server does support named attributes, a client that is also able to handle them should be able to copy a file's data and metadata with complete transparency from one location to another; this would imply that names allowed for regular directory entries are valid for named attribute names as well.
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In NFSv4.1, the structure of named attribute directories is restricted in a number of ways, in order to prevent the development of non-interoperable implementations in which some servers support a fully general hierarchical directory structure for named attributes while others support a limited but adequate structure for named attributes. In such an environment, clients or applications might come to depend on non-portable extensions. The restrictions are:
o CREATE is not allowed in a named attribute directory. Thus, such objects as symbolic links and special files are not allowed to be named attributes. Further, directories may not be created in a named attribute directory, so no hierarchical structure of named attributes for a single object is allowed.
o If OPENATTR is done on a named attribute directory or on a named attribute, the server MUST return NFS4ERR_WRONG_TYPE.
o Doing a RENAME of a named attribute to a different named attribute directory or to an ordinary (i.e., non-named-attribute) directory is not allowed.
o Creating hard links between named attribute directories or between named attribute directories and ordinary directories is not allowed.
Names of attributes will not be controlled by this document or other IETF Standards Track documents. See Section 22.1 for further discussion.
Each of the REQUIRED and RECOMMENDED attributes can be classified in one of three categories: per server (i.e., the value of the attribute will be the same for all file objects that share the same server owner; see Section 2.5 for a definition of server owner), per file system (i.e., the value of the attribute will be the same for some or all file objects that share the same fsid attribute (Section 5.8.1.9) and server owner), or per file system object. Note that it is possible that some per file system attributes may vary within the file system, depending on the value of the "homogeneous" (Section 5.8.2.16) attribute. Note that the attributes time_access_set and time_modify_set are not listed in this section because they are write-only attributes corresponding to time_access and time_modify, and are used in a special instance of SETATTR.
Some REQUIRED and RECOMMENDED attributes are set-only; i.e., they can be set via SETATTR but not retrieved via GETATTR. Similarly, some REQUIRED and RECOMMENDED attributes are get-only; i.e., they can be retrieved via GETATTR but not set via SETATTR. If a client attempts to set a get-only attribute or get a set-only attributes, the server MUST return NFS4ERR_INVAL.
5.6.REQUIRED Attributes - List and Definition References
The list of REQUIRED attributes appears in Table 2. The meaning of the columns of the table are:
o Name: The name of the attribute.
o Id: The number assigned to the attribute. In the event of conflicts between the assigned number and [13], the latter is likely authoritative, but should be resolved with Errata to this document and/or [13]. See [44] for the Errata process.
o Data Type: The XDR data type of the attribute.
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o Acc: Access allowed to the attribute. R means read-only (GETATTR may retrieve, SETATTR may not set). W means write-only (SETATTR may set, GETATTR may not retrieve). R W means read/write (GETATTR may retrieve, SETATTR may set).
o Defined in: The section of this specification that describes the attribute.
+--------------------+----+------------+-----+------------------+ | Name | Id | Data Type | Acc | Defined in: | +--------------------+----+------------+-----+------------------+ | supported_attrs | 0 | bitmap4 | R | Section 5.8.1.1 | | type | 1 | nfs_ftype4 | R | Section 5.8.1.2 | | fh_expire_type | 2 | uint32_t | R | Section 5.8.1.3 | | change | 3 | uint64_t | R | Section 5.8.1.4 | | size | 4 | uint64_t | R W | Section 5.8.1.5 | | link_support | 5 | bool | R | Section 5.8.1.6 | | symlink_support | 6 | bool | R | Section 5.8.1.7 | | named_attr | 7 | bool | R | Section 5.8.1.8 | | fsid | 8 | fsid4 | R | Section 5.8.1.9 | | unique_handles | 9 | bool | R | Section 5.8.1.10 | | lease_time | 10 | nfs_lease4 | R | Section 5.8.1.11 | | rdattr_error | 11 | enum | R | Section 5.8.1.12 | | filehandle | 19 | nfs_fh4 | R | Section 5.8.1.13 | | suppattr_exclcreat | 75 | bitmap4 | R | Section 5.8.1.14 | +--------------------+----+------------+-----+------------------+
Table 2
5.7.RECOMMENDED Attributes - List and Definition References
The RECOMMENDED attributes are defined in Table 3. The meanings of the column headers are the same as Table 2; see Section 5.6 for the meanings.
The bit vector that would retrieve all REQUIRED and RECOMMENDED attributes that are supported for this object. The scope of this attribute applies to all objects with a matching fsid.
A value created by the server that the client can use to determine if file data, directory contents, or attributes of the object have been modified. The server may return the object's time_metadata attribute for this attribute's value, but only if the file system object cannot be updated more frequently than the resolution of time_metadata.
Unique file system identifier for the file system holding this object. The fsid attribute has major and minor components, each of which are of data type uint64_t.
The bit vector that would set all REQUIRED and RECOMMENDED attributes that are supported by the EXCLUSIVE4_1 method of file creation via the OPEN operation. The scope of this attribute applies to all objects with a matching fsid.
5.8.2. Definitions of Uncategorized RECOMMENDED Attributes
The definitions of most of the RECOMMENDED attributes follow. Collections that share a common category are defined in other sections.
A value created by the server that the client can use to determine if some server policy related to the current file system has been subject to change. If the value remains the same, then the client can be sure that the values of the attributes related to fs location and the fss_type field of the fs_status attribute have not changed. On the other hand, a change in this value does necessarily imply a change in policy. It is up to the client to interrogate the server to determine if some policy relevant to it has changed. See Section 3.3.6 for details.
This attribute MUST change when the value returned by the fs_locations or fs_locations_info attribute changes, when a file system goes from read-only to writable or vice versa, or when the allowable set of security flavors for the file system or any part thereof is changed.
If TRUE, the server will reject any request to change either the owner or the group associated with a file if the caller is not a privileged user (for example, "root" in UNIX operating environments or, in Windows 2000, the "Take Ownership" privilege).
Locations where this file system may be found. If the server returns NFS4ERR_MOVED as an error, this attribute MUST be supported. See Section 11.9 for more details.
TRUE, if this object's file system is homogeneous; i.e., all objects in the file system (all objects on the server with the same fsid) have common values for all per-file-system attributes.
Maximum amount of data the WRITE operation will accept for this object. This attribute SHOULD be supported if the file is writable. Lack of this attribute can lead to the client either wasting bandwidth or not receiving the best performance.
Like fileid, but if the target filehandle is the root of a file system, this attribute represents the fileid of the underlying directory.
UNIX-based operating environments connect a file system into the namespace by connecting (mounting) the file system onto the existing file object (the mount point, usually a directory) of an existing file system. When the mount point's parent directory is read via an API like readdir(), the return results are directory entries, each with a component name and a fileid. The fileid of the mount point's directory entry will be different from the fileid that the stat() system call returns. The stat() system call is returning the fileid of the root of the mounted file system, whereas readdir() is returning the fileid that stat() would have returned before any file systems were mounted on the mount point.
Unlike NFSv3, NFSv4.1 allows a client's LOOKUP request to cross other file systems. The client detects the file system crossing whenever the filehandle argument of LOOKUP has an fsid attribute different from that of the filehandle returned by LOOKUP. A UNIX-based client will consider this a "mount point crossing". UNIX has a legacy scheme for allowing a process to determine its current working directory. This relies on readdir() of a mount point's parent and stat() of the mount point returning fileids as previously described. The mounted_on_fileid attribute corresponds to the fileid that readdir() would have returned as described previously.
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While the NFSv4.1 client could simply fabricate a fileid corresponding to what mounted_on_fileid provides (and if the server does not support mounted_on_fileid, the client has no choice), there is a risk that the client will generate a fileid that conflicts with one that is already assigned to another object in the file system. Instead, if the server can provide the mounted_on_fileid, the potential for client operational problems in this area is eliminated.
If the server detects that there is no mounted point at the target file object, then the value for mounted_on_fileid that it returns is the same as that of the fileid attribute.
The mounted_on_fileid attribute is RECOMMENDED, so the server SHOULD provide it if possible, and for a UNIX-based server, this is straightforward. Usually, mounted_on_fileid will be requested during a READDIR operation, in which case it is trivial (at least for UNIX- based servers) to return mounted_on_fileid since it is equal to the fileid of a directory entry returned by readdir(). If mounted_on_fileid is requested in a GETATTR operation, the server should obey an invariant that has it returning a value that is equal to the file object's entry in the object's parent directory, i.e., what readdir() would have returned. Some operating environments allow a series of two or more file systems to be mounted onto a single mount point. In this case, for the server to obey the aforementioned invariant, it will need to find the base mount point, and not the intermediate mount points.
The value in bytes that represents the amount of additional disk space beyond the current allocation that can be allocated to this file or directory before further allocations will be refused. It is understood that this space may be consumed by allocations to other files or directories.
The value in bytes that represents the amount of additional disk space that can be allocated to this file or directory before the user may reasonably be warned. It is understood that this space may be consumed by allocations to other files or directories though there is a rule as to which other files or directories.
The value in bytes that represents the amount of disk space used by this file or directory and possibly a number of other similar files or directories, where the set of "similar" meets at least the criterion that allocating space to any file or directory in the set will reduce the "quota_avail_hard" of every other file or directory in the set.
Note that there may be a number of distinct but overlapping sets of files or directories for which a quota_used value is maintained, e.g., "all files with a given owner", "all files with a given group owner", etc. The server is at liberty to choose any of those sets when providing the content of the quota_used attribute, but should do so in a repeatable way. The rule may be configured per file system or may be "choose the set with the smallest quota".
Raw device number of file of type NF4BLK or NF4CHR. The device number is split into major and minor numbers. If the file's type attribute is not NF4BLK or NF4CHR, the value returned SHOULD NOT be considered useful.
The time_access attribute represents the time of last access to the object by a READ operation sent to the server. The notion of what is an "access" depends on the server's operating environment and/or the server's file system semantics. For example, for servers obeying Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX) semantics, time_access would be updated only by the READ and READDIR operations and not any of the operations that modify the content of the object [16], [17], [18]. Of course, setting the corresponding time_access_set attribute is another way to modify the time_access attribute.
Whenever the file object resides on a writable file system, the server should make its best efforts to record time_access into stable storage. However, to mitigate the performance effects of doing so, and most especially whenever the server is satisfying the read of the object's content from its cache, the server MAY cache access time updates and lazily write them to stable storage. It is also acceptable to give administrators of the server the option to disable time_access updates.
The RECOMMENDED attributes "owner" and "owner_group" (and also users and groups within the "acl" attribute) are represented in terms of a UTF-8 string. To avoid a representation that is tied to a particular underlying implementation at the client or server, the use of the UTF-8 string has been chosen. Note that Section 6.1 of RFC 2624 [45] provides additional rationale. It is expected that the client and server will have their own local representation of owner and owner_group that is used for local storage or presentation to the end user. Therefore, it is expected that when these attributes are transferred between the client and server, the local representation is translated to a syntax of the form "user@dns_domain". This will allow for a client and server that do not use the same local representation the ability to translate to a common syntax that can be interpreted by both.
Similarly, security principals may be represented in different ways by different security mechanisms. Servers normally translate these representations into a common format, generally that used by local storage, to serve as a means of identifying the users corresponding to these security principals. When these local identifiers are translated to the form of the owner attribute, associated with files created by such principals, they identify, in a common format, the users associated with each corresponding set of security principals.
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The translation used to interpret owner and group strings is not specified as part of the protocol. This allows various solutions to be employed. For example, a local translation table may be consulted that maps a numeric identifier to the user@dns_domain syntax. A name service may also be used to accomplish the translation. A server may provide a more general service, not limited by any particular translation (which would only translate a limited set of possible strings) by storing the owner and owner_group attributes in local storage without any translation or it may augment a translation method by storing the entire string for attributes for which no translation is available while using the local representation for those cases in which a translation is available.
Servers that do not provide support for all possible values of the owner and owner_group attributes SHOULD return an error (NFS4ERR_BADOWNER) when a string is presented that has no translation, as the value to be set for a SETATTR of the owner, owner_group, or acl attributes. When a server does accept an owner or owner_group value as valid on a SETATTR (and similarly for the owner and group strings in an acl), it is promising to return that same string when a corresponding GETATTR is done. Configuration changes (including changes from the mapping of the string to the local representation) and ill-constructed name translations (those that contain aliasing) may make that promise impossible to honor. Servers should make appropriate efforts to avoid a situation in which these attributes have their values changed when no real change to ownership has occurred.
The "dns_domain" portion of the owner string is meant to be a DNS domain name, for example, user@example.org. Servers should accept as valid a set of users for at least one domain. A server may treat other domains as having no valid translations. A more general service is provided when a server is capable of accepting users for multiple domains, or for all domains, subject to security constraints.
In the case where there is no translation available to the client or server, the attribute value will be constructed without the "@". Therefore, the absence of the @ from the owner or owner_group attribute signifies that no translation was available at the sender and that the receiver of the attribute should not use that string as a basis for translation into its own internal format. Even though the attribute value cannot be translated, it may still be useful. In the case of a client, the attribute string may be used for local display of ownership.
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To provide a greater degree of compatibility with NFSv3, which identified users and groups by 32-bit unsigned user identifiers and group identifiers, owner and group strings that consist of decimal numeric values with no leading zeros can be given a special interpretation by clients and servers that choose to provide such support. The receiver may treat such a user or group string as representing the same user as would be represented by an NFSv3 uid or gid having the corresponding numeric value. A server is not obligated to accept such a string, but may return an NFS4ERR_BADOWNER instead. To avoid this mechanism being used to subvert user and group translation, so that a client might pass all of the owners and groups in numeric form, a server SHOULD return an NFS4ERR_BADOWNER error when there is a valid translation for the user or owner designated in this way. In that case, the client must use the appropriate name@domain string and not the special form for compatibility.
The owner string "nobody" may be used to designate an anonymous user, which will be associated with a file created by a security principal that cannot be mapped through normal means to the owner attribute. Users and implementations of NFSv4.1 SHOULD NOT use "nobody" to designate a real user whose access is not anonymous.
With respect to the case_insensitive and case_preserving attributes, each UCS-4 character (which UTF-8 encodes) can be mapped according to Appendix B.2 of RFC 3454 [19]. For general character handling and internationalization issues, see Section 14.
As described in Section 18.39, the client can request a minimum delay for notifications of changes to attributes, but the server is free to ignore what the client requests. The client can determine in advance what notification delays the server will accept by sending a GETATTR operation for either or both of two directory notification attributes. When the client calls the GET_DIR_DELEGATION operation and asks for attribute change notifications, it should request notification delays that are no less than the values in the server- provided attributes.
The dir_notif_delay attribute is the minimum number of seconds the server will delay before notifying the client of a change to the directory's attributes.
The dirent_notif_delay attribute is the minimum number of seconds the server will delay before notifying the client of a change to a file object that has an entry in the directory.
The fs_layout_type attribute (see Section 3.3.13) applies to a file system and indicates what layout types are supported by the file system. When the client encounters a new fsid, the client SHOULD obtain the value for the fs_layout_type attribute associated with the new file system. This attribute is used by the client to determine if the layout types supported by the server match any of the client's supported layout types.
When a client holds layouts on files of a file system, the layout_alignment attribute indicates the preferred alignment for I/O to files on that file system. Where possible, the client should send READ and WRITE operations with offsets that are whole multiples of the layout_alignment attribute.
When a client holds layouts on files of a file system, the layout_blksize attribute indicates the preferred block size for I/O to files on that file system. Where possible, the client should send READ operations with a count argument that is a whole multiple of layout_blksize, and WRITE operations with a data argument of size that is a whole multiple of layout_blksize.
The layout_hint attribute (see Section 3.3.19) may be set on newly created files to influence the metadata server's choice for the file's layout. If possible, this attribute is one of those set in the initial attributes within the OPEN operation. The metadata server may choose to ignore this attribute. The layout_hint attribute is a subset of the layout structure returned by LAYOUTGET. For example, instead of specifying particular devices, this would be used to suggest the stripe width of a file. The server implementation determines which fields within the layout will be used.
This attribute lists the layout type(s) available for a file. The value returned by the server is for informational purposes only. The client will use the LAYOUTGET operation to obtain the information needed in order to perform I/O, for example, the specific device information for the file and its layout.
This attribute is a server-provided hint used to communicate to the client when it is more efficient to send READ and WRITE operations to the metadata server or the data server. The two types of thresholds described are file size thresholds and I/O size thresholds. If a file's size is smaller than the file size threshold, data accesses SHOULD be sent to the metadata server. If an I/O request has a length that is below the I/O size threshold, the I/O SHOULD be sent to the metadata server. Each threshold type is specified separately for read and write.
The server MAY provide both types of thresholds for a file. If both file size and I/O size are provided, the client SHOULD reach or exceed both thresholds before sending its read or write requests to the data server. Alternatively, if only one of the specified thresholds is reached or exceeded, the I/O requests are sent to the metadata server.
For each threshold type, a value of zero indicates no READ or WRITE should be sent to the metadata server, while a value of all ones indicates that all READs or WRITEs should be sent to the metadata server.
The attribute is available on a per-filehandle basis. If the current filehandle refers to a non-pNFS file or directory, the metadata server should return an attribute that is representative of the filehandle's file system. It is suggested that this attribute is queried as part of the OPEN operation. Due to dynamic system changes, the client should not assume that the attribute will remain constant for any specific time period; thus, it should be periodically refreshed.
Retention is a concept whereby a file object can be placed in an immutable, undeletable, unrenamable state for a fixed or infinite duration of time. Once in this "retained" state, the file cannot be moved out of the state until the duration of retention has been reached.
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When retention is enabled, retention MUST extend to the data of the file, and the name of file. The server MAY extend retention to any other property of the file, including any subset of REQUIRED, RECOMMENDED, and named attributes, with the exceptions noted in this section.
Servers MAY support or not support retention on any file object type.
The five retention attributes are explained in the next subsections.
If retention is enabled for the associated file, this attribute's value represents the retention begin time of the file object. This attribute's value is only readable with the GETATTR operation and MUST NOT be modified by the SETATTR operation (Section 5.5). The value of the attribute consists of:
The field rg_duration is the duration in seconds indicating how long the file will be retained once retention is enabled. The field rg_begin_time is an array of up to one absolute time value. If the array is zero length, no beginning retention time has been established, and retention is not enabled. If rg_duration is equal to RET4_DURATION_INFINITE, the file, once retention is enabled, will be retained for an infinite duration.
If (as soon as) rg_duration is zero, then rg_begin_time will be of zero length, and again, retention is not (no longer) enabled.
This attribute is used to set the retention duration and optionally enable retention for the associated file object. This attribute is only modifiable via the SETATTR operation and MUST NOT be retrieved by the GETATTR operation (Section 5.5). This attribute corresponds to retention_get. The value of the attribute consists of:
If the client sets rs_enable to TRUE, then it is enabling retention on the file object with the begin time of retention starting from the server's current time and date. The duration of the retention can also be provided if the rs_duration array is of length one. The duration is the time in seconds from the begin time of retention, and if set to RET4_DURATION_INFINITE, the file is to be retained forever. If retention is enabled, with no duration specified in either this SETATTR or a previous SETATTR, the duration defaults to zero seconds. The server MAY restrict the enabling of retention or the duration of retention on the basis of the ACE4_WRITE_RETENTION ACL permission.
The enabling of retention MUST NOT prevent the enabling of event- based retention or the modification of the retention_hold attribute.
The following rules apply to both the retention_set and retentevt_set attributes.
o As long as retention is not enabled, the client is permitted to decrease the duration.
o The duration can always be set to an equal or higher value, even if retention is enabled. Note that once retention is enabled, the actual duration (as returned by the retention_get or retentevt_get attributes; see Section 5.13.1 or Section 5.13.3) is constantly counting down to zero (one unit per second), unless the duration was set to RET4_DURATION_INFINITE. Thus, it will not be possible for the client to precisely extend the duration on a file that has retention enabled.
o While retention is enabled, attempts to disable retention or decrease the retention's duration MUST fail with the error NFS4ERR_INVAL.
o If the principal attempting to change retention_set or retentevt_set does not have ACE4_WRITE_RETENTION permissions, the attempt MUST fail with NFS4ERR_ACCESS.
Gets the event-based retention duration, and if enabled, the event- based retention begin time of the file object. This attribute is like retention_get, but refers to event-based retention. The event that triggers event-based retention is not defined by the NFSv4.1 specification.
Sets the event-based retention duration, and optionally enables event-based retention on the file object. This attribute corresponds to retentevt_get and is like retention_set, but refers to event-based retention. When event-based retention is set, the file MUST be retained even if non-event-based retention has been set, and the duration of non-event-based retention has been reached. Conversely, when non-event-based retention has been set, the file MUST be retained even if event-based retention has been set, and the duration of event-based retention has been reached. The server MAY restrict the enabling of event-based retention or the duration of event-based retention on the basis of the ACE4_WRITE_RETENTION ACL permission. The enabling of event-based retention MUST NOT prevent the enabling of non-event-based retention or the modification of the retention_hold attribute.
Gets or sets administrative retention holds, one hold per bit position.
This attribute allows one to 64 administrative holds, one hold per bit on the attribute. If retention_hold is not zero, then the file MUST NOT be deleted, renamed, or modified, even if the duration on enabled event or non-event-based retention has been reached. The server MAY restrict the modification of retention_hold on the basis of the ACE4_WRITE_RETENTION_HOLD ACL permission. The enabling of administration retention holds does not prevent the enabling of event-based or non-event-based retention.
If the principal attempting to change retention_hold does not have ACE4_WRITE_RETENTION_HOLD permissions, the attempt MUST fail with NFS4ERR_ACCESS.
6. Access Control Attributes
Access Control Lists (ACLs) are file attributes that specify fine- grained access control. This section covers the "acl", "dacl", "sacl", "aclsupport", "mode", and "mode_set_masked" file attributes and their interactions. Note that file attributes may apply to any file system object.
ACLs and modes represent two well-established models for specifying permissions. This section specifies requirements that attempt to meet the following goals:
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o If a server supports the mode attribute, it should provide reasonable semantics to clients that only set and retrieve the mode attribute.
o If a server supports ACL attributes, it should provide reasonable semantics to clients that only set and retrieve those attributes.
o On servers that support the mode attribute, if ACL attributes have never been set on an object, via inheritance or explicitly, the behavior should be traditional UNIX-like behavior.
o On servers that support the mode attribute, if the ACL attributes have been previously set on an object, either explicitly or via inheritance:
* Setting only the mode attribute should effectively control the traditional UNIX-like permissions of read, write, and execute on owner, owner_group, and other.
* Setting only the mode attribute should provide reasonable security. For example, setting a mode of 000 should be enough to ensure that future OPEN operations for OPEN4_SHARE_ACCESS_READ or OPEN4_SHARE_ACCESS_WRITE by any principal fail, regardless of a previously existing or inherited ACL.
o NFSv4.1 may introduce different semantics relating to the mode and ACL attributes, but it does not render invalid any previously existing implementations. Additionally, this section provides clarifications based on previous implementations and discussions around them.
o On servers that support both the mode and the acl or dacl attributes, the server must keep the two consistent with each other. The value of the mode attribute (with the exception of the three high-order bits described in Section 6.2.4) must be determined entirely by the value of the ACL, so that use of the mode is never required for anything other than setting the three high-order bits. See Section 6.4.1 for exact requirements.
o When a mode attribute is set on an object, the ACL attributes may need to be modified in order to not conflict with the new mode. In such cases, it is desirable that the ACL keep as much information as possible. This includes information about inheritance, AUDIT and ALARM ACEs, and permissions granted and denied that do not conflict with the new mode.
The NFSv4.1 ACL attribute contains an array of Access Control Entries (ACEs) that are associated with the file system object. Although the client can set and get the acl attribute, the server is responsible for using the ACL to perform access control. The client can use the OPEN or ACCESS operations to check access without modifying or reading data or metadata.
To determine if a request succeeds, the server processes each nfsace4 entry in order. Only ACEs that have a "who" that matches the requester are considered. Each ACE is processed until all of the bits of the requester's access have been ALLOWED. Once a bit (see below) has been ALLOWED by an ACCESS_ALLOWED_ACE, it is no longer considered in the processing of later ACEs. If an ACCESS_DENIED_ACE is encountered where the requester's access still has unALLOWED bits in common with the "access_mask" of the ACE, the request is denied. When the ACL is fully processed, if there are bits in the requester's mask that have not been ALLOWED or DENIED, access is denied.
Unlike the ALLOW and DENY ACE types, the ALARM and AUDIT ACE types do not affect a requester's access, and instead are for triggering events as a result of a requester's access attempt. Therefore, AUDIT and ALARM ACEs are processed only after processing ALLOW and DENY ACEs.
The NFSv4.1 ACL model is quite rich. Some server platforms may provide access-control functionality that goes beyond the UNIX-style mode attribute, but that is not as rich as the NFS ACL model. So
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that users can take advantage of this more limited functionality, the server may support the acl attributes by mapping between its ACL model and the NFSv4.1 ACL model. Servers must ensure that the ACL they actually store or enforce is at least as strict as the NFSv4 ACL that was set. It is tempting to accomplish this by rejecting any ACL that falls outside the small set that can be represented accurately. However, such an approach can render ACLs unusable without special client-side knowledge of the server's mapping, which defeats the purpose of having a common NFSv4 ACL protocol. Therefore, servers should accept every ACL that they can without compromising security. To help accomplish this, servers may make a special exception, in the case of unsupported permission bits, to the rule that bits not ALLOWED or DENIED by an ACL must be denied. For example, a UNIX- style server might choose to silently allow read attribute permissions even though an ACL does not explicitly allow those permissions. (An ACL that explicitly denies permission to read attributes should still be rejected.)
The situation is complicated by the fact that a server may have multiple modules that enforce ACLs. For example, the enforcement for NFSv4.1 access may be different from, but not weaker than, the enforcement for local access, and both may be different from the enforcement for access through other protocols such as SMB (Server Message Block). So it may be useful for a server to accept an ACL even if not all of its modules are able to support it.
The guiding principle with regard to NFSv4 access is that the server must not accept ACLs that appear to make access to the file more restrictive than it really is.
Only the ALLOWED and DENIED bits may be used in the dacl attribute, and only the AUDIT and ALARM bits may be used in the sacl attribute. All four are permitted in the acl attribute.
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+------------------------------+--------------+---------------------+ | Value | Abbreviation | Description | +------------------------------+--------------+---------------------+ | ACE4_ACCESS_ALLOWED_ACE_TYPE | ALLOW | Explicitly grants | | | | the access defined | | | | in acemask4 to the | | | | file or directory. | | ACE4_ACCESS_DENIED_ACE_TYPE | DENY | Explicitly denies | | | | the access defined | | | | in acemask4 to the | | | | file or directory. | | ACE4_SYSTEM_AUDIT_ACE_TYPE | AUDIT | Log (in a | | | | system-dependent | | | | way) any access | | | | attempt to a file | | | | or directory that | | | | uses any of the | | | | access methods | | | | specified in | | | | acemask4. | | ACE4_SYSTEM_ALARM_ACE_TYPE | ALARM | Generate an alarm | | | | (in a | | | | system-dependent | | | | way) when any | | | | access attempt is | | | | made to a file or | | | | directory for the | | | | access methods | | | | specified in | | | | acemask4. | +------------------------------+--------------+---------------------+
The "Abbreviation" column denotes how the types will be referred to throughout the rest of this section.
A server need not support all of the above ACE types. This attribute indicates which ACE types are supported for the current file system. The bitmask constants used to represent the above definitions within the aclsupport attribute are as follows:
Servers that support either the ALLOW or DENY ACE type SHOULD support both ALLOW and DENY ACE types.
Clients should not attempt to set an ACE unless the server claims support for that ACE type. If the server receives a request to set an ACE that it cannot store, it MUST reject the request with NFS4ERR_ATTRNOTSUPP. If the server receives a request to set an ACE that it can store but cannot enforce, the server SHOULD reject the request with NFS4ERR_ATTRNOTSUPP.
Support for any of the ACL attributes is optional (albeit RECOMMENDED). However, a server that supports either of the new ACL attributes (dacl or sacl) MUST allow use of the new ACL attributes to access all of the ACE types that it supports. In other words, if such a server supports ALLOW or DENY ACEs, then it MUST support the dacl attribute, and if it supports AUDIT or ALARM ACEs, then it MUST support the sacl attribute.
Note that some masks have coincident values, for example, ACE4_READ_DATA and ACE4_LIST_DIRECTORY. The mask entries ACE4_LIST_DIRECTORY, ACE4_ADD_FILE, and ACE4_ADD_SUBDIRECTORY are
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intended to be used with directory objects, while ACE4_READ_DATA, ACE4_WRITE_DATA, and ACE4_APPEND_DATA are intended to be used with non-directory objects.
Servers SHOULD allow a user the ability to read the data of the file when only the ACE4_EXECUTE access mask bit is allowed.
ACE4_LIST_DIRECTORY
Operation(s) affected:
READDIR
Discussion:
Permission to list the contents of a directory.
ACE4_WRITE_DATA
Operation(s) affected:
WRITE
OPEN
SETATTR of size
Discussion:
Permission to modify a file's data.
ACE4_ADD_FILE
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Operation(s) affected:
CREATE
LINK
OPEN
RENAME
Discussion:
Permission to add a new file in a directory. The CREATE operation is affected when nfs_ftype4 is NF4LNK, NF4BLK, NF4CHR, NF4SOCK, or NF4FIFO. (NF4DIR is not listed because it is covered by ACE4_ADD_SUBDIRECTORY.) OPEN is affected when used to create a regular file. LINK and RENAME are always affected.
ACE4_APPEND_DATA
Operation(s) affected:
WRITE
OPEN
SETATTR of size
Discussion:
The ability to modify a file's data, but only starting at EOF. This allows for the notion of append-only files, by allowing ACE4_APPEND_DATA and denying ACE4_WRITE_DATA to the same user or group. If a file has an ACL such as the one described above and a WRITE request is made for somewhere other than EOF, the server SHOULD return NFS4ERR_ACCESS.
ACE4_ADD_SUBDIRECTORY
Operation(s) affected:
CREATE
RENAME
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Discussion:
Permission to create a subdirectory in a directory. The CREATE operation is affected when nfs_ftype4 is NF4DIR. The RENAME operation is always affected.
ACE4_READ_NAMED_ATTRS
Operation(s) affected:
OPENATTR
Discussion:
Permission to read the named attributes of a file or to look up the named attribute directory. OPENATTR is affected when it is not used to create a named attribute directory. This is when 1) createdir is TRUE, but a named attribute directory already exists, or 2) createdir is FALSE.
ACE4_WRITE_NAMED_ATTRS
Operation(s) affected:
OPENATTR
Discussion:
Permission to write the named attributes of a file or to create a named attribute directory. OPENATTR is affected when it is used to create a named attribute directory. This is when createdir is TRUE and no named attribute directory exists. The ability to check whether or not a named attribute directory exists depends on the ability to look it up; therefore, users also need the ACE4_READ_NAMED_ATTRS permission in order to create a named attribute directory.
ACE4_EXECUTE
Operation(s) affected:
READ
OPEN
REMOVE
RENAME
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LINK
CREATE
Discussion:
Permission to execute a file.
Servers SHOULD allow a user the ability to read the data of the file when only the ACE4_EXECUTE access mask bit is allowed. This is because there is no way to execute a file without reading the contents. Though a server may treat ACE4_EXECUTE and ACE4_READ_DATA bits identically when deciding to permit a READ operation, it SHOULD still allow the two bits to be set independently in ACLs, and MUST distinguish between them when replying to ACCESS operations. In particular, servers SHOULD NOT silently turn on one of the two bits when the other is set, as that would make it impossible for the client to correctly enforce the distinction between read and execute permissions.
As an example, following a SETATTR of the following ACL:
nfsuser:ACE4_EXECUTE:ALLOW
A subsequent GETATTR of ACL for that file SHOULD return:
nfsuser:ACE4_EXECUTE:ALLOW
Rather than:
nfsuser:ACE4_EXECUTE/ACE4_READ_DATA:ALLOW
ACE4_EXECUTE
Operation(s) affected:
LOOKUP
Discussion:
Permission to traverse/search a directory.
ACE4_DELETE_CHILD
Operation(s) affected:
REMOVE
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RENAME
Discussion:
Permission to delete a file or directory within a directory. See Section 6.2.1.3.2 for information on ACE4_DELETE and ACE4_DELETE_CHILD interact.
ACE4_READ_ATTRIBUTES
Operation(s) affected:
GETATTR of file system object attributes
VERIFY
NVERIFY
READDIR
Discussion:
The ability to read basic attributes (non-ACLs) of a file. On a UNIX system, basic attributes can be thought of as the stat- level attributes. Allowing this access mask bit would mean that the entity can execute "ls -l" and stat. If a READDIR operation requests attributes, this mask must be allowed for the READDIR to succeed.
ACE4_WRITE_ATTRIBUTES
Operation(s) affected:
SETATTR of time_access_set, time_backup,
time_create, time_modify_set, mimetype, hidden, system
Discussion:
Permission to change the times associated with a file or directory to an arbitrary value. Also permission to change the mimetype, hidden, and system attributes. A user having ACE4_WRITE_DATA or ACE4_WRITE_ATTRIBUTES will be allowed to set the times associated with a file to the current server time.
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ACE4_WRITE_RETENTION
Operation(s) affected:
SETATTR of retention_set, retentevt_set.
Discussion:
Permission to modify the durations of event and non-event-based retention. Also permission to enable event and non-event-based retention. A server MAY behave such that setting ACE4_WRITE_ATTRIBUTES allows ACE4_WRITE_RETENTION.
ACE4_WRITE_RETENTION_HOLD
Operation(s) affected:
SETATTR of retention_hold.
Discussion:
Permission to modify the administration retention holds. A server MAY map ACE4_WRITE_ATTRIBUTES to ACE_WRITE_RETENTION_HOLD.
ACE4_DELETE
Operation(s) affected:
REMOVE
Discussion:
Permission to delete the file or directory. See Section 6.2.1.3.2 for information on ACE4_DELETE and ACE4_DELETE_CHILD interact.
ACE4_READ_ACL
Operation(s) affected:
GETATTR of acl, dacl, or sacl
NVERIFY
VERIFY
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Discussion:
Permission to read the ACL.
ACE4_WRITE_ACL
Operation(s) affected:
SETATTR of acl and mode
Discussion:
Permission to write the acl and mode attributes.
ACE4_WRITE_OWNER
Operation(s) affected:
SETATTR of owner and owner_group
Discussion:
Permission to write the owner and owner_group attributes. On UNIX systems, this is the ability to execute chown() and chgrp().
ACE4_SYNCHRONIZE
Operation(s) affected:
NONE
Discussion:
Permission to use the file object as a synchronization primitive for interprocess communication. This permission is not enforced or interpreted by the NFSv4.1 server on behalf of the client.
Typically, the ACE4_SYNCHRONIZE permission is only meaningful on local file systems, i.e., file systems not accessed via NFSv4.1. The reason that the permission bit exists is that some operating environments, such as Windows, use ACE4_SYNCHRONIZE.
For example, if a client copies a file that has ACE4_SYNCHRONIZE set from a local file system to an NFSv4.1 server, and then later copies the file from the NFSv4.1 server
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to a local file system, it is likely that if ACE4_SYNCHRONIZE was set in the original file, the client will want it set in the second copy. The first copy will not have the permission set unless the NFSv4.1 server has the means to set the ACE4_SYNCHRONIZE bit. The second copy will not have the permission set unless the NFSv4.1 server has the means to retrieve the ACE4_SYNCHRONIZE bit.
Server implementations need not provide the granularity of control that is implied by this list of masks. For example, POSIX-based systems might not distinguish ACE4_APPEND_DATA (the ability to append to a file) from ACE4_WRITE_DATA (the ability to modify existing contents); both masks would be tied to a single "write" permission [20]. When such a server returns attributes to the client, it would show both ACE4_APPEND_DATA and ACE4_WRITE_DATA if and only if the write permission is enabled.
If a server receives a SETATTR request that it cannot accurately implement, it should err in the direction of more restricted access, except in the previously discussed cases of execute and read. For example, suppose a server cannot distinguish overwriting data from appending new data, as described in the previous paragraph. If a client submits an ALLOW ACE where ACE4_APPEND_DATA is set but ACE4_WRITE_DATA is not (or vice versa), the server should either turn off ACE4_APPEND_DATA or reject the request with NFS4ERR_ATTRNOTSUPP.
Two access mask bits govern the ability to delete a directory entry: ACE4_DELETE on the object itself (the "target") and ACE4_DELETE_CHILD on the containing directory (the "parent").
Many systems also take the "sticky bit" (MODE4_SVTX) on a directory to allow unlink only to a user that owns either the target or the parent; on some such systems the decision also depends on whether the target is writable.
Servers SHOULD allow unlink if either ACE4_DELETE is permitted on the target, or ACE4_DELETE_CHILD is permitted on the parent. (Note that this is true even if the parent or target explicitly denies one of these permissions.)
If the ACLs in question neither explicitly ALLOW nor DENY either of the above, and if MODE4_SVTX is not set on the parent, then the server SHOULD allow the removal if and only if ACE4_ADD_FILE is permitted. In the case where MODE4_SVTX is set, the server may also require the remover to own either the parent or the target, or may require the target to be writable.
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This allows servers to support something close to traditional UNIX- like semantics, with ACE4_ADD_FILE taking the place of the write bit.
A server need not support any of these flags. If the server supports flags that are similar to, but not exactly the same as, these flags, the implementation may define a mapping between the protocol-defined flags and the implementation-defined flags.
For example, suppose a client tries to set an ACE with ACE4_FILE_INHERIT_ACE set but not ACE4_DIRECTORY_INHERIT_ACE. If the server does not support any form of ACL inheritance, the server should reject the request with NFS4ERR_ATTRNOTSUPP. If the server supports a single "inherit ACE" flag that applies to both files and directories, the server may reject the request (i.e., requiring the client to set both the file and directory inheritance flags). The server may also accept the request and silently turn on the ACE4_DIRECTORY_INHERIT_ACE flag.
ACE4_FILE_INHERIT_ACE Any non-directory file in any sub-directory will get this ACE inherited.
ACE4_DIRECTORY_INHERIT_ACE Can be placed on a directory and indicates that this ACE should be added to each new directory created. If this flag is set in an ACE in an ACL attribute to be set on a non-directory file system object, the operation attempting to set the ACL SHOULD fail with NFS4ERR_ATTRNOTSUPP.
ACE4_NO_PROPAGATE_INHERIT_ACE Can be placed on a directory. This flag tells the server that inheritance of this ACE should stop at newly created child directories.
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ACE4_INHERIT_ONLY_ACE Can be placed on a directory but does not apply to the directory; ALLOW and DENY ACEs with this bit set do not affect access to the directory, and AUDIT and ALARM ACEs with this bit set do not trigger log or alarm events. Such ACEs only take effect once they are applied (with this bit cleared) to newly created files and directories as specified by the ACE4_FILE_INHERIT_ACE and ACE4_DIRECTORY_INHERIT_ACE flags.
If this flag is present on an ACE, but neither ACE4_DIRECTORY_INHERIT_ACE nor ACE4_FILE_INHERIT_ACE is present, then an operation attempting to set such an attribute SHOULD fail with NFS4ERR_ATTRNOTSUPP.
ACE4_SUCCESSFUL_ACCESS_ACE_FLAG
ACE4_FAILED_ACCESS_ACE_FLAG The ACE4_SUCCESSFUL_ACCESS_ACE_FLAG (SUCCESS) and ACE4_FAILED_ACCESS_ACE_FLAG (FAILED) flag bits may be set only on ACE4_SYSTEM_AUDIT_ACE_TYPE (AUDIT) and ACE4_SYSTEM_ALARM_ACE_TYPE (ALARM) ACE types. If during the processing of the file's ACL, the server encounters an AUDIT or ALARM ACE that matches the principal attempting the OPEN, the server notes that fact, and the presence, if any, of the SUCCESS and FAILED flags encountered in the AUDIT or ALARM ACE. Once the server completes the ACL processing, it then notes if the operation succeeded or failed. If the operation succeeded, and if the SUCCESS flag was set for a matching AUDIT or ALARM ACE, then the appropriate AUDIT or ALARM event occurs. If the operation failed, and if the FAILED flag was set for the matching AUDIT or ALARM ACE, then the appropriate AUDIT or ALARM event occurs. Either or both of the SUCCESS or FAILED can be set, but if neither is set, the AUDIT or ALARM ACE is not useful.
The previously described processing applies to ACCESS operations even when they return NFS4_OK. For the purposes of AUDIT and ALARM, we consider an ACCESS operation to be a "failure" if it fails to return a bit that was requested and supported.
ACE4_IDENTIFIER_GROUP Indicates that the "who" refers to a GROUP as defined under UNIX or a GROUP ACCOUNT as defined under Windows. Clients and servers MUST ignore the ACE4_IDENTIFIER_GROUP flag on ACEs with a who value equal to one of the special identifiers outlined in Section 6.2.1.5.
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ACE4_INHERITED_ACE Indicates that this ACE is inherited from a parent directory. A server that supports automatic inheritance will place this flag on any ACEs inherited from the parent directory when creating a new object. Client applications will use this to perform automatic inheritance. Clients and servers MUST clear this bit in the acl attribute; it may only be used in the dacl and sacl attributes.
The "who" field of an ACE is an identifier that specifies the principal or principals to whom the ACE applies. It may refer to a user or a group, with the flag bit ACE4_IDENTIFIER_GROUP specifying which.
There are several special identifiers that need to be understood universally, rather than in the context of a particular DNS domain. Some of these identifiers cannot be understood when an NFS client accesses the server, but have meaning when a local process accesses the file. The ability to display and modify these permissions is permitted over NFS, even if none of the access methods on the server understands the identifiers.
+---------------+--------------------------------------------------+ | Who | Description | +---------------+--------------------------------------------------+ | OWNER | The owner of the file. | | GROUP | The group associated with the file. | | EVERYONE | The world, including the owner and owning group. | | INTERACTIVE | Accessed from an interactive terminal. | | NETWORK | Accessed via the network. | | DIALUP | Accessed as a dialup user to the server. | | BATCH | Accessed from a batch job. | | ANONYMOUS | Accessed without any authentication. | | AUTHENTICATED | Any authenticated user (opposite of ANONYMOUS). | | SERVICE | Access from a system service. | +---------------+--------------------------------------------------+
Table 4
To avoid conflict, these special identifiers are distinguished by an appended "@" and should appear in the form "xxxx@" (with no domain name after the "@"), for example, ANONYMOUS@.
The ACE4_IDENTIFIER_GROUP flag MUST be ignored on entries with these special identifiers. When encoding entries with these special identifiers, the ACE4_IDENTIFIER_GROUP flag SHOULD be set to zero.
It is important to note that "EVERYONE@" is not equivalent to the UNIX "other" entity. This is because, by definition, UNIX "other" does not include the owner or owning group of a file. "EVERYONE@" means literally everyone, including the owner or owning group.
The dacl attribute is like the acl attribute, but dacl allows just ALLOW and DENY ACEs. The dacl attribute supports automatic inheritance (see Section 6.4.3.2).
The sacl attribute is like the acl attribute, but sacl allows just AUDIT and ALARM ACEs. The sacl attribute supports automatic inheritance (see Section 6.4.3.2).
The NFSv4.1 mode attribute is based on the UNIX mode bits. The following bits are defined:
const MODE4_SUID = 0x800; /* set user id on execution */ const MODE4_SGID = 0x400; /* set group id on execution */ const MODE4_SVTX = 0x200; /* save text even after use */ const MODE4_RUSR = 0x100; /* read permission: owner */ const MODE4_WUSR = 0x080; /* write permission: owner */ const MODE4_XUSR = 0x040; /* execute permission: owner */ const MODE4_RGRP = 0x020; /* read permission: group */ const MODE4_WGRP = 0x010; /* write permission: group */ const MODE4_XGRP = 0x008; /* execute permission: group */ const MODE4_ROTH = 0x004; /* read permission: other */ const MODE4_WOTH = 0x002; /* write permission: other */ const MODE4_XOTH = 0x001; /* execute permission: other */
Bits MODE4_RUSR, MODE4_WUSR, and MODE4_XUSR apply to the principal identified in the owner attribute. Bits MODE4_RGRP, MODE4_WGRP, and MODE4_XGRP apply to principals identified in the owner_group attribute but who are not identified in the owner attribute. Bits MODE4_ROTH, MODE4_WOTH, and MODE4_XOTH apply to any principal that does not match that in the owner attribute and does not have a group matching that of the owner_group attribute.
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Bits within a mode other than those specified above are not defined by this protocol. A server MUST NOT return bits other than those defined above in a GETATTR or READDIR operation, and it MUST return NFS4ERR_INVAL if bits other than those defined above are set in a SETATTR, CREATE, OPEN, VERIFY, or NVERIFY operation.
The mode_set_masked attribute is a write-only attribute that allows individual bits in the mode attribute to be set or reset, without changing others. It allows, for example, the bits MODE4_SUID, MODE4_SGID, and MODE4_SVTX to be modified while leaving unmodified any of the nine low-order mode bits devoted to permissions.
In such instances that the nine low-order bits are left unmodified, then neither the acl nor the dacl attribute should be automatically modified as discussed in Section 6.4.1.
The mode_set_masked attribute consists of two words, each in the form of a mode4. The first consists of the value to be applied to the current mode value and the second is a mask. Only bits set to one in the mask word are changed (set or reset) in the file's mode. All other bits in the mode remain unchanged. Bits in the first word that correspond to bits that are zero in the mask are ignored, except that undefined bits are checked for validity and can result in NFS4ERR_INVAL as described below.
The mode_set_masked attribute is only valid in a SETATTR operation. If it is used in a CREATE or OPEN operation, the server MUST return NFS4ERR_INVAL.
Bits not defined as valid in the mode attribute are not valid in either word of the mode_set_masked attribute. The server MUST return NFS4ERR_INVAL if any such bits are set to one in a SETATTR. If the mode and mode_set_masked attributes are both specified in the same SETATTR, the server MUST also return NFS4ERR_INVAL.
The server uses the algorithm described in Section 6.2.1 to determine whether an ACL allows access to an object. However, the ACL might not be the sole determiner of access. For example:
o In the case of a file system exported as read-only, the server may deny write access even though an object's ACL grants it.
o Server implementations MAY grant ACE4_WRITE_ACL and ACE4_READ_ACL permissions to prevent a situation from arising in which there is no valid way to ever modify the ACL.
o All servers will allow a user the ability to read the data of the file when only the execute permission is granted (i.e., if the ACL denies the user the ACE4_READ_DATA access and allows the user ACE4_EXECUTE, the server will allow the user to read the data of the file).
o Many servers have the notion of owner-override in which the owner of the object is allowed to override accesses that are denied by the ACL. This may be helpful, for example, to allow users continued access to open files on which the permissions have changed.
o Many servers have the notion of a "superuser" that has privileges beyond an ordinary user. The superuser may be able to read or write data or metadata in ways that would not be permitted by the ACL.
o A retention attribute might also block access otherwise allowed by ACLs (see Section 5.13).
Clients SHOULD NOT do their own access checks based on their interpretation of the ACL, but rather use the OPEN and ACCESS operations to do access checks. This allows the client to act on the results of having the server determine whether or not access should be granted based on its interpretation of the ACL.
Clients must be aware of situations in which an object's ACL will define a certain access even though the server will not enforce it. In general, but especially in these situations, the client needs to do its part in the enforcement of access as defined by the ACL. To do this, the client MAY send the appropriate ACCESS operation prior
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to servicing the request of the user or application in order to determine whether the user or application should be granted the access requested. For examples in which the ACL may define accesses that the server doesn't enforce, see Section 6.3.1.1.
The following method can be used to calculate the MODE4_R*, MODE4_W*, and MODE4_X* bits of a mode attribute, based upon an ACL.
First, for each of the special identifiers OWNER@, GROUP@, and EVERYONE@, evaluate the ACL in order, considering only ALLOW and DENY ACEs for the identifier EVERYONE@ and for the identifier under consideration. The result of the evaluation will be an NFSv4 ACL mask showing exactly which bits are permitted to that identifier.
Then translate the calculated mask for OWNER@, GROUP@, and EVERYONE@ into mode bits for, respectively, the user, group, and other, as follows:
1. Set the read bit (MODE4_RUSR, MODE4_RGRP, or MODE4_ROTH) if and only if ACE4_READ_DATA is set in the corresponding mask.
2. Set the write bit (MODE4_WUSR, MODE4_WGRP, or MODE4_WOTH) if and only if ACE4_WRITE_DATA and ACE4_APPEND_DATA are both set in the corresponding mask.
3. Set the execute bit (MODE4_XUSR, MODE4_XGRP, or MODE4_XOTH), if and only if ACE4_EXECUTE is set in the corresponding mask.
Some server implementations also add bits permitted to named users and groups to the group bits (MODE4_RGRP, MODE4_WGRP, and MODE4_XGRP).
Implementations are discouraged from doing this, because it has been found to cause confusion for users who see members of a file's group denied access that the mode bits appear to allow. (The presence of DENY ACEs may also lead to such behavior, but DENY ACEs are expected to be more rarely used.)
The same user confusion seen when fetching the mode also results if setting the mode does not effectively control permissions for the owner, group, and other users; this motivates some of the requirements that follow.
The server that supports both mode and ACL must take care to synchronize the MODE4_*USR, MODE4_*GRP, and MODE4_*OTH bits with the ACEs that have respective who fields of "OWNER@", "GROUP@", and "EVERYONE@". This way, the client can see if semantically equivalent access permissions exist whether the client asks for the owner, owner_group, and mode attributes or for just the ACL.
In this section, much is made of the methods in Section 6.3.2. Many requirements refer to this section. But note that the methods have behaviors specified with "SHOULD". This is intentional, to avoid invalidating existing implementations that compute the mode according to the withdrawn POSIX ACL draft (1003.1e draft 17), rather than by actual permissions on owner, group, and other.
In the case where a server supports the sacl or dacl attribute, in addition to the acl attribute, the server MUST fail a request to set the acl attribute simultaneously with a dacl or sacl attribute. The error to be given is NFS4ERR_ATTRNOTSUPP.
When any of the nine low-order mode bits are subject to change, either because the mode attribute was set or because the mode_set_masked attribute was set and the mask included one or more bits from the nine low-order mode bits, and no ACL attribute is explicitly set, the acl and dacl attributes must be modified in accordance with the updated value of those bits. This must happen even if the value of the low-order bits is the same after the mode is set as before.
Note that any AUDIT or ALARM ACEs (hence any ACEs in the sacl attribute) are unaffected by changes to the mode.
In cases in which the permissions bits are subject to change, the acl and dacl attributes MUST be modified such that the mode computed via the method in Section 6.3.2 yields the low-order nine bits (MODE4_R*, MODE4_W*, MODE4_X*) of the mode attribute as modified by the attribute change. The ACL attributes SHOULD also be modified such that:
1. If MODE4_RGRP is not set, entities explicitly listed in the ACL other than OWNER@ and EVERYONE@ SHOULD NOT be granted ACE4_READ_DATA.
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2. If MODE4_WGRP is not set, entities explicitly listed in the ACL other than OWNER@ and EVERYONE@ SHOULD NOT be granted ACE4_WRITE_DATA or ACE4_APPEND_DATA.
3. If MODE4_XGRP is not set, entities explicitly listed in the ACL other than OWNER@ and EVERYONE@ SHOULD NOT be granted ACE4_EXECUTE.
Access mask bits other than those listed above, appearing in ALLOW ACEs, MAY also be disabled.
Note that ACEs with the flag ACE4_INHERIT_ONLY_ACE set do not affect the permissions of the ACL itself, nor do ACEs of the type AUDIT and ALARM. As such, it is desirable to leave these ACEs unmodified when modifying the ACL attributes.
Also note that the requirement may be met by discarding the acl and dacl, in favor of an ACL that represents the mode and only the mode. This is permitted, but it is preferable for a server to preserve as much of the ACL as possible without violating the above requirements. Discarding the ACL makes it effectively impossible for a file created with a mode attribute to inherit an ACL (see Section 6.4.3).
When setting the acl or dacl and not setting the mode or mode_set_masked attributes, the permission bits of the mode need to be derived from the ACL. In this case, the ACL attribute SHOULD be set as given. The nine low-order bits of the mode attribute (MODE4_R*, MODE4_W*, MODE4_X*) MUST be modified to match the result of the method in Section 6.3.2. The three high-order bits of the mode (MODE4_SUID, MODE4_SGID, MODE4_SVTX) SHOULD remain unchanged.
When setting both the mode (includes use of either the mode attribute or the mode_set_masked attribute) and the acl or dacl attributes in the same operation, the attributes MUST be applied in this order: mode (or mode_set_masked), then ACL. The mode-related attribute is set as given, then the ACL attribute is set as given, possibly changing the final mode, as described above in Section 6.4.1.2.
This section applies only to servers that support both the mode and ACL attributes.
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Some server implementations may have a concept of "objects without ACLs", meaning that all permissions are granted and denied according to the mode attribute and that no ACL attribute is stored for that object. If an ACL attribute is requested of such a server, the server SHOULD return an ACL that does not conflict with the mode; that is to say, the ACL returned SHOULD represent the nine low-order bits of the mode attribute (MODE4_R*, MODE4_W*, MODE4_X*) as described in Section 6.3.2.
For other server implementations, the ACL attribute is always present for every object. Such servers SHOULD store at least the three high- order bits of the mode attribute (MODE4_SUID, MODE4_SGID, MODE4_SVTX). The server SHOULD return a mode attribute if one is requested, and the low-order nine bits of the mode (MODE4_R*, MODE4_W*, MODE4_X*) MUST match the result of applying the method in Section 6.3.2 to the ACL attribute.
If a server supports any ACL attributes, it may use the ACL attributes on the parent directory to compute an initial ACL attribute for a newly created object. This will be referred to as the inherited ACL within this section. The act of adding one or more ACEs to the inherited ACL that are based upon ACEs in the parent directory's ACL will be referred to as inheriting an ACE within this section.
Implementors should standardize what the behavior of CREATE and OPEN must be depending on the presence or absence of the mode and ACL attributes.
1. If just the mode is given in the call:
In this case, inheritance SHOULD take place, but the mode MUST be applied to the inherited ACL as described in Section 6.4.1.1, thereby modifying the ACL.
2. If just the ACL is given in the call:
In this case, inheritance SHOULD NOT take place, and the ACL as defined in the CREATE or OPEN will be set without modification, and the mode modified as in Section 6.4.1.2.
3. If both mode and ACL are given in the call:
In this case, inheritance SHOULD NOT take place, and both attributes will be set as described in Section 6.4.1.3.
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4. If neither mode nor ACL is given in the call:
In the case where an object is being created without any initial attributes at all, e.g., an OPEN operation with an opentype4 of OPEN4_CREATE and a createmode4 of EXCLUSIVE4, inheritance SHOULD NOT take place (note that EXCLUSIVE4_1 is a better choice of createmode4, since it does permit initial attributes). Instead, the server SHOULD set permissions to deny all access to the newly created object. It is expected that the appropriate client will set the desired attributes in a subsequent SETATTR operation, and the server SHOULD allow that operation to succeed, regardless of what permissions the object is created with. For example, an empty ACL denies all permissions, but the server should allow the owner's SETATTR to succeed even though WRITE_ACL is implicitly denied.
In other cases, inheritance SHOULD take place, and no modifications to the ACL will happen. The mode attribute, if supported, MUST be as computed in Section 6.3.2, with the MODE4_SUID, MODE4_SGID, and MODE4_SVTX bits clear. If no inheritable ACEs exist on the parent directory, the rules for creating acl, dacl, or sacl attributes are implementation defined. If either the dacl or sacl attribute is supported, then the ACL4_DEFAULTED flag SHOULD be set on the newly created attributes.
If the object being created is not a directory, the inherited ACL SHOULD NOT inherit ACEs from the parent directory ACL unless the ACE4_FILE_INHERIT_FLAG is set.
If the object being created is a directory, the inherited ACL should inherit all inheritable ACEs from the parent directory, that is, those that have the ACE4_FILE_INHERIT_ACE or ACE4_DIRECTORY_INHERIT_ACE flag set. If the inheritable ACE has ACE4_FILE_INHERIT_ACE set but ACE4_DIRECTORY_INHERIT_ACE is clear, the inherited ACE on the newly created directory MUST have the ACE4_INHERIT_ONLY_ACE flag set to prevent the directory from being affected by ACEs meant for non-directories.
When a new directory is created, the server MAY split any inherited ACE that is both inheritable and effective (in other words, that has neither ACE4_INHERIT_ONLY_ACE nor ACE4_NO_PROPAGATE_INHERIT_ACE set), into two ACEs, one with no inheritance flags and one with ACE4_INHERIT_ONLY_ACE set. (In the case of a dacl or sacl attribute, both of those ACEs SHOULD also have the ACE4_INHERITED_ACE flag set.)
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This makes it simpler to modify the effective permissions on the directory without modifying the ACE that is to be inherited to the new directory's children.
The acl attribute consists only of an array of ACEs, but the sacl (Section 6.2.3) and dacl (Section 6.2.2) attributes also include an additional flag field.
and all other bits must be cleared. The ACE4_INHERITED_ACE flag may be set in the ACEs of the sacl or dacl (whereas it must always be cleared in the acl).
Together these features allow a server to support automatic inheritance, which we now explain in more detail.
Inheritable ACEs are normally inherited by child objects only at the time that the child objects are created; later modifications to inheritable ACEs do not result in modifications to inherited ACEs on descendants.
However, the dacl and sacl provide an OPTIONAL mechanism that allows a client application to propagate changes to inheritable ACEs to an entire directory hierarchy.
A server that supports this performs inheritance at object creation time in the normal way, and SHOULD set the ACE4_INHERITED_ACE flag on any inherited ACEs as they are added to the new object.
A client application such as an ACL editor may then propagate changes to inheritable ACEs on a directory by recursively traversing that directory's descendants and modifying each ACL encountered to remove any ACEs with the ACE4_INHERITED_ACE flag and to replace them by the new inheritable ACEs (also with the ACE4_INHERITED_ACE flag set). It uses the existing ACE inheritance flags in the obvious way to decide
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which ACEs to propagate. (Note that it may encounter further inheritable ACEs when descending the directory hierarchy and that those will also need to be taken into account when propagating inheritable ACEs to further descendants.)
The reach of this propagation may be limited in two ways: first, automatic inheritance is not performed from any directory ACL that has the ACL4_AUTO_INHERIT flag cleared; and second, automatic inheritance stops wherever an ACL with the ACL4_PROTECTED flag is set, preventing modification of that ACL and also (if the ACL is set on a directory) of the ACL on any of the object's descendants.
This propagation is performed independently for the sacl and the dacl attributes; thus, the ACL4_AUTO_INHERIT and ACL4_PROTECTED flags may be independently set for the sacl and the dacl, and propagation of one type of acl may continue down a hierarchy even where propagation of the other acl has stopped.
New objects should be created with a dacl and a sacl that both have the ACL4_PROTECTED flag cleared and the ACL4_AUTO_INHERIT flag set to the same value as that on, respectively, the sacl or dacl of the parent object.
Both the dacl and sacl attributes are RECOMMENDED, and a server may support one without supporting the other.
A server that supports both the old acl attribute and one or both of the new dacl or sacl attributes must do so in such a way as to keep all three attributes consistent with each other. Thus, the ACEs reported in the acl attribute should be the union of the ACEs reported in the dacl and sacl attributes, except that the ACE4_INHERITED_ACE flag must be cleared from the ACEs in the acl. And of course a client that queries only the acl will be unable to determine the values of the sacl or dacl flag fields.
When a client performs a SETATTR for the acl attribute, the server SHOULD set the ACL4_PROTECTED flag to true on both the sacl and the dacl. By using the acl attribute, as opposed to the dacl or sacl attributes, the client signals that it may not understand automatic inheritance, and thus cannot be trusted to set an ACL for which automatic inheritance would make sense.
When a client application queries an ACL, modifies it, and sets it again, it should leave any ACEs marked with ACE4_INHERITED_ACE unchanged, in their original order, at the end of the ACL. If the application is unable to do this, it should set the ACL4_PROTECTED
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flag. This behavior is not enforced by servers, but violations of this rule may lead to unexpected results when applications perform automatic inheritance.
If a server also supports the mode attribute, it SHOULD set the mode in such a way that leaves inherited ACEs unchanged, in their original order, at the end of the ACL. If it is unable to do so, it SHOULD set the ACL4_PROTECTED flag on the file's dacl.
Finally, in the case where the request that creates a new file or directory does not also set permissions for that file or directory, and there are also no ACEs to inherit from the parent's directory, then the server's choice of ACL for the new object is implementation- dependent. In this case, the server SHOULD set the ACL4_DEFAULTED flag on the ACL it chooses for the new object. An application performing automatic inheritance takes the ACL4_DEFAULTED flag as a sign that the ACL should be completely replaced by one generated using the automatic inheritance rules.
7. Single-Server Namespace
This section describes the NFSv4 single-server namespace. Single- server namespaces may be presented directly to clients, or they may be used as a basis to form larger multi-server namespaces (e.g., site-wide or organization-wide) to be presented to clients, as described in Section 11.
On a UNIX server, the namespace describes all the files reachable by pathnames under the root directory or "/". On a Windows server, the namespace constitutes all the files on disks named by mapped disk letters. NFS server administrators rarely make the entire server's file system namespace available to NFS clients. More often, portions of the namespace are made available via an "export" feature. In previous versions of the NFS protocol, the root filehandle for each export is obtained through the MOUNT protocol; the client sent a string that identified the export name within the namespace and the server returned the root filehandle for that export. The MOUNT protocol also provided an EXPORTS procedure that enumerated the server's exports.
The NFSv4.1 protocol provides a root filehandle that clients can use to obtain filehandles for the exports of a particular server, via a series of LOOKUP operations within a COMPOUND, to traverse a path. A common user experience is to use a graphical user interface (perhaps
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a file "Open" dialog window) to find a file via progressive browsing through a directory tree. The client must be able to move from one export to another export via single-component, progressive LOOKUP operations.
This style of browsing is not well supported by the NFSv3 protocol. In NFSv3, the client expects all LOOKUP operations to remain within a single server file system. For example, the device attribute will not change. This prevents a client from taking namespace paths that span exports.
In the case of NFSv3, an automounter on the client can obtain a snapshot of the server's namespace using the EXPORTS procedure of the MOUNT protocol. If it understands the server's pathname syntax, it can create an image of the server's namespace on the client. The parts of the namespace that are not exported by the server are filled in with directories that might be constructed similarly to an NFSv4.1 "pseudo file system" (see Section 7.3) that allows the user to browse from one mounted file system to another. There is a drawback to this representation of the server's namespace on the client: it is static. If the server administrator adds a new export, the client will be unaware of it.
NFSv4.1 servers avoid this namespace inconsistency by presenting all the exports for a given server within the framework of a single namespace for that server. An NFSv4.1 client uses LOOKUP and READDIR operations to browse seamlessly from one export to another.
Where there are portions of the server namespace that are not exported, clients require some way of traversing those portions to reach actual exported file systems. A technique that servers may use to provide for this is to bridge the unexported portion of the namespace via a "pseudo file system" that provides a view of exported directories only. A pseudo file system has a unique fsid and behaves like a normal, read-only file system.
Based on the construction of the server's namespace, it is possible that multiple pseudo file systems may exist. For example,
/a pseudo file system /a/b real file system /a/b/c pseudo file system /a/b/c/d real file system
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Each of the pseudo file systems is considered a separate entity and therefore MUST have its own fsid, unique among all the fsids for that server.
Certain operating environments are sometimes described as having "multiple roots". In such environments, individual file systems are commonly represented by disk or volume names. NFSv4 servers for these platforms can construct a pseudo file system above these root names so that disk letters or volume names are simply directory names in the pseudo root.
The nature of the server's pseudo file system is that it is a logical representation of file system(s) available from the server. Therefore, the pseudo file system is most likely constructed dynamically when the server is first instantiated. It is expected that the pseudo file system may not have an on-disk counterpart from which persistent filehandles could be constructed. Even though it is preferable that the server provide persistent filehandles for the pseudo file system, the NFS client should expect that pseudo file system filehandles are volatile. This can be confirmed by checking the associated "fh_expire_type" attribute for those filehandles in question. If the filehandles are volatile, the NFS client must be prepared to recover a filehandle value (e.g., with a series of LOOKUP operations) when receiving an error of NFS4ERR_FHEXPIRED.
Because it is quite likely that servers will implement pseudo file systems using volatile filehandles, clients need to be prepared for them, rather than assuming that all filehandles will be persistent.
If the server's root file system is exported, one might conclude that a pseudo file system is unneeded. This is not necessarily so. Assume the following file systems on a server:
The server file system environment may be constructed in such a way that one file system contains a directory that is 'covered' or mounted upon by a second file system. For example:
/a/b (file system 1) /a/b/c/d (file system 2)
The pseudo file system for this server may be constructed to look like:
/ (place holder/not exported) /a/b (file system 1) /a/b/c/d (file system 2)
It is the server's responsibility to present the pseudo file system that is complete to the client. If the client sends a LOOKUP request for the path /a/b/c/d, the server's response is the filehandle of the root of the file system /a/b/c/d. In previous versions of the NFS protocol, the server would respond with the filehandle of directory /a/b/c/d within the file system /a/b.
The NFS client will be able to determine if it crosses a server mount point by a change in the value of the "fsid" attribute.
Because NFSv4 clients possess the ability to change the security mechanisms used, after determining what is allowed, by using SECINFO and SECINFO_NONAME, the server SHOULD NOT present a different view of the namespace based on the security mechanism being used by a client. Instead, it should present a consistent view and return NFS4ERR_WRONGSEC if an attempt is made to access data with an inappropriate security mechanism.
If security considerations make it necessary to hide the existence of a particular file system, as opposed to all of the data within it, the server can apply the security policy of a shared resource in the server's namespace to components of the resource's ancestors. For example:
/ (place holder/not exported) /a/b (file system 1) /a/b/MySecretProject (file system 2)
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The /a/b/MySecretProject directory is a real file system and is the shared resource. Suppose the security policy for /a/b/ MySecretProject is Kerberos with integrity and it is desired to limit knowledge of the existence of this file system. In this case, the server should apply the same security policy to /a/b. This allows for knowledge of the existence of a file system to be secured when desirable.
For the case of the use of multiple, disjoint security mechanisms in the server's resources, applying that sort of policy would result in the higher-level file system not being accessible using any security flavor. Therefore, that sort of configuration is not compatible with hiding the existence (as opposed to the contents) from clients using multiple disjoint sets of security flavors.
In other circumstances, a desirable policy is for the security of a particular object in the server's namespace to include the union of all security mechanisms of all direct descendants. A common and convenient practice, unless strong security requirements dictate otherwise, is to make the entire the pseudo file system accessible by all of the valid security mechanisms.
Where there is concern about the security of data on the network, clients should use strong security mechanisms to access the pseudo file system in order to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks.
8. State Management
Integrating locking into the NFS protocol necessarily causes it to be stateful. With the inclusion of such features as share reservations, file and directory delegations, recallable layouts, and support for mandatory byte-range locking, the protocol becomes substantially more dependent on proper management of state than the traditional combination of NFS and NLM (Network Lock Manager) [46]. These features include expanded locking facilities, which provide some measure of inter-client exclusion, but the state also offers features not readily providable using a stateless model. There are three components to making this state manageable:
o clear division between client and server
o ability to reliably detect inconsistency in state between client and server
o simple and robust recovery mechanisms
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In this model, the server owns the state information. The client requests changes in locks and the server responds with the changes made. Non-client-initiated changes in locking state are infrequent. The client receives prompt notification of such changes and can adjust its view of the locking state to reflect the server's changes.
Individual pieces of state created by the server and passed to the client at its request are represented by 128-bit stateids. These stateids may represent a particular open file, a set of byte-range locks held by a particular owner, or a recallable delegation of privileges to access a file in particular ways or at a particular location.
In all cases, there is a transition from the most general information that represents a client as a whole to the eventual lightweight stateid used for most client and server locking interactions. The details of this transition will vary with the type of object but it always starts with a client ID.
A client must establish a client ID (see Section 2.4) and then one or more sessionids (see Section 2.10) before performing any operations to open, byte-range lock, delegate, or obtain a layout for a file object. Each session ID is associated with a specific client ID, and thus serves as a shorthand reference to an NFSv4.1 client.
For some types of locking interactions, the client will represent some number of internal locking entities called "owners", which normally correspond to processes internal to the client. For other types of locking-related objects, such as delegations and layouts, no such intermediate entities are provided for, and the locking-related objects are considered to be transferred directly between the server and a unitary client.
When the server grants a lock of any type (including opens, byte- range locks, delegations, and layouts), it responds with a unique stateid that represents a set of locks (often a single lock) for the same file, of the same type, and sharing the same ownership characteristics. Thus, opens of the same file by different open- owners each have an identifying stateid. Similarly, each set of byte-range locks on a file owned by a specific lock-owner has its own identifying stateid. Delegations and layouts also have associated stateids by which they may be referenced. The stateid is used as a shorthand reference to a lock or set of locks, and given a stateid, the server can determine the associated state-owner or state-owners
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(in the case of an open-owner/lock-owner pair) and the associated filehandle. When stateids are used, the current filehandle must be the one associated with that stateid.
All stateids associated with a given client ID are associated with a common lease that represents the claim of those stateids and the objects they represent to be maintained by the server. See Section 8.3 for a discussion of the lease.
The server may assign stateids independently for different clients. A stateid with the same bit pattern for one client may designate an entirely different set of locks for a different client. The stateid is always interpreted with respect to the client ID associated with the current session. Stateids apply to all sessions associated with the given client ID, and the client may use a stateid obtained from one session on another session associated with the same client ID.
With the exception of special stateids (see Section 8.2.3), each stateid represents locking objects of one of a set of types defined by the NFSv4.1 protocol. Note that in all these cases, where we speak of guarantee, it is understood there are situations such as a client restart, or lock revocation, that allow the guarantee to be voided.
o Stateids may represent opens of files.
Each stateid in this case represents the OPEN state for a given client ID/open-owner/filehandle triple. Such stateids are subject to change (with consequent incrementing of the stateid's seqid) in response to OPENs that result in upgrade and OPEN_DOWNGRADE operations.
o Stateids may represent sets of byte-range locks.
All locks held on a particular file by a particular owner and gotten under the aegis of a particular open file are associated with a single stateid with the seqid being incremented whenever LOCK and LOCKU operations affect that set of locks.
o Stateids may represent file delegations, which are recallable guarantees by the server to the client that other clients will not reference or modify a particular file, until the delegation is returned. In NFSv4.1, file delegations may be obtained on both regular and non-regular files.
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A stateid represents a single delegation held by a client for a particular filehandle.
o Stateids may represent directory delegations, which are recallable guarantees by the server to the client that other clients will not modify the directory, until the delegation is returned.
A stateid represents a single delegation held by a client for a particular directory filehandle.
o Stateids may represent layouts, which are recallable guarantees by the server to the client that particular files may be accessed via an alternate data access protocol at specific locations. Such access is limited to particular sets of byte-ranges and may proceed until those byte-ranges are reduced or the layout is returned.
A stateid represents the set of all layouts held by a particular client for a particular filehandle with a given layout type. The seqid is updated as the layouts of that set of byte-ranges change, via layout stateid changing operations such as LAYOUTGET and LAYOUTRETURN.
Stateids are divided into two fields, a 96-bit "other" field identifying the specific set of locks and a 32-bit "seqid" sequence value. Except in the case of special stateids (see Section 8.2.3), a particular value of the "other" field denotes a set of locks of the same type (for example, byte-range locks, opens, delegations, or layouts), for a specific file or directory, and sharing the same ownership characteristics. The seqid designates a specific instance of such a set of locks, and is incremented to indicate changes in such a set of locks, either by the addition or deletion of locks from the set, a change in the byte-range they apply to, or an upgrade or downgrade in the type of one or more locks.
When such a set of locks is first created, the server returns a stateid with seqid value of one. On subsequent operations that modify the set of locks, the server is required to increment the "seqid" field by one whenever it returns a stateid for the same state-owner/file/type combination and there is some change in the set of locks actually designated. In this case, the server will return a stateid with an "other" field the same as previously used for that state-owner/file/type combination, with an incremented "seqid" field. This pattern continues until the seqid is incremented past NFS4_UINT32_MAX, and one (not zero) is the next seqid value.
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The purpose of the incrementing of the seqid is to allow the server to communicate to the client the order in which operations that modified locking state associated with a stateid have been processed and to make it possible for the client to send requests that are conditional on the set of locks not having changed since the stateid in question was returned.
Except for layout stateids (Section 12.5.3), when a client sends a stateid to the server, it has two choices with regard to the seqid sent. It may set the seqid to zero to indicate to the server that it wishes the most up-to-date seqid for that stateid's "other" field to be used. This would be the common choice in the case of a stateid sent with a READ or WRITE operation. It also may set a non-zero value, in which case the server checks if that seqid is the correct one. In that case, the server is required to return NFS4ERR_OLD_STATEID if the seqid is lower than the most current value and NFS4ERR_BAD_STATEID if the seqid is greater than the most current value. This would be the common choice in the case of stateids sent with a CLOSE or OPEN_DOWNGRADE. Because OPENs may be sent in parallel for the same owner, a client might close a file without knowing that an OPEN upgrade had been done by the server, changing the lock in question. If CLOSE were sent with a zero seqid, the OPEN upgrade would be cancelled before the client even received an indication that an upgrade had happened.
When a stateid is sent by the server to the client as part of a callback operation, it is not subject to checking for a current seqid and returning NFS4ERR_OLD_STATEID. This is because the client is not in a position to know the most up-to-date seqid and thus cannot verify it. Unless specially noted, the seqid value for a stateid sent by the server to the client as part of a callback is required to be zero with NFS4ERR_BAD_STATEID returned if it is not.
In making comparisons between seqids, both by the client in determining the order of operations and by the server in determining whether the NFS4ERR_OLD_STATEID is to be returned, the possibility of the seqid being swapped around past the NFS4_UINT32_MAX value needs to be taken into account. When two seqid values are being compared, the total count of slots for all sessions associated with the current client is used to do this. When one seqid value is less than this total slot count and another seqid value is greater than NFS4_UINT32_MAX minus the total slot count, the former is to be treated as lower than the latter, despite the fact that it is numerically greater.
Stateid values whose "other" field is either all zeros or all ones are reserved. They may not be assigned by the server but have special meanings defined by the protocol. The particular meaning depends on whether the "other" field is all zeros or all ones and the specific value of the "seqid" field.
The following combinations of "other" and "seqid" are defined in NFSv4.1:
o When "other" and "seqid" are both zero, the stateid is treated as a special anonymous stateid, which can be used in READ, WRITE, and SETATTR requests to indicate the absence of any OPEN state associated with the request. When an anonymous stateid value is used and an existing open denies the form of access requested, then access will be denied to the request. This stateid MUST NOT be used on operations to data servers (Section 13.6).
o When "other" and "seqid" are both all ones, the stateid is a special READ bypass stateid. When this value is used in WRITE or SETATTR, it is treated like the anonymous value. When used in READ, the server MAY grant access, even if access would normally be denied to READ operations. This stateid MUST NOT be used on operations to data servers.
o When "other" is zero and "seqid" is one, the stateid represents the current stateid, which is whatever value is the last stateid returned by an operation within the COMPOUND. In the case of an OPEN, the stateid returned for the open file and not the delegation is used. The stateid passed to the operation in place of the special value has its "seqid" value set to zero, except when the current stateid is used by the operation CLOSE or OPEN_DOWNGRADE. If there is no operation in the COMPOUND that has returned a stateid value, the server MUST return the error NFS4ERR_BAD_STATEID. As illustrated in Figure 6, if the value of a current stateid is a special stateid and the stateid of an operation's arguments has "other" set to zero and "seqid" set to one, then the server MUST return the error NFS4ERR_BAD_STATEID.
o When "other" is zero and "seqid" is NFS4_UINT32_MAX, the stateid represents a reserved stateid value defined to be invalid. When this stateid is used, the server MUST return the error NFS4ERR_BAD_STATEID.
If a stateid value is used that has all zeros or all ones in the "other" field but does not match one of the cases above, the server MUST return the error NFS4ERR_BAD_STATEID.
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Special stateids, unlike other stateids, are not associated with individual client IDs or filehandles and can be used with all valid client IDs and filehandles. In the case of a special stateid designating the current stateid, the current stateid value substituted for the special stateid is associated with a particular client ID and filehandle, and so, if it is used where the current filehandle does not match that associated with the current stateid, the operation to which the stateid is passed will return NFS4ERR_BAD_STATEID.
Stateids must remain valid until either a client restart or a server restart or until the client returns all of the locks associated with the stateid by means of an operation such as CLOSE or DELEGRETURN. If the locks are lost due to revocation, as long as the client ID is valid, the stateid remains a valid designation of that revoked state until the client frees it by using FREE_STATEID. Stateids associated with byte-range locks are an exception. They remain valid even if a LOCKU frees all remaining locks, so long as the open file with which they are associated remains open, unless the client frees the stateids via the FREE_STATEID operation.
It should be noted that there are situations in which the client's locks become invalid, without the client requesting they be returned. These include lease expiration and a number of forms of lock revocation within the lease period. It is important to note that in these situations, the stateid remains valid and the client can use it to determine the disposition of the associated lost locks.
An "other" value must never be reused for a different purpose (i.e., different filehandle, owner, or type of locks) within the context of a single client ID. A server may retain the "other" value for the same purpose beyond the point where it may otherwise be freed, but if it does so, it must maintain "seqid" continuity with previous values.
One mechanism that may be used to satisfy the requirement that the server recognize invalid and out-of-date stateids is for the server to divide the "other" field of the stateid into two fields.
o an index into a table of locking-state structures.
o a generation number that is incremented on each allocation of a table entry for a particular use.
And then store in each table entry,
o the client ID with which the stateid is associated.
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o the current generation number for the (at most one) valid stateid sharing this index value.
o the filehandle of the file on which the locks are taken.
o an indication of the type of stateid (open, byte-range lock, file delegation, directory delegation, layout).
o the last "seqid" value returned corresponding to the current "other" value.
o an indication of the current status of the locks associated with this stateid, in particular, whether these have been revoked and if so, for what reason.
With this information, an incoming stateid can be validated and the appropriate error returned when necessary. Special and non-special stateids are handled separately. (See Section 8.2.3 for a discussion of special stateids.)
Note that stateids are implicitly qualified by the current client ID, as derived from the client ID associated with the current session. Note, however, that the semantics of the session will prevent stateids associated with a previous client or server instance from being analyzed by this procedure.
If server restart has resulted in an invalid client ID or a session ID that is invalid, SEQUENCE will return an error and the operation that takes a stateid as an argument will never be processed.
If there has been a server restart where there is a persistent session and all leased state has been lost, then the session in question will, although valid, be marked as dead, and any operation not satisfied by means of the reply cache will receive the error NFS4ERR_DEADSESSION, and thus not be processed as indicated below.
When a stateid is being tested and the "other" field is all zeros or all ones, a check that the "other" and "seqid" fields match a defined combination for a special stateid is done and the results determined as follows:
o If the "other" and "seqid" fields do not match a defined combination associated with a special stateid, the error NFS4ERR_BAD_STATEID is returned.
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o If the special stateid is one designating the current stateid and there is a current stateid, then the current stateid is substituted for the special stateid and the checks appropriate to non-special stateids are performed.
o If the combination is valid in general but is not appropriate to the context in which the stateid is used (e.g., an all-zero stateid is used when an OPEN stateid is required in a LOCK operation), the error NFS4ERR_BAD_STATEID is also returned.
o Otherwise, the check is completed and the special stateid is accepted as valid.
When a stateid is being tested, and the "other" field is neither all zeros nor all ones, the following procedure could be used to validate an incoming stateid and return an appropriate error, when necessary, assuming that the "other" field would be divided into a table index and an entry generation.
o If the table index field is outside the range of the associated table, return NFS4ERR_BAD_STATEID.
o If the selected table entry is of a different generation than that specified in the incoming stateid, return NFS4ERR_BAD_STATEID.
o If the selected table entry does not match the current filehandle, return NFS4ERR_BAD_STATEID.
o If the client ID in the table entry does not match the client ID associated with the current session, return NFS4ERR_BAD_STATEID.
o If the stateid represents revoked state, then return NFS4ERR_EXPIRED, NFS4ERR_ADMIN_REVOKED, or NFS4ERR_DELEG_REVOKED, as appropriate.
o If the stateid type is not valid for the context in which the stateid appears, return NFS4ERR_BAD_STATEID. Note that a stateid may be valid in general, as would be reported by the TEST_STATEID operation, but be invalid for a particular operation, as, for example, when a stateid that doesn't represent byte-range locks is passed to the non-from_open case of LOCK or to LOCKU, or when a stateid that does not represent an open is passed to CLOSE or OPEN_DOWNGRADE. In such cases, the server MUST return NFS4ERR_BAD_STATEID.
o If the "seqid" field is not zero and it is greater than the current sequence value corresponding to the current "other" field, return NFS4ERR_BAD_STATEID.
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o If the "seqid" field is not zero and it is less than the current sequence value corresponding to the current "other" field, return NFS4ERR_OLD_STATEID.
o Otherwise, the stateid is valid and the table entry should contain any additional information about the type of stateid and information associated with that particular type of stateid, such as the associated set of locks, e.g., open-owner and lock-owner information, as well as information on the specific locks, e.g., open modes and byte-ranges.
Clients performing I/O operations need to select an appropriate stateid based on the locks (including opens and delegations) held by the client and the various types of state-owners sending the I/O requests. SETATTR operations that change the file size are treated like I/O operations in this regard.
The following rules, applied in order of decreasing priority, govern the selection of the appropriate stateid. In following these rules, the client will only consider locks of which it has actually received notification by an appropriate operation response or callback. Note that the rules are slightly different in the case of I/O to data servers when file layouts are being used (see Section 13.9.1).
o If the client holds a delegation for the file in question, the delegation stateid SHOULD be used.
o Otherwise, if the entity corresponding to the lock-owner (e.g., a process) sending the I/O has a byte-range lock stateid for the associated open file, then the byte-range lock stateid for that lock-owner and open file SHOULD be used.
o If there is no byte-range lock stateid, then the OPEN stateid for the open file in question SHOULD be used.
o Finally, if none of the above apply, then a special stateid SHOULD be used.
Ignoring these rules may result in situations in which the server does not have information necessary to properly process the request. For example, when mandatory byte-range locks are in effect, if the stateid does not indicate the proper lock-owner, via a lock stateid, a request might be avoidably rejected.
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The server however should not try to enforce these ordering rules and should use whatever information is available to properly process I/O requests. In particular, when a client has a delegation for a given file, it SHOULD take note of this fact in processing a request, even if it is sent with a special stateid.
Because each operation is associated with a session ID and from that the clientid can be determined, operations do not need to include a stateid for the server to be able to determine whether they should cause a delegation to be recalled or are to be treated as done within the scope of the delegation.
In the case of SETATTR operations, a stateid is present. In cases other than those that set the file size, the client may send either a special stateid or, when a delegation is held for the file in question, a delegation stateid. While the server SHOULD validate the stateid and may use the stateid to optimize the determination as to whether a delegation is held, it SHOULD note the presence of a delegation even when a special stateid is sent, and MUST accept a valid delegation stateid when sent.
Each client/server pair, as represented by a client ID, has a single lease. The purpose of the lease is to allow the client to indicate to the server, in a low-overhead way, that it is active, and thus that the server is to retain the client's locks. This arrangement allows the server to remove stale locking-related objects that are held by a client that has crashed or is otherwise unreachable, once the relevant lease expires. This in turn allows other clients to obtain conflicting locks without being delayed indefinitely by inactive or unreachable clients. It is not a mechanism for cache consistency and lease renewals may not be denied if the lease interval has not expired.
Since each session is associated with a specific client (identified by the client's client ID), any operation sent on that session is an indication that the associated client is reachable. When a request is sent for a given session, successful execution of a SEQUENCE operation (or successful retrieval of the result of SEQUENCE from the reply cache) on an unexpired lease will result in the lease being implicitly renewed, for the standard renewal period (equal to the lease_time attribute).
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If the client ID's lease has not expired when the server receives a SEQUENCE operation, then the server MUST renew the lease. If the client ID's lease has expired when the server receives a SEQUENCE operation, the server MAY renew the lease; this depends on whether any state was revoked as a result of the client's failure to renew the lease before expiration.
Absent other activity that would renew the lease, a COMPOUND consisting of a single SEQUENCE operation will suffice. The client should also take communication-related delays into account and take steps to ensure that the renewal messages actually reach the server in good time. For example:
o When trunking is in effect, the client should consider sending multiple requests on different connections, in order to ensure that renewal occurs, even in the event of blockage in the path used for one of those connections.
o Transport retransmission delays might become so large as to approach or exceed the length of the lease period. This may be particularly likely when the server is unresponsive due to a restart; see Section 8.4.2.1. If the client implementation is not careful, transport retransmission delays can result in the client failing to detect a server restart before the grace period ends. The scenario is that the client is using a transport with exponential backoff, such that the maximum retransmission timeout exceeds both the grace period and the lease_time attribute. A network partition causes the client's connection's retransmission interval to back off, and even after the partition heals, the next transport-level retransmission is sent after the server has restarted and its grace period ends.
The client MUST either recover from the ensuing NFS4ERR_NO_GRACE errors or it MUST ensure that, despite transport-level retransmission intervals that exceed the lease_time, a SEQUENCE operation is sent that renews the lease before expiration. The client can achieve this by associating a new connection with the session, and sending a SEQUENCE operation on it. However, if the attempt to establish a new connection is delayed for some reason (e.g., exponential backoff of the connection establishment packets), the client will have to abort the connection establishment attempt before the lease expires, and attempt to reconnect.
If the server renews the lease upon receiving a SEQUENCE operation, the server MUST NOT allow the lease to expire while the rest of the operations in the COMPOUND procedure's request are still executing.
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Once the last operation has finished, and the response to COMPOUND has been sent, the server MUST set the lease to expire no sooner than the sum of current time and the value of the lease_time attribute.
A client ID's lease can expire when it has been at least the lease interval (lease_time) since the last lease-renewing SEQUENCE operation was sent on any of the client ID's sessions and there are no active COMPOUND operations on any such sessions.
Because the SEQUENCE operation is the basic mechanism to renew a lease, and because it must be done at least once for each lease period, it is the natural mechanism whereby the server will inform the client of changes in the lease status that the client needs to be informed of. The client should inspect the status flags (sr_status_flags) returned by sequence and take the appropriate action (see Section 18.46.3 for details).
o The status bits SEQ4_STATUS_CB_PATH_DOWN and SEQ4_STATUS_CB_PATH_DOWN_SESSION indicate problems with the backchannel that the client may need to address in order to receive callback requests.
o The status bits SEQ4_STATUS_CB_GSS_CONTEXTS_EXPIRING and SEQ4_STATUS_CB_GSS_CONTEXTS_EXPIRED indicate problems with GSS contexts or RPCSEC_GSS handles for the backchannel that the client might have to address in order to allow callback requests to be sent.
o The status bits SEQ4_STATUS_EXPIRED_ALL_STATE_REVOKED, SEQ4_STATUS_EXPIRED_SOME_STATE_REVOKED, SEQ4_STATUS_ADMIN_STATE_REVOKED, and SEQ4_STATUS_RECALLABLE_STATE_REVOKED notify the client of lock revocation events. When these bits are set, the client should use TEST_STATEID to find what stateids have been revoked and use FREE_STATEID to acknowledge loss of the associated state.
o The status bit SEQ4_STATUS_LEASE_MOVE indicates that responsibility for lease renewal has been transferred to one or more new servers.
o The status bit SEQ4_STATUS_RESTART_RECLAIM_NEEDED indicates that due to server restart the client must reclaim locking state.
o The status bit SEQ4_STATUS_BACKCHANNEL_FAULT indicates that the server has encountered an unrecoverable fault with the backchannel (e.g., it has lost track of a sequence ID for a slot in the backchannel).
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. All READ and WRITE operations that may have been queued within the client or network buffers must wait until the client has successfully recovered the locks protecting the READ and WRITE operations. Any that reach the server before the server can safely determine that the client has recovered enough locking state to be sure that such operations can be safely processed must be rejected. This will happen because either:
o The state presented is no longer valid since it is associated with a now invalid client ID. In this case, the client will receive either an NFS4ERR_BADSESSION or NFS4ERR_DEADSESSION error, and any attempt to attach a new session to that invalid client ID will result in an NFS4ERR_STALE_CLIENTID error.
o Subsequent recovery of locks may make execution of the operation inappropriate (NFS4ERR_GRACE).
In the event that a client fails, the server may release the client's locks when the associated lease has expired. Conflicting locks from another client may only be granted after this lease expiration. As discussed in Section 8.3, when a client has not failed and re- establishes its lease before expiration occurs, requests for conflicting locks will not be granted.
To minimize client delay upon restart, lock requests are associated with an instance of the client by a client-supplied verifier. This verifier is part of the client_owner4 sent in the initial EXCHANGE_ID call made by the client. The server returns a client ID as a result of the EXCHANGE_ID operation. The client then confirms the use of the client ID by establishing a session associated with that client ID (see Section 18.36.3 for a description of how this is done). All locks, including opens, byte-range locks, delegations, and layouts obtained by sessions using that client ID, are associated with that client ID.
Since the verifier will be changed by the client upon each initialization, the server can compare a new verifier to the verifier associated with currently held locks and determine that they do not match. This signifies the client's new instantiation and subsequent loss (upon confirmation of the new client ID) of locking state. As a result, the server is free to release all locks held that are
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associated with the old client ID that was derived from the old verifier. At this point, conflicting locks from other clients, kept waiting while the lease had not yet expired, can be granted. In addition, all stateids associated with the old client ID can also be freed, as they are no longer reference-able.
Note that the verifier must have the same uniqueness properties as the verifier for the COMMIT operation.
If the server loses locking state (usually as a result of a restart), it must allow clients time to discover this fact and re-establish the lost locking state. The client must be able to re-establish the locking state without having the server deny valid requests because the server has granted conflicting access to another client. Likewise, if there is a possibility that clients have not yet re- established their locking state for a file and that such locking state might make it invalid to perform READ or WRITE operations. For example, if mandatory locks are a possibility, the server must disallow READ and WRITE operations for that file.
A client can determine that loss of locking state has occurred via several methods.
1. When a SEQUENCE (most common) or other operation returns NFS4ERR_BADSESSION, this may mean that the session has been destroyed but the client ID is still valid. The client sends a CREATE_SESSION request with the client ID to re-establish the session. If CREATE_SESSION fails with NFS4ERR_STALE_CLIENTID, the client must establish a new client ID (see Section 8.1) and re-establish its lock state with the new client ID, after the CREATE_SESSION operation succeeds (see Section 8.4.2.1).
2. When a SEQUENCE (most common) or other operation on a persistent session returns NFS4ERR_DEADSESSION, this indicates that a session is no longer usable for new, i.e., not satisfied from the reply cache, operations. Once all pending operations are determined to be either performed before the retry or not performed, the client sends a CREATE_SESSION request with the client ID to re-establish the session. If CREATE_SESSION fails with NFS4ERR_STALE_CLIENTID, the client must establish a new client ID (see Section 8.1) and re-establish its lock state after the CREATE_SESSION, with the new client ID, succeeds (Section 8.4.2.1).
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3. When an operation, neither SEQUENCE nor preceded by SEQUENCE (for example, CREATE_SESSION, DESTROY_SESSION), returns NFS4ERR_STALE_CLIENTID, the client MUST establish a new client ID (Section 8.1) and re-establish its lock state (Section 8.4.2.1).
When state information and the associated locks are lost as a result of a server restart, the protocol must provide a way to cause that state to be re-established. The approach used is to define, for most types of locking state (layouts are an exception), a request whose function is to allow the client to re-establish on the server a lock first obtained from a previous instance. Generally, these requests are variants of the requests normally used to create locks of that type and are referred to as "reclaim-type" requests, and the process of re-establishing such locks is referred to as "reclaiming" them.
Because each client must have an opportunity to reclaim all of the locks that it has without the possibility that some other client will be granted a conflicting lock, a "grace period" is devoted to the reclaim process. During this period, requests creating client IDs and sessions are handled normally, but locking requests are subject to special restrictions. Only reclaim-type locking requests are allowed, unless the server can reliably determine (through state persistently maintained across restart instances) that granting any such lock cannot possibly conflict with a subsequent reclaim. When a request is made to obtain a new lock (i.e., not a reclaim-type request) during the grace period and such a determination cannot be made, the server must return the error NFS4ERR_GRACE.
Once a session is established using the new client ID, the client will use reclaim-type locking requests (e.g., LOCK operations with reclaim set to TRUE and OPEN operations with a claim type of CLAIM_PREVIOUS; see Section 9.11) to re-establish its locking state. Once this is done, or if there is no such locking state to reclaim, the client sends a global RECLAIM_COMPLETE operation, i.e., one with the rca_one_fs argument set to FALSE, to indicate that it has reclaimed all of the locking state that it will reclaim. Once a client sends such a RECLAIM_COMPLETE operation, it may attempt non- reclaim locking operations, although it might get an NFS4ERR_GRACE status result from each such operation until the period of special handling is over. See Section 11.7.7 for a discussion of the analogous handling lock reclamation in the case of file systems transitioning from server to server.
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During the grace period, the server must reject READ and WRITE operations and non-reclaim locking requests (i.e., other LOCK and OPEN operations) with an error of NFS4ERR_GRACE, unless it can guarantee that these may be done safely, as described below.
The grace period may last until all clients that are known to possibly have had locks have done a global RECLAIM_COMPLETE operation, indicating that they have finished reclaiming the locks they held before the server restart. This means that a client that has done a RECLAIM_COMPLETE must be prepared to receive an NFS4ERR_GRACE when attempting to acquire new locks. In order for the server to know that all clients with possible prior lock state have done a RECLAIM_COMPLETE, the server must maintain in stable storage a list clients that may have such locks. The server may also terminate the grace period before all clients have done a global RECLAIM_COMPLETE. The server SHOULD NOT terminate the grace period before a time equal to the lease period in order to give clients an opportunity to find out about the server restart, as a result of sending requests on associated sessions with a frequency governed by the lease time. Note that when a client does not send such requests (or they are sent by the client but not received by the server), it is possible for the grace period to expire before the client finds out that the server restart has occurred.
Some additional time in order to allow a client to establish a new client ID and session and to effect lock reclaims may be added to the lease time. Note that analogous rules apply to file system-specific grace periods discussed in Section 11.7.7.
If the server can reliably determine that granting a non-reclaim request will not conflict with reclamation of locks by other clients, the NFS4ERR_GRACE error does not have to be returned even within the grace period, although NFS4ERR_GRACE must always be returned to clients attempting a non-reclaim lock request before doing their own global RECLAIM_COMPLETE. For the server to be able to service READ and WRITE operations during the grace period, it must again be able to guarantee that no possible conflict could arise between a potential reclaim locking request and the READ or WRITE operation. If the server is unable to offer that guarantee, the NFS4ERR_GRACE error must be returned to the client.
For a server to provide simple, valid handling during the grace period, the easiest method is to simply reject all non-reclaim locking requests and READ and WRITE operations by returning the NFS4ERR_GRACE error. However, a server may keep information about granted locks in stable storage. With this information, the server could determine if a locking, READ or WRITE operation can be safely processed.
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For example, if the server maintained on stable storage summary information on whether mandatory locks exist, either mandatory byte- range locks, or share reservations specifying deny modes, many requests could be allowed during the grace period. If it is known that no such share reservations exist, OPEN request that do not specify deny modes may be safely granted. If, in addition, it is known that no mandatory byte-range locks exist, either through information stored on stable storage or simply because the server does not support such locks, READ and WRITE operations may be safely processed during the grace period. Another important case is where it is known that no mandatory byte-range locks exist, either because the server does not provide support for them or because their absence is known from persistently recorded data. In this case, READ and WRITE operations specifying stateids derived from reclaim-type operations may be validly processed during the grace period because of the fact that the valid reclaim ensures that no lock subsequently granted can prevent the I/O.
To reiterate, for a server that allows non-reclaim lock and I/O requests to be processed during the grace period, it MUST determine that no lock subsequently reclaimed will be rejected and that no lock subsequently reclaimed would have prevented any I/O operation processed during the grace period.
Clients should be prepared for the return of NFS4ERR_GRACE errors for non-reclaim lock and I/O requests. In this case, the client should employ a retry mechanism for the request. A delay (on the order of several seconds) between retries should be used to avoid overwhelming the server. Further discussion of the general issue is included in [47]. The client must account for the server that can perform I/O and non-reclaim locking requests within the grace period as well as those that cannot do so.
A reclaim-type locking request outside the server's grace period can only succeed if the server can guarantee that no conflicting lock or I/O request has been granted since restart.
A server may, upon restart, establish a new value for the lease period. Therefore, clients should, once a new client ID is established, refetch the lease_time attribute and use it as the basis for lease renewal for the lease associated with that server. However, the server must establish, for this restart event, a grace period at least as long as the lease period for the previous server instantiation. This allows the client state obtained during the previous server instance to be reliably re-established.
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The possibility exists that, because of server configuration events, the client will be communicating with a server different than the one on which the locks were obtained, as shown by the combination of eir_server_scope and eir_server_owner. This leads to the issue of if and when the client should attempt to reclaim locks previously obtained on what is being reported as a different server. The rules to resolve this question are as follows:
o If the server scope is different, the client should not attempt to reclaim locks. In this situation, no lock reclaim is possible. Any attempt to re-obtain the locks with non-reclaim operations is problematic since there is no guarantee that the existing filehandles will be recognized by the new server, or that if recognized, they denote the same objects. It is best to treat the locks as having been revoked by the reconfiguration event.
o If the server scope is the same, the client should attempt to reclaim locks, even if the eir_server_owner value is different. In this situation, it is the responsibility of the server to return NFS4ERR_NO_GRACE if it cannot provide correct support for lock reclaim operations, including the prevention of edge conditions.
The eir_server_owner field is not used in making this determination. Its function is to specify trunking possibilities for the client (see Section 2.10.5) and not to control lock reclaim.
8.4.2.1.1. Security Considerations for State Reclaim
During the grace period, a client can reclaim state that it believes or asserts it had before the server restarted. Unless the server maintained a complete record of all the state the client had, the server has little choice but to trust the client. (Of course, if the server maintained a complete record, then it would not have to force the client to reclaim state after server restart.) While the server has to trust the client to tell the truth, such trust does not have any negative consequences for security. The fundamental rule for the server when processing reclaim requests is that it MUST NOT grant the reclaim if an equivalent non-reclaim request would not be granted during steady state due to access control or access conflict issues. For example, an OPEN request during a reclaim will be refused with NFS4ERR_ACCESS if the principal making the request does not have access to open the file according to the discretionary ACL (Section 6.2.2) on the file.
Nonetheless, it is possible that a client operating in error or maliciously could, during reclaim, prevent another client from reclaiming access to state. For example, an attacker could send an
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OPEN reclaim operation with a deny mode that prevents another client from reclaiming the OPEN state it had before the server restarted. The attacker could perform the same denial of service during steady state prior to server restart, as long as the attacker had permissions. Given that the attack vectors are equivalent, the grace period does not offer any additional opportunity for denial of service, and any concerns about this attack vector, whether during grace or steady state, are addressed the same way: use RPCSEC_GSS for authentication and limit access to the file only to principals that the owner of the file trusts.
Note that if prior to restart the server had client IDs with the EXCHGID4_FLAG_BIND_PRINC_STATEID (Section 18.35) capability set, then the server SHOULD record in stable storage the client owner and the principal that established the client ID via EXCHANGE_ID. If the server does not, then there is a risk a client will be unable to reclaim state if it does not have a credential for a principal that was originally authorized to establish the state.
If the duration of a network partition is greater than the lease period provided by the server, the server will not have received a lease renewal from the client. If this occurs, the server may free all locks held for the client or it may allow the lock state to remain for a considerable period, subject to the constraint that if a request for a conflicting lock is made, locks associated with an expired lease do not prevent such a conflicting lock from being granted but MUST be revoked as necessary so as to avoid interfering with such conflicting requests.
If the server chooses to delay freeing of lock state until there is a conflict, it may either free all of the client's locks once there is a conflict or it may only revoke the minimum set of locks necessary to allow conflicting requests. When it adopts the finer-grained approach, it must revoke all locks associated with a given stateid, even if the conflict is with only a subset of locks.
When the server chooses to free all of a client's lock state, either immediately upon lease expiration or as a result of the first attempt to obtain a conflicting a lock, the server may report the loss of lock state in a number of ways.
The server may choose to invalidate the session and the associated client ID. In this case, once the client can communicate with the server, it will receive an NFS4ERR_BADSESSION error. Upon attempting to create a new session, it would get an NFS4ERR_STALE_CLIENTID. Upon creating the new client ID and new session, the client will
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attempt to reclaim locks. Normally, the server will not allow the client to reclaim locks, because the server will not be in its recovery grace period.
Another possibility is for the server to maintain the session and client ID but for all stateids held by the client to become invalid or stale. Once the client can reach the server after such a network partition, the status returned by the SEQUENCE operation will indicate a loss of locking state; i.e., the flag SEQ4_STATUS_EXPIRED_ALL_STATE_REVOKED will be set in sr_status_flags. In addition, all I/O submitted by the client with the now invalid stateids will fail with the server returning the error NFS4ERR_EXPIRED. Once the client learns of the loss of locking state, it will suitably notify the applications that held the invalidated locks. The client should then take action to free invalidated stateids, either by establishing a new client ID using a new verifier or by doing a FREE_STATEID operation to release each of the invalidated stateids.
When the server adopts a finer-grained approach to revocation of locks when a client's lease has expired, only a subset of stateids will normally become invalid during a network partition. When the client can communicate with the server after such a network partition heals, the status returned by the SEQUENCE operation will indicate a partial loss of locking state (SEQ4_STATUS_EXPIRED_SOME_STATE_REVOKED). In addition, operations, including I/O submitted by the client, with the now invalid stateids will fail with the server returning the error NFS4ERR_EXPIRED. Once the client learns of the loss of locking state, it will use the TEST_STATEID operation on all of its stateids to determine which locks have been lost and then suitably notify the applications that held the invalidated locks. The client can then release the invalidated locking state and acknowledge the revocation of the associated locks by doing a FREE_STATEID operation on each of the invalidated stateids.
When a network partition is combined with a server restart, there are edge conditions that place requirements on the server in order to avoid silent data corruption following the server restart. Two of these edge conditions are known, and are discussed below.
The first edge condition arises as a result of the scenarios such as the following:
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1. Client A acquires a lock.
2. Client A and server experience mutual network partition, such that client A is unable to renew its lease.
3. Client A's lease expires, and the server releases the lock.
4. Client B acquires a lock that would have conflicted with that of client A.
5. Client B releases its lock.
6. Server restarts.
7. Network partition between client A and server heals.
8. Client A connects to a new server instance and finds out about server restart.
9. Client A reclaims its lock within the server's grace period.
Thus, at the final step, the server has erroneously granted client A's lock reclaim. If client B modified the object the lock was protecting, client A will experience object corruption.
The second known edge condition arises in situations such as the following:
1. Client A acquires one or more locks.
2. Server restarts.
3. Client A and server experience mutual network partition, such that client A is unable to reclaim all of its locks within the grace period.
4. Server's reclaim grace period ends. Client A has either no locks or an incomplete set of locks known to the server.
5. Client B acquires a lock that would have conflicted with a lock of client A that was not reclaimed.
6. Client B releases the lock.
7. Server restarts a second time.
8. Network partition between client A and server heals.
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9. Client A connects to new server instance and finds out about server restart.
10. Client A reclaims its lock within the server's grace period.
As with the first edge condition, the final step of the scenario of the second edge condition has the server erroneously granting client A's lock reclaim.
Solving the first and second edge conditions requires either that the server always assumes after it restarts that some edge condition occurs, and thus returns NFS4ERR_NO_GRACE for all reclaim attempts, or that the server record some information in stable storage. The amount of information the server records in stable storage is in inverse proportion to how harsh the server intends to be whenever edge conditions arise. The server that is completely tolerant of all edge conditions will record in stable storage every lock that is acquired, removing the lock record from stable storage only when the lock is released. For the two edge conditions discussed above, the harshest a server can be, and still support a grace period for reclaims, requires that the server record in stable storage some minimal information. For example, a server implementation could, for each client, save in stable storage a record containing:
o the co_ownerid field from the client_owner4 presented in the EXCHANGE_ID operation.
o a boolean that indicates if the client's lease expired or if there was administrative intervention (see Section 8.5) to revoke a byte-range lock, share reservation, or delegation and there has been no acknowledgment, via FREE_STATEID, of such revocation.
o a boolean that indicates whether the client may have locks that it believes to be reclaimable in situations in which the grace period was terminated, making the server's view of lock reclaimability suspect. The server will set this for any client record in stable storage where the client has not done a suitable RECLAIM_COMPLETE (global or file system-specific depending on the target of the lock request) before it grants any new (i.e., not reclaimed) lock to any client.
Assuming the above record keeping, for the first edge condition, after the server restarts, the record that client A's lease expired means that another client could have acquired a conflicting byte- range lock, share reservation, or delegation. Hence, the server must reject a reclaim from client A with the error NFS4ERR_NO_GRACE.
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For the second edge condition, after the server restarts for a second time, the indication that the client had not completed its reclaims at the time at which the grace period ended means that the server must reject a reclaim from client A with the error NFS4ERR_NO_GRACE.
When either edge condition occurs, the client's attempt to reclaim locks will result in the error NFS4ERR_NO_GRACE. When this is received, or after the client restarts with no lock state, the client will send a global RECLAIM_COMPLETE. When the RECLAIM_COMPLETE is received, the server and client are again in agreement regarding reclaimable locks and both booleans in persistent storage can be reset, to be set again only when there is a subsequent event that causes lock reclaim operations to be questionable.
Regardless of the level and approach to record keeping, the server MUST implement one of the following strategies (which apply to reclaims of share reservations, byte-range locks, and delegations):
1. Reject all reclaims with NFS4ERR_NO_GRACE. This is extremely unforgiving, but necessary if the server does not record lock state in stable storage.
2. Record sufficient state in stable storage such that all known edge conditions involving server restart, including the two noted in this section, are detected. It is acceptable to erroneously recognize an edge condition and not allow a reclaim, when, with sufficient knowledge, it would be allowed. The error the server would return in this case is NFS4ERR_NO_GRACE. Note that it is not known if there are other edge conditions.
In the event that, after a server restart, the server determines there is unrecoverable damage or corruption to the information in stable storage, then for all clients and/or locks that may be affected, the server MUST return NFS4ERR_NO_GRACE.
A mandate for the client's handling of the NFS4ERR_NO_GRACE error is outside the scope of this specification, since the strategies for such handling are very dependent on the client's operating environment. However, one potential approach is described below.
When the client receives NFS4ERR_NO_GRACE, it could examine the change attribute of the objects for which the client is trying to reclaim state, and use that to determine whether to re-establish the state via normal OPEN or LOCK operations. This is acceptable provided that the client's operating environment allows it. In other words, the client implementor is advised to document for his users the behavior. The client could also inform the application that its byte-range lock or share reservations (whether or not they were
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delegated) have been lost, such as via a UNIX signal, a Graphical User Interface (GUI) pop-up window, etc. See Section 10.5 for a discussion of what the client should do for dealing with unreclaimed delegations on client state.
For further discussion of revocation of locks, see Section 8.5.
At any point, the server can revoke locks held by a client, and the client must be prepared for this event. When the client detects that its locks have been or may have been revoked, the client is responsible for validating the state information between itself and the server. Validating locking state for the client means that it must verify or reclaim state for each lock currently held.
The first occasion of lock revocation is upon server restart. Note that this includes situations in which sessions are persistent and locking state is lost. In this class of instances, the client will receive an error (NFS4ERR_STALE_CLIENTID) on an operation that takes client ID, usually as part of recovery in response to a problem with the current session), and the client will proceed with normal crash recovery as described in the Section 8.4.2.1.
The second occasion of lock revocation is the inability to renew the lease before expiration, as discussed in Section 8.4.3. While this is considered a rare or unusual event, the client must be prepared to recover. The server is responsible for determining the precise consequences of the lease expiration, informing the client of the scope of the lock revocation decided upon. The client then uses the status information provided by the server in the SEQUENCE results (field sr_status_flags, see Section 18.46.3) to synchronize its locking state with that of the server, in order to recover.
The third occasion of lock revocation can occur as a result of revocation of locks within the lease period, either because of administrative intervention or because a recallable lock (a delegation or layout) was not returned within the lease period after having been recalled. While these are considered rare events, they are possible, and the client must be prepared to deal with them. When either of these events occurs, the client finds out about the situation through the status returned by the SEQUENCE operation. Any use of stateids associated with locks revoked during the lease period will receive the error NFS4ERR_ADMIN_REVOKED or NFS4ERR_DELEG_REVOKED, as appropriate.
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In all situations in which a subset of locking state may have been revoked, which include all cases in which locking state is revoked within the lease period, it is up to the client to determine which locks have been revoked and which have not. It does this by using the TEST_STATEID operation on the appropriate set of stateids. Once the set of revoked locks has been determined, the applications can be notified, and the invalidated stateids can be freed and lock revocation acknowledged by using FREE_STATEID.
When determining the time period for the server lease, the usual lease tradeoffs apply. A short lease is good for fast server recovery at a cost of increased operations to effect lease renewal (when there are no other operations during the period to effect lease renewal as a side effect). A long lease is certainly kinder and gentler to servers trying to handle very large numbers of clients. The number of extra requests to effect lock renewal drops in inverse proportion to the lease time. The disadvantages of a long lease include the possibility of slower recovery after certain failures. After server failure, a longer grace period may be required when some clients do not promptly reclaim their locks and do a global RECLAIM_COMPLETE. In the event of client failure, the longer period for a lease to expire will force conflicting requests to wait longer.
A long lease is practical if the server can store lease state in stable storage. Upon recovery, the server can reconstruct the lease state from its stable storage and continue operation with its clients.
8.7. Clocks, Propagation Delay, and Calculating Lease Expiration
To avoid the need for synchronized clocks, lease times are granted by the server as a time delta. However, there is a requirement that the client and server clocks do not drift excessively over the duration of the lease. There is also the issue of propagation delay across the network, which could easily be several hundred milliseconds, as well as the possibility that requests will be lost and need to be retransmitted.
To take propagation delay into account, the client should subtract it from lease times (e.g., if the client estimates the one-way propagation delay as 200 milliseconds, then it can assume that the lease is already 200 milliseconds old when it gets it). In addition, it will take another 200 milliseconds to get a response back to the server. So the client must send a lease renewal or write data back to the server at least 400 milliseconds before the lease would expire. If the propagation delay varies over the life of the lease
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(e.g., the client is on a mobile host), the client will need to continuously subtract the increase in propagation delay from the lease times.
The server's lease period configuration should take into account the network distance of the clients that will be accessing the server's resources. It is expected that the lease period will take into account the network propagation delays and other network delay factors for the client population. Since the protocol does not allow for an automatic method to determine an appropriate lease period, the server's administrator may have to tune the lease period.
There are a number of operations and fields within existing operations that no longer have a function in NFSv4.1. In one way or another, these changes are all due to the implementation of sessions that provide client context and exactly once semantics as a base feature of the protocol, separate from locking itself.
The following NFSv4.0 operations MUST NOT be implemented in NFSv4.1. The server MUST return NFS4ERR_NOTSUPP if these operations are found in an NFSv4.1 COMPOUND.
o SETCLIENTID since its function has been replaced by EXCHANGE_ID.
o SETCLIENTID_CONFIRM since client ID confirmation now happens by means of CREATE_SESSION.
o OPEN_CONFIRM because state-owner-based seqids have been replaced by the sequence ID in the SEQUENCE operation.
o RELEASE_LOCKOWNER because lock-owners with no associated locks do not have any sequence-related state and so can be deleted by the server at will.
o RENEW because every SEQUENCE operation for a session causes lease renewal, making a separate operation superfluous.
Also, there are a number of fields, present in existing operations, related to locking that have no use in minor version 1. They were used in minor version 0 to perform functions now provided in a different fashion.
o Sequence ids used to sequence requests for a given state-owner and to provide retry protection, now provided via sessions.
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o Client IDs used to identify the client associated with a given request. Client identification is now available using the client ID associated with the current session, without needing an explicit client ID field.
Such vestigial fields in existing operations have no function in NFSv4.1 and are ignored by the server. Note that client IDs in operations new to NFSv4.1 (such as CREATE_SESSION and DESTROY_CLIENTID) are not ignored.
9. File Locking and Share Reservations
To support Win32 share reservations, it is necessary to provide operations that atomically open or create files. Having a separate share/unshare operation would not allow correct implementation of the Win32 OpenFile API. In order to correctly implement share semantics, the previous NFS protocol mechanisms used when a file is opened or created (LOOKUP, CREATE, ACCESS) need to be replaced. The NFSv4.1 protocol defines an OPEN operation that is capable of atomically looking up, creating, and locking a file on the server.
It is assumed that manipulating a byte-range lock is rare when compared to READ and WRITE operations. It is also assumed that server restarts and network partitions are relatively rare. Therefore, it is important that the READ and WRITE operations have a lightweight mechanism to indicate if they possess a held lock. A LOCK operation contains the heavyweight information required to establish a byte-range lock and uniquely define the owner of the lock.
When opening a file or requesting a byte-range lock, the client must specify an identifier that represents the owner of the requested lock. This identifier is in the form of a state-owner, represented in the protocol by a state_owner4, a variable-length opaque array that, when concatenated with the current client ID, uniquely defines the owner of a lock managed by the client. This may be a thread ID, process ID, or other unique value.
Owners of opens and owners of byte-range locks are separate entities and remain separate even if the same opaque arrays are used to designate owners of each. The protocol distinguishes between open- owners (represented by open_owner4 structures) and lock-owners (represented by lock_owner4 structures).
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Each open is associated with a specific open-owner while each byte- range lock is associated with a lock-owner and an open-owner, the latter being the open-owner associated with the open file under which the LOCK operation was done. Delegations and layouts, on the other hand, are not associated with a specific owner but are associated with the client as a whole (identified by a client ID).
All READ, WRITE, and SETATTR operations contain a stateid. For the purposes of this section, SETATTR operations that change the size attribute of a file are treated as if they are writing the area between the old and new sizes (i.e., the byte-range truncated or added to the file by means of the SETATTR), even where SETATTR is not explicitly mentioned in the text. The stateid passed to one of these operations must be one that represents an open, a set of byte-range locks, or a delegation, or it may be a special stateid representing anonymous access or the special bypass stateid.
If the state-owner performs a READ or WRITE operation in a situation in which it has established a byte-range lock or share reservation on the server (any OPEN constitutes a share reservation), the stateid (previously returned by the server) must be used to indicate what locks, including both byte-range locks and share reservations, are held by the state-owner. If no state is established by the client, either a byte-range lock or a share reservation, a special stateid for anonymous state (zero as the value for "other" and "seqid") is used. (See Section 8.2.3 for a description of 'special' stateids in general.) Regardless of whether a stateid for anonymous state or a stateid returned by the server is used, if there is a conflicting share reservation or mandatory byte-range lock held on the file, the server MUST refuse to service the READ or WRITE operation.
Share reservations are established by OPEN operations and by their nature are mandatory in that when the OPEN denies READ or WRITE operations, that denial results in such operations being rejected with error NFS4ERR_LOCKED. Byte-range locks may be implemented by the server as either mandatory or advisory, or the choice of mandatory or advisory behavior may be determined by the server on the basis of the file being accessed (for example, some UNIX-based servers support a "mandatory lock bit" on the mode attribute such that if set, byte-range locks are required on the file before I/O is possible). When byte-range locks are advisory, they only prevent the granting of conflicting lock requests and have no effect on READs or WRITEs. Mandatory byte-range locks, however, prevent conflicting I/O operations. When they are attempted, they are rejected with NFS4ERR_LOCKED. When the client gets NFS4ERR_LOCKED on a file for which it knows it has the proper share reservation, it will need to
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send a LOCK operation on the byte-range of the file that includes the byte-range the I/O was to be performed on, with an appropriate locktype field of the LOCK operation's arguments (i.e., READ*_LT for a READ operation, WRITE*_LT for a WRITE operation).
Note that for UNIX environments that support mandatory byte-range locking, the distinction between advisory and mandatory locking is subtle. In fact, advisory and mandatory byte-range locks are exactly the same as far as the APIs and requirements on implementation. If the mandatory lock attribute is set on the file, the server checks to see if the lock-owner has an appropriate shared (READ_LT) or exclusive (WRITE_LT) byte-range lock on the byte-range it wishes to READ from or WRITE to. If there is no appropriate lock, the server checks if there is a conflicting lock (which can be done by attempting to acquire the conflicting lock on behalf of the lock- owner, and if successful, release the lock after the READ or WRITE operation is done), and if there is, the server returns NFS4ERR_LOCKED.
For Windows environments, byte-range locks are always mandatory, so the server always checks for byte-range locks during I/O requests.
Thus, the LOCK operation does not need to distinguish between advisory and mandatory byte-range locks. It is the server's processing of the READ and WRITE operations that introduces the distinction.
Every stateid that is validly passed to READ, WRITE, or SETATTR, with the exception of special stateid values, defines an access mode for the file (i.e., OPEN4_SHARE_ACCESS_READ, OPEN4_SHARE_ACCESS_WRITE, or OPEN4_SHARE_ACCESS_BOTH).
o For stateids associated with opens, this is the mode defined by the original OPEN that caused the allocation of the OPEN stateid and as modified by subsequent OPENs and OPEN_DOWNGRADEs for the same open-owner/file pair.
o For stateids returned by byte-range LOCK operations, the appropriate mode is the access mode for the OPEN stateid associated with the lock set represented by the stateid.
o For delegation stateids, the access mode is based on the type of delegation.
When a READ, WRITE, or SETATTR (that specifies the size attribute) operation is done, the operation is subject to checking against the access mode to verify that the operation is appropriate given the stateid with which the operation is associated.
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In the case of WRITE-type operations (i.e., WRITEs and SETATTRs that set size), the server MUST verify that the access mode allows writing and MUST return an NFS4ERR_OPENMODE error if it does not. In the case of READ, the server may perform the corresponding check on the access mode, or it may choose to allow READ on OPENs for OPEN4_SHARE_ACCESS_WRITE, to accommodate clients whose WRITE implementation may unavoidably do reads (e.g., due to buffer cache constraints). However, even if READs are allowed in these circumstances, the server MUST still check for locks that conflict with the READ (e.g., another OPEN specified OPEN4_SHARE_DENY_READ or OPEN4_SHARE_DENY_BOTH). Note that a server that does enforce the access mode check on READs need not explicitly check for conflicting share reservations since the existence of OPEN for OPEN4_SHARE_ACCESS_READ guarantees that no conflicting share reservation can exist.
The READ bypass special stateid (all bits of "other" and "seqid" set to one) indicates a desire to bypass locking checks. The server MAY allow READ operations to bypass locking checks at the server, when this special stateid is used. However, WRITE operations with this special stateid value MUST NOT bypass locking checks and are treated exactly the same as if a special stateid for anonymous state were used.
A lock may not be granted while a READ or WRITE operation using one of the special stateids is being performed and the scope of the lock to be granted would conflict with the READ or WRITE operation. This can occur when:
o A mandatory byte-range lock is requested with a byte-range that conflicts with the byte-range of the READ or WRITE operation. For the purposes of this paragraph, a conflict occurs when a shared lock is requested and a WRITE operation is being performed, or an exclusive lock is requested and either a READ or a WRITE operation is being performed.
o A share reservation is requested that denies reading and/or writing and the corresponding operation is being performed.
o A delegation is to be granted and the delegation type would prevent the I/O operation, i.e., READ and WRITE conflict with an OPEN_DELEGATE_WRITE delegation and WRITE conflicts with an OPEN_DELEGATE_READ delegation.
When a client holds a delegation, it needs to ensure that the stateid sent conveys the association of operation with the delegation, to avoid the delegation from being avoidably recalled. When the delegation stateid, a stateid open associated with that delegation,
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or a stateid representing byte-range locks derived from such an open is used, the server knows that the READ, WRITE, or SETATTR does not conflict with the delegation but is sent under the aegis of the delegation. Even though it is possible for the server to determine from the client ID (via the session ID) that the client does in fact have a delegation, the server is not obliged to check this, so using a special stateid can result in avoidable recall of the delegation.
The protocol allows a lock-owner to request a lock with a byte-range and then either upgrade, downgrade, or unlock a sub-range of the initial lock, or a byte-range that overlaps -- fully or partially -- either with that initial lock or a combination of a set of existing locks for the same lock-owner. It is expected that this will be an uncommon type of request. In any case, servers or server file systems may not be able to support sub-range lock semantics. In the event that a server receives a locking request that represents a sub- range of current locking state for the lock-owner, the server is allowed to return the error NFS4ERR_LOCK_RANGE to signify that it does not support sub-range lock operations. Therefore, the client should be prepared to receive this error and, if appropriate, report the error to the requesting application.
The client is discouraged from combining multiple independent locking ranges that happen to be adjacent into a single request since the server may not support sub-range requests for reasons related to the recovery of byte-range locking state in the event of server failure. As discussed in Section 8.4.2, the server may employ certain optimizations during recovery that work effectively only when the client's behavior during lock recovery is similar to the client's locking behavior prior to server failure.
If a client has a WRITE_LT lock on a byte-range, it can request an atomic downgrade of the lock to a READ_LT lock via the LOCK operation, by setting the type to READ_LT. If the server supports atomic downgrade, the request will succeed. If not, it will return NFS4ERR_LOCK_NOTSUPP. The client should be prepared to receive this error and, if appropriate, report the error to the requesting application.
If a client has a READ_LT lock on a byte-range, it can request an atomic upgrade of the lock to a WRITE_LT lock via the LOCK operation by setting the type to WRITE_LT or WRITEW_LT. If the server does not support atomic upgrade, it will return NFS4ERR_LOCK_NOTSUPP. If the upgrade can be achieved without an existing conflict, the request
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will succeed. Otherwise, the server will return either NFS4ERR_DENIED or NFS4ERR_DEADLOCK. The error NFS4ERR_DEADLOCK is returned if the client sent the LOCK operation with the type set to WRITEW_LT and the server has detected a deadlock. The client should be prepared to receive such errors and, if appropriate, report the error to the requesting application.
When a LOCK or LOCKU operation is performed, the stateid returned has the same "other" value as the argument's stateid, and a "seqid" value that is incremented (relative to the argument's stateid) to reflect the occurrence of the LOCK or LOCKU operation. The server MUST increment the value of the "seqid" field whenever there is any change to the locking status of any byte offset as described by any of the locks covered by the stateid. A change in locking status includes a change from locked to unlocked or the reverse or a change from being locked for READ_LT to being locked for WRITE_LT or the reverse.
When there is no such change, as, for example, when a range already locked for WRITE_LT is locked again for WRITE_LT, the server MAY increment the "seqid" value.
When the same file is opened by multiple open-owners, a client will have multiple OPEN stateids for that file, each associated with a different open-owner. In that case, there can be multiple LOCK and LOCKU requests for the same lock-owner sent using the different OPEN stateids, and so a situation may arise in which there are multiple stateids, each representing byte-range locks on the same file and held by the same lock-owner but each associated with a different open-owner.
In such a situation, the locking status of each byte (i.e., whether it is locked, the READ_LT or WRITE_LT type of the lock, and the lock- owner holding the lock) MUST reflect the last LOCK or LOCKU operation done for the lock-owner in question, independent of the stateid through which the request was sent.
When a byte is locked by the lock-owner in question, the open-owner to which that byte-range lock is assigned SHOULD be that of the open- owner associated with the stateid through which the last LOCK of that byte was done. When there is a change in the open-owner associated with locks for the stateid through which a LOCK or LOCKU was done, the "seqid" field of the stateid MUST be incremented, even if the locking, in terms of lock-owners has not changed. When there is a
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change to the set of locked bytes associated with a different stateid for the same lock-owner, i.e., associated with a different open- owner, the "seqid" value for that stateid MUST NOT be incremented.
Some clients require the support of blocking locks. While NFSv4.1 provides a callback when a previously unavailable lock becomes available, this is an OPTIONAL feature and clients cannot depend on its presence. Clients need to be prepared to continually poll for the lock. This presents a fairness problem. Two of the lock types, READW_LT and WRITEW_LT, are used to indicate to the server that the client is requesting a blocking lock. When the callback is not used, the server should maintain an ordered list of pending blocking locks. When the conflicting lock is released, the server may wait for the period of time equal to lease_time for the first waiting client to re-request the lock. After the lease period expires, the next waiting client request is allowed the lock. Clients are required to poll at an interval sufficiently small that it is likely to acquire the lock in a timely manner. The server is not required to maintain a list of pending blocked locks as it is used to increase fairness and not correct operation. Because of the unordered nature of crash recovery, storing of lock state to stable storage would be required to guarantee ordered granting of blocking locks.
Servers may also note the lock types and delay returning denial of the request to allow extra time for a conflicting lock to be released, allowing a successful return. In this way, clients can avoid the burden of needless frequent polling for blocking locks. The server should take care in the length of delay in the event the client retransmits the request.
If a server receives a blocking LOCK operation, denies it, and then later receives a nonblocking request for the same lock, which is also denied, then it should remove the lock in question from its list of pending blocking locks. Clients should use such a nonblocking request to indicate to the server that this is the last time they intend to poll for the lock, as may happen when the process requesting the lock is interrupted. This is a courtesy to the server, to prevent it from unnecessarily waiting a lease period before granting other LOCK operations. However, clients are not required to perform this courtesy, and servers must not depend on them doing so. Also, clients must be prepared for the possibility that this final locking request will be accepted.
When a server indicates, via the flag OPEN4_RESULT_MAY_NOTIFY_LOCK, that CB_NOTIFY_LOCK callbacks might be done for the current open file, the client should take notice of this, but, since this is a
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hint, cannot rely on a CB_NOTIFY_LOCK always being done. A client may reasonably reduce the frequency with which it polls for a denied lock, since the greater latency that might occur is likely to be eliminated given a prompt callback, but it still needs to poll. When it receives a CB_NOTIFY_LOCK, it should promptly try to obtain the lock, but it should be aware that other clients may be polling and that the server is under no obligation to reserve the lock for that particular client.
A share reservation is a mechanism to control access to a file. It is a separate and independent mechanism from byte-range locking. When a client opens a file, it sends an OPEN operation to the server specifying the type of access required (READ, WRITE, or BOTH) and the type of access to deny others (OPEN4_SHARE_DENY_NONE, OPEN4_SHARE_DENY_READ, OPEN4_SHARE_DENY_WRITE, or OPEN4_SHARE_DENY_BOTH). If the OPEN fails, the client will fail the application's open request.
When doing this checking of share reservations on OPEN, the current file_state used in the algorithm includes bits that reflect all current opens, including those for the open-owner making the new OPEN request.
The constants used for the OPEN and OPEN_DOWNGRADE operations for the access and deny fields are as follows:
To provide correct share semantics, a client MUST use the OPEN operation to obtain the initial filehandle and indicate the desired access and what access, if any, to deny. Even if the client intends to use a special stateid for anonymous state or READ bypass, it must still obtain the filehandle for the regular file with the OPEN operation so the appropriate share semantics can be applied. Clients that do not have a deny mode built into their programming interfaces for opening a file should request a deny mode of OPEN4_SHARE_DENY_NONE.
The OPEN operation with the CREATE flag also subsumes the CREATE operation for regular files as used in previous versions of the NFS protocol. This allows a create with a share to be done atomically.
The CLOSE operation removes all share reservations held by the open- owner on that file. If byte-range locks are held, the client SHOULD release all locks before sending a CLOSE operation. The server MAY free all outstanding locks on CLOSE, but some servers may not support the CLOSE of a file that still has byte-range locks held. The server MUST return failure, NFS4ERR_LOCKS_HELD, if any locks would exist after the CLOSE.
The LOOKUP operation will return a filehandle without establishing any lock state on the server. Without a valid stateid, the server will assume that the client has the least access. For example, if one client opened a file with OPEN4_SHARE_DENY_BOTH and another client accesses the file via a filehandle obtained through LOOKUP, the second client could only read the file using the special read bypass stateid. The second client could not WRITE the file at all because it would not have a valid stateid from OPEN and the special anonymous stateid would not be allowed access.
When an OPEN is done for a file and the open-owner for which the OPEN is being done already has the file open, the result is to upgrade the open file status maintained on the server to include the access and deny bits specified by the new OPEN as well as those for the existing OPEN. The result is that there is one open file, as far as the protocol is concerned, and it includes the union of the access and deny bits for all of the OPEN requests completed. The OPEN is represented by a single stateid whose "other" value matches that of the original open, and whose "seqid" value is incremented to reflect the occurrence of the upgrade. The increment is required in cases in which the "upgrade" results in no change to the open mode (e.g., an OPEN is done for read when the existing open file is opened for
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OPEN4_SHARE_ACCESS_BOTH). Only a single CLOSE will be done to reset the effects of both OPENs. The client may use the stateid returned by the OPEN effecting the upgrade or with a stateid sharing the same "other" field and a seqid of zero, although care needs to be taken as far as upgrades that happen while the CLOSE is pending. Note that the client, when sending the OPEN, may not know that the same file is in fact being opened. The above only applies if both OPENs result in the OPENed object being designated by the same filehandle.
When the server chooses to export multiple filehandles corresponding to the same file object and returns different filehandles on two different OPENs of the same file object, the server MUST NOT "OR" together the access and deny bits and coalesce the two open files. Instead, the server must maintain separate OPENs with separate stateids and will require separate CLOSEs to free them.
When multiple open files on the client are merged into a single OPEN file object on the server, the close of one of the open files (on the client) may necessitate change of the access and deny status of the open file on the server. This is because the union of the access and deny bits for the remaining opens may be smaller (i.e., a proper subset) than previously. The OPEN_DOWNGRADE operation is used to make the necessary change and the client should use it to update the server so that share reservation requests by other clients are handled properly. The stateid returned has the same "other" field as that passed to the server. The "seqid" value in the returned stateid MUST be incremented, even in situations in which there is no change to the access and deny bits for the file.
Unlike the case of NFSv4.0, in which OPEN operations for the same open-owner are inherently serialized because of the owner-based seqid, multiple OPENs for the same open-owner may be done in parallel. When clients do this, they may encounter situations in which, because of the existence of hard links, two OPEN operations may turn out to open the same file, with a later OPEN performed being an upgrade of the first, with this fact only visible to the client once the operations complete.
In this situation, clients may determine the order in which the OPENs were performed by examining the stateids returned by the OPENs. Stateids that share a common value of the "other" field can be recognized as having opened the same file, with the order of the operations determinable from the order of the "seqid" fields, mod any possible wraparound of the 32-bit field.
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When the possibility exists that the client will send multiple OPENs for the same open-owner in parallel, it may be the case that an open upgrade may happen without the client knowing beforehand that this could happen. Because of this possibility, CLOSEs and OPEN_DOWNGRADEs should generally be sent with a non-zero seqid in the stateid, to avoid the possibility that the status change associated with an open upgrade is not inadvertently lost.
Special forms of the LOCK and OPEN operations are provided when it is necessary to re-establish byte-range locks or opens after a server failure.
o To reclaim existing opens, an OPEN operation is performed using a CLAIM_PREVIOUS. Because the client, in this type of situation, will have already opened the file and have the filehandle of the target file, this operation requires that the current filehandle be the target file, rather than a directory, and no file name is specified.
o To reclaim byte-range locks, a LOCK operation with the reclaim parameter set to true is used.
Reclaims of opens associated with delegations are discussed in Section 10.2.1.
10. Client-Side Caching
Client-side caching of data, of file attributes, and of file names is essential to providing good performance with the NFS protocol. Providing distributed cache coherence is a difficult problem, and previous versions of the NFS protocol have not attempted it. Instead, several NFS client implementation techniques have been used to reduce the problems that a lack of coherence poses for users. These techniques have not been clearly defined by earlier protocol specifications, and it is often unclear what is valid or invalid client behavior.
The NFSv4.1 protocol uses many techniques similar to those that have been used in previous protocol versions. The NFSv4.1 protocol does not provide distributed cache coherence. However, it defines a more limited set of caching guarantees to allow locks and share reservations to be used without destructive interference from client- side caching.
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In addition, the NFSv4.1 protocol introduces a delegation mechanism, which allows many decisions normally made by the server to be made locally by clients. This mechanism provides efficient support of the common cases where sharing is infrequent or where sharing is read- only.
10.1. Performance Challenges for Client-Side Caching
Caching techniques used in previous versions of the NFS protocol have been successful in providing good performance. However, several scalability challenges can arise when those techniques are used with very large numbers of clients. This is particularly true when clients are geographically distributed, which classically increases the latency for cache revalidation requests.
The previous versions of the NFS protocol repeat their file data cache validation requests at the time the file is opened. This behavior can have serious performance drawbacks. A common case is one in which a file is only accessed by a single client. Therefore, sharing is infrequent.
In this case, repeated references to the server to find that no conflicts exist are expensive. A better option with regards to performance is to allow a client that repeatedly opens a file to do so without reference to the server. This is done until potentially conflicting operations from another client actually occur.
A similar situation arises in connection with byte-range locking. Sending LOCK and LOCKU operations as well as the READ and WRITE operations necessary to make data caching consistent with the locking semantics (see Section 10.3.2) can severely limit performance. When locking is used to provide protection against infrequent conflicts, a large penalty is incurred. This penalty may discourage the use of byte-range locking by applications.
The NFSv4.1 protocol provides more aggressive caching strategies with the following design goals:
o Compatibility with a large range of server semantics.
o Providing the same caching benefits as previous versions of the NFS protocol when unable to support the more aggressive model.
o Requirements for aggressive caching are organized so that a large portion of the benefit can be obtained even when not all of the requirements can be met.
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The appropriate requirements for the server are discussed in later sections in which specific forms of caching are covered (see Section 10.4).
Recallable delegation of server responsibilities for a file to a client improves performance by avoiding repeated requests to the server in the absence of inter-client conflict. With the use of a "callback" RPC from server to client, a server recalls delegated responsibilities when another client engages in sharing of a delegated file.
A delegation is passed from the server to the client, specifying the object of the delegation and the type of delegation. There are different types of delegations, but each type contains a stateid to be used to represent the delegation when performing operations that depend on the delegation. This stateid is similar to those associated with locks and share reservations but differs in that the stateid for a delegation is associated with a client ID and may be used on behalf of all the open-owners for the given client. A delegation is made to the client as a whole and not to any specific process or thread of control within it.
The backchannel is established by CREATE_SESSION and BIND_CONN_TO_SESSION, and the client is required to maintain it. Because the backchannel may be down, even temporarily, correct protocol operation does not depend on them. Preliminary testing of backchannel functionality by means of a CB_COMPOUND procedure with a single operation, CB_SEQUENCE, can be used to check the continuity of the backchannel. A server avoids delegating responsibilities until it has determined that the backchannel exists. Because the granting of a delegation is always conditional upon the absence of conflicting access, clients MUST NOT assume that a delegation will be granted and they MUST always be prepared for OPENs, WANT_DELEGATIONs, and GET_DIR_DELEGATIONs to be processed without any delegations being granted.
Unlike locks, an operation by a second client to a delegated file will cause the server to recall a delegation through a callback. For individual operations, we will describe, under IMPLEMENTATION, when such operations are required to effect a recall. A number of points should be noted, however.
o The server is free to recall a delegation whenever it feels it is desirable and may do so even if no operations requiring recall are being done.
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o Operations done outside the NFSv4.1 protocol, due to, for example, access by other protocols, or by local access, also need to result in delegation recall when they make analogous changes to file system data. What is crucial is if the change would invalidate the guarantees provided by the delegation. When this is possible, the delegation needs to be recalled and MUST be returned or revoked before allowing the operation to proceed.
o The semantics of the file system are crucial in defining when delegation recall is required. If a particular change within a specific implementation causes change to a file attribute, then delegation recall is required, whether that operation has been specifically listed as requiring delegation recall. Again, what is critical is whether the guarantees provided by the delegation are being invalidated.
Despite those caveats, the implementation sections for a number of operations describe situations in which delegation recall would be required under some common circumstances:
On recall, the client holding the delegation needs to flush modified state (such as modified data) to the server and return the delegation. The conflicting request will not be acted on until the recall is complete. The recall is considered complete when the client returns the delegation or the server times its wait for the delegation to be returned and revokes the delegation as a result of the timeout. In the interim, the server will either delay responding to conflicting requests or respond to them with NFS4ERR_DELAY. Following the resolution of the recall, the server has the information necessary to grant or deny the second client's request.
At the time the client receives a delegation recall, it may have substantial state that needs to be flushed to the server. Therefore, the server should allow sufficient time for the delegation to be
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returned since it may involve numerous RPCs to the server. If the server is able to determine that the client is diligently flushing state to the server as a result of the recall, the server may extend the usual time allowed for a recall. However, the time allowed for recall completion should not be unbounded.
An example of this is when responsibility to mediate opens on a given file is delegated to a client (see Section 10.4). The server will not know what opens are in effect on the client. Without this knowledge, the server will be unable to determine if the access and deny states for the file allow any particular open until the delegation for the file has been returned.
A client failure or a network partition can result in failure to respond to a recall callback. In this case, the server will revoke the delegation, which in turn will render useless any modified state still on the client.
There are three situations that delegation recovery needs to deal with:
o client restart
o server restart
o network partition (full or backchannel-only)
In the event the client restarts, the failure to renew the lease will result in the revocation of byte-range locks and share reservations. Delegations, however, may be treated a bit differently.
There will be situations in which delegations will need to be re- established after a client restarts. The reason for this is that the client may have file data stored locally and this data was associated with the previously held delegations. The client will need to re- establish the appropriate file state on the server.
To allow for this type of client recovery, the server MAY extend the period for delegation recovery beyond the typical lease expiration period. This implies that requests from other clients that conflict with these delegations will need to wait. Because the normal recall process may require significant time for the client to flush changed state to the server, other clients need be prepared for delays that occur because of a conflicting delegation. This longer interval would increase the window for clients to restart and consult stable storage so that the delegations can be reclaimed. For OPEN
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delegations, such delegations are reclaimed using OPEN with a claim type of CLAIM_DELEGATE_PREV or CLAIM_DELEG_PREV_FH (see Sections 10.5 and 18.16 for discussion of OPEN delegation and the details of OPEN, respectively).
A server MAY support claim types of CLAIM_DELEGATE_PREV and CLAIM_DELEG_PREV_FH, and if it does, it MUST NOT remove delegations upon a CREATE_SESSION that confirm a client ID created by EXCHANGE_ID. Instead, the server MUST, for a period of time no less than that of the value of the lease_time attribute, maintain the client's delegations to allow time for the client to send CLAIM_DELEGATE_PREV and/or CLAIM_DELEG_PREV_FH requests. The server that supports CLAIM_DELEGATE_PREV and/or CLAIM_DELEG_PREV_FH MUST support the DELEGPURGE operation.
When the server restarts, delegations are reclaimed (using the OPEN operation with CLAIM_PREVIOUS) in a similar fashion to byte-range locks and share reservations. However, there is a slight semantic difference. In the normal case, if the server decides that a delegation should not be granted, it performs the requested action (e.g., OPEN) without granting any delegation. For reclaim, the server grants the delegation but a special designation is applied so that the client treats the delegation as having been granted but recalled by the server. Because of this, the client has the duty to write all modified state to the server and then return the delegation. This process of handling delegation reclaim reconciles three principles of the NFSv4.1 protocol:
o Upon reclaim, a client reporting resources assigned to it by an earlier server instance must be granted those resources.
o The server has unquestionable authority to determine whether delegations are to be granted and, once granted, whether they are to be continued.
o The use of callbacks should not be depended upon until the client has proven its ability to receive them.
When a client needs to reclaim a delegation and there is no associated open, the client may use the CLAIM_PREVIOUS variant of the WANT_DELEGATION operation. However, since the server is not required to support this operation, an alternative is to reclaim via a dummy OPEN together with the delegation using an OPEN of type CLAIM_PREVIOUS. The dummy open file can be released using a CLOSE to re-establish the original state to be reclaimed, a delegation without an associated open.
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When a client has more than a single open associated with a delegation, state for those additional opens can be established using OPEN operations of type CLAIM_DELEGATE_CUR. When these are used to establish opens associated with reclaimed delegations, the server MUST allow them when made within the grace period.
When a network partition occurs, delegations are subject to freeing by the server when the lease renewal period expires. This is similar to the behavior for locks and share reservations. For delegations, however, the server may extend the period in which conflicting requests are held off. Eventually, the occurrence of a conflicting request from another client will cause revocation of the delegation. A loss of the backchannel (e.g., by later network configuration change) will have the same effect. A recall request will fail and revocation of the delegation will result.
A client normally finds out about revocation of a delegation when it uses a stateid associated with a delegation and receives one of the errors NFS4ERR_EXPIRED, NFS4ERR_ADMIN_REVOKED, or NFS4ERR_DELEG_REVOKED. It also may find out about delegation revocation after a client restart when it attempts to reclaim a delegation and receives that same error. Note that in the case of a revoked OPEN_DELEGATE_WRITE delegation, there are issues because data may have been modified by the client whose delegation is revoked and separately by other clients. See Section 10.5.1 for a discussion of such issues. Note also that when delegations are revoked, information about the revoked delegation will be written by the server to stable storage (as described in Section 8.4.3). This is done to deal with the case in which a server restarts after revoking a delegation but before the client holding the revoked delegation is notified about the revocation.
When applications share access to a set of files, they need to be implemented so as to take account of the possibility of conflicting access by another application. This is true whether the applications in question execute on different clients or reside on the same client.
Share reservations and byte-range locks are the facilities the NFSv4.1 protocol provides to allow applications to coordinate access by using mutual exclusion facilities. The NFSv4.1 protocol's data caching must be implemented such that it does not invalidate the assumptions on which those using these facilities depend.
In order to avoid invalidating the sharing assumptions on which applications rely, NFSv4.1 clients should not provide cached data to applications or modify it on behalf of an application when it would not be valid to obtain or modify that same data via a READ or WRITE operation.
Furthermore, in the absence of an OPEN delegation (see Section 10.4), two additional rules apply. Note that these rules are obeyed in practice by many NFSv3 clients.
o First, cached data present on a client must be revalidated after doing an OPEN. Revalidating means that the client fetches the change attribute from the server, compares it with the cached change attribute, and if different, declares the cached data (as well as the cached attributes) as invalid. This is to ensure that the data for the OPENed file is still correctly reflected in the client's cache. This validation must be done at least when the client's OPEN operation includes a deny of OPEN4_SHARE_DENY_WRITE or OPEN4_SHARE_DENY_BOTH, thus terminating a period in which other clients may have had the opportunity to open the file with OPEN4_SHARE_ACCESS_WRITE/OPEN4_SHARE_ACCESS_BOTH access. Clients may choose to do the revalidation more often (i.e., at OPENs specifying a deny mode of OPEN4_SHARE_DENY_NONE) to parallel the NFSv3 protocol's practice for the benefit of users assuming this degree of cache revalidation.
Since the change attribute is updated for data and metadata modifications, some client implementors may be tempted to use the time_modify attribute and not the change attribute to validate cached data, so that metadata changes do not spuriously invalidate clean data. The implementor is cautioned in this approach. The change attribute is guaranteed to change for each update to the file, whereas time_modify is guaranteed to change only at the granularity of the time_delta attribute. Use by the client's data cache validation logic of time_modify and not change runs the risk of the client incorrectly marking stale data as valid. Thus, any cache validation approach by the client MUST include the use of the change attribute.
o Second, modified data must be flushed to the server before closing a file OPENed for OPEN4_SHARE_ACCESS_WRITE. This is complementary to the first rule. If the data is not flushed at CLOSE, the revalidation done after the client OPENs a file is unable to achieve its purpose. The other aspect to flushing the data before close is that the data must be committed to stable storage, at the server, before the CLOSE operation is requested by the client. In
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the case of a server restart and a CLOSEd file, it may not be possible to retransmit the data to be written to the file, hence, this requirement.
For those applications that choose to use byte-range locking instead of share reservations to exclude inconsistent file access, there is an analogous set of constraints that apply to client-side data caching. These rules are effective only if the byte-range locking is used in a way that matches in an equivalent way the actual READ and WRITE operations executed. This is as opposed to byte-range locking that is based on pure convention. For example, it is possible to manipulate a two-megabyte file by dividing the file into two one- megabyte ranges and protecting access to the two byte-ranges by byte- range locks on bytes zero and one. A WRITE_LT lock on byte zero of the file would represent the right to perform READ and WRITE operations on the first byte-range. A WRITE_LT lock on byte one of the file would represent the right to perform READ and WRITE operations on the second byte-range. As long as all applications manipulating the file obey this convention, they will work on a local file system. However, they may not work with the NFSv4.1 protocol unless clients refrain from data caching.
The rules for data caching in the byte-range locking environment are:
o First, when a client obtains a byte-range lock for a particular byte-range, the data cache corresponding to that byte-range (if any cache data exists) must be revalidated. If the change attribute indicates that the file may have been updated since the cached data was obtained, the client must flush or invalidate the cached data for the newly locked byte-range. A client might choose to invalidate all of the non-modified cached data that it has for the file, but the only requirement for correct operation is to invalidate all of the data in the newly locked byte-range.
o Second, before releasing a WRITE_LT lock for a byte-range, all modified data for that byte-range must be flushed to the server. The modified data must also be written to stable storage.
Note that flushing data to the server and the invalidation of cached data must reflect the actual byte-ranges locked or unlocked. Rounding these up or down to reflect client cache block boundaries will cause problems if not carefully done. For example, writing a modified block when only half of that block is within an area being unlocked may cause invalid modification to the byte-range outside the unlocked area. This, in turn, may be part of a byte-range locked by another client. Clients can avoid this situation by synchronously
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performing portions of WRITE operations that overlap that portion (initial or final) that is not a full block. Similarly, invalidating a locked area that is not an integral number of full buffer blocks would require the client to read one or two partial blocks from the server if the revalidation procedure shows that the data that the client possesses may not be valid.
The data that is written to the server as a prerequisite to the unlocking of a byte-range must be written, at the server, to stable storage. The client may accomplish this either with synchronous writes or by following asynchronous writes with a COMMIT operation. This is required because retransmission of the modified data after a server restart might conflict with a lock held by another client.
A client implementation may choose to accommodate applications that use byte-range locking in non-standard ways (e.g., using a byte-range lock as a global semaphore) by flushing to the server more data upon a LOCKU than is covered by the locked range. This may include modified data within files other than the one for which the unlocks are being done. In such cases, the client must not interfere with applications whose READs and WRITEs are being done only within the bounds of byte-range locks that the application holds. For example, an application locks a single byte of a file and proceeds to write that single byte. A client that chose to handle a LOCKU by flushing all modified data to the server could validly write that single byte in response to an unrelated LOCKU operation. However, it would not be valid to write the entire block in which that single written byte was located since it includes an area that is not locked and might be locked by another client. Client implementations can avoid this problem by dividing files with modified data into those for which all modifications are done to areas covered by an appropriate byte-range lock and those for which there are modifications not covered by a byte-range lock. Any writes done for the former class of files must not include areas not locked and thus not modified on the client.
Client-side data caching needs to respect mandatory byte-range locking when it is in effect. The presence of mandatory byte-range locking for a given file is indicated when the client gets back NFS4ERR_LOCKED from a READ or WRITE operation on a file for which it has an appropriate share reservation. When mandatory locking is in effect for a file, the client must check for an appropriate byte- range lock for data being read or written. If a byte-range lock exists for the range being read or written, the client may satisfy the request using the client's validated cache. If an appropriate byte-range lock is not held for the range of the read or write, the read or write request must not be satisfied by the client's cache and
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the request must be sent to the server for processing. When a read or write request partially overlaps a locked byte-range, the request should be subdivided into multiple pieces with each byte-range (locked or not) treated appropriately.
When clients cache data, the file data needs to be organized according to the file system object to which the data belongs. For NFSv3 clients, the typical practice has been to assume for the purpose of caching that distinct filehandles represent distinct file system objects. The client then has the choice to organize and maintain the data cache on this basis.
In the NFSv4.1 protocol, there is now the possibility to have significant deviations from a "one filehandle per object" model because a filehandle may be constructed on the basis of the object's pathname. Therefore, clients need a reliable method to determine if two filehandles designate the same file system object. If clients were simply to assume that all distinct filehandles denote distinct objects and proceed to do data caching on this basis, caching inconsistencies would arise between the distinct client-side objects that mapped to the same server-side object.
By providing a method to differentiate filehandles, the NFSv4.1 protocol alleviates a potential functional regression in comparison with the NFSv3 protocol. Without this method, caching inconsistencies within the same client could occur, and this has not been present in previous versions of the NFS protocol. Note that it is possible to have such inconsistencies with applications executing on multiple clients, but that is not the issue being addressed here.
For the purposes of data caching, the following steps allow an NFSv4.1 client to determine whether two distinct filehandles denote the same server-side object:
o If GETATTR directed to two filehandles returns different values of the fsid attribute, then the filehandles represent distinct objects.
o If GETATTR for any file with an fsid that matches the fsid of the two filehandles in question returns a unique_handles attribute with a value of TRUE, then the two objects are distinct.
o If GETATTR directed to the two filehandles does not return the fileid attribute for both of the handles, then it cannot be determined whether the two objects are the same. Therefore, operations that depend on that knowledge (e.g., client-side data
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caching) cannot be done reliably. Note that if GETATTR does not return the fileid attribute for both filehandles, it will return it for neither of the filehandles, since the fsid for both filehandles is the same.
o If GETATTR directed to the two filehandles returns different values for the fileid attribute, then they are distinct objects.
When a file is being OPENed, the server may delegate further handling of opens and closes for that file to the opening client. Any such delegation is recallable since the circumstances that allowed for the delegation are subject to change. In particular, if the server receives a conflicting OPEN from another client, the server must recall the delegation before deciding whether the OPEN from the other client may be granted. Making a delegation is up to the server, and clients should not assume that any particular OPEN either will or will not result in an OPEN delegation. The following is a typical set of conditions that servers might use in deciding whether an OPEN should be delegated:
o The client must be able to respond to the server's callback requests. If a backchannel has been established, the server will send a CB_COMPOUND request, containing a single operation, CB_SEQUENCE, for a test of backchannel availability.
o The client must have responded properly to previous recalls.
o There must be no current OPEN conflicting with the requested delegation.
o There should be no current delegation that conflicts with the delegation being requested.
o The probability of future conflicting open requests should be low based on the recent history of the file.
o The existence of any server-specific semantics of OPEN/CLOSE that would make the required handling incompatible with the prescribed handling that the delegated client would apply (see below).
There are two types of OPEN delegations: OPEN_DELEGATE_READ and OPEN_DELEGATE_WRITE. An OPEN_DELEGATE_READ delegation allows a client to handle, on its own, requests to open a file for reading that do not deny OPEN4_SHARE_ACCESS_READ access to others. Multiple
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OPEN_DELEGATE_READ delegations may be outstanding simultaneously and do not conflict. An OPEN_DELEGATE_WRITE delegation allows the client to handle, on its own, all opens. Only OPEN_DELEGATE_WRITE delegation may exist for a given file at a given time, and it is inconsistent with any OPEN_DELEGATE_READ delegations.
When a client has an OPEN_DELEGATE_READ delegation, it is assured that neither the contents, the attributes (with the exception of time_access), nor the names of any links to the file will change without its knowledge, so long as the delegation is held. When a client has an OPEN_DELEGATE_WRITE delegation, it may modify the file data locally since no other client will be accessing the file's data. The client holding an OPEN_DELEGATE_WRITE delegation may only locally affect file attributes that are intimately connected with the file data: size, change, time_access, time_metadata, and time_modify. All other attributes must be reflected on the server.
When a client has an OPEN delegation, it does not need to send OPENs or CLOSEs to the server. Instead, the client may update the appropriate status internally. For an OPEN_DELEGATE_READ delegation, opens that cannot be handled locally (opens that are for OPEN4_SHARE_ACCESS_WRITE/OPEN4_SHARE_ACCESS_BOTH or that deny OPEN4_SHARE_ACCESS_READ access) must be sent to the server.
When an OPEN delegation is made, the reply to the OPEN contains an OPEN delegation structure that specifies the following:
o the type of delegation (OPEN_DELEGATE_READ or OPEN_DELEGATE_WRITE).
o space limitation information to control flushing of data on close (OPEN_DELEGATE_WRITE delegation only; see Section 10.4.1)
o an nfsace4 specifying read and write permissions
o a stateid to represent the delegation
The delegation stateid is separate and distinct from the stateid for the OPEN proper. The standard stateid, unlike the delegation stateid, is associated with a particular lock-owner and will continue to be valid after the delegation is recalled and the file remains open.
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When a request internal to the client is made to open a file and an OPEN delegation is in effect, it will be accepted or rejected solely on the basis of the following conditions. Any requirement for other checks to be made by the delegate should result in the OPEN delegation being denied so that the checks can be made by the server itself.
o The access and deny bits for the request and the file as described in Section 9.7.
o The read and write permissions as determined below.
The nfsace4 passed with delegation can be used to avoid frequent ACCESS calls. The permission check should be as follows:
o If the nfsace4 indicates that the open may be done, then it should be granted without reference to the server.
o If the nfsace4 indicates that the open may not be done, then an ACCESS request must be sent to the server to obtain the definitive answer.
The server may return an nfsace4 that is more restrictive than the actual ACL of the file. This includes an nfsace4 that specifies denial of all access. Note that some common practices such as mapping the traditional user "root" to the user "nobody" (see Section 5.9) may make it incorrect to return the actual ACL of the file in the delegation response.
The use of a delegation together with various other forms of caching creates the possibility that no server authentication and authorization will ever be performed for a given user since all of the user's requests might be satisfied locally. Where the client is depending on the server for authentication and authorization, the client should be sure authentication and authorization occurs for each user by use of the ACCESS operation. This should be the case even if an ACCESS operation would not be required otherwise. As mentioned before, the server may enforce frequent authentication by returning an nfsace4 denying all access with every OPEN delegation.
An OPEN delegation allows much of the message overhead associated with the opening and closing files to be eliminated. An open when an OPEN delegation is in effect does not require that a validation message be sent to the server. The continued endurance of the "OPEN_DELEGATE_READ delegation" provides a guarantee that no OPEN for OPEN4_SHARE_ACCESS_WRITE/OPEN4_SHARE_ACCESS_BOTH, and thus no write,
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has occurred. Similarly, when closing a file opened for OPEN4_SHARE_ACCESS_WRITE/OPEN4_SHARE_ACCESS_BOTH and if an OPEN_DELEGATE_WRITE delegation is in effect, the data written does not have to be written to the server until the OPEN delegation is recalled. The continued endurance of the OPEN delegation provides a guarantee that no open, and thus no READ or WRITE, has been done by another client.
For the purposes of OPEN delegation, READs and WRITEs done without an OPEN are treated as the functional equivalents of a corresponding type of OPEN. Although a client SHOULD NOT use special stateids when an open exists, delegation handling on the server can use the client ID associated with the current session to determine if the operation has been done by the holder of the delegation (in which case, no recall is necessary) or by another client (in which case, the delegation must be recalled and I/O not proceed until the delegation is recalled or revoked).
With delegations, a client is able to avoid writing data to the server when the CLOSE of a file is serviced. The file close system call is the usual point at which the client is notified of a lack of stable storage for the modified file data generated by the application. At the close, file data is written to the server and, through normal accounting, the server is able to determine if the available file system space for the data has been exceeded (i.e., the server returns NFS4ERR_NOSPC or NFS4ERR_DQUOT). This accounting includes quotas. The introduction of delegations requires that an alternative method be in place for the same type of communication to occur between client and server.
In the delegation response, the server provides either the limit of the size of the file or the number of modified blocks and associated block size. The server must ensure that the client will be able to write modified data to the server of a size equal to that provided in the original delegation. The server must make this assurance for all outstanding delegations. Therefore, the server must be careful in its management of available space for new or modified data, taking into account available file system space and any applicable quotas. The server can recall delegations as a result of managing the available file system space. The client should abide by the server's state space limits for delegations. If the client exceeds the stated limits for the delegation, the server's behavior is undefined.
Based on server conditions, quotas, or available file system space, the server may grant OPEN_DELEGATE_WRITE delegations with very restrictive space limitations. The limitations may be defined in a way that will always force modified data to be flushed to the server on close.
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With respect to authentication, flushing modified data to the server after a CLOSE has occurred may be problematic. For example, the user of the application may have logged off the client, and unexpired authentication credentials may not be present. In this case, the client may need to take special care to ensure that local unexpired credentials will in fact be available. This may be accomplished by tracking the expiration time of credentials and flushing data well in advance of their expiration or by making private copies of credentials to assure their availability when needed.
When a client holds an OPEN_DELEGATE_WRITE delegation, lock operations are performed locally. This includes those required for mandatory byte-range locking. This can be done since the delegation implies that there can be no conflicting locks. Similarly, all of the revalidations that would normally be associated with obtaining locks and the flushing of data associated with the releasing of locks need not be done.
When a client holds an OPEN_DELEGATE_READ delegation, lock operations are not performed locally. All lock operations, including those requesting non-exclusive locks, are sent to the server for resolution.
The server needs to employ special handling for a GETATTR where the target is a file that has an OPEN_DELEGATE_WRITE delegation in effect. The reason for this is that the client holding the OPEN_DELEGATE_WRITE delegation may have modified the data, and the server needs to reflect this change to the second client that submitted the GETATTR. Therefore, the client holding the OPEN_DELEGATE_WRITE delegation needs to be interrogated. The server will use the CB_GETATTR operation. The only attributes that the server can reliably query via CB_GETATTR are size and change.
Since CB_GETATTR is being used to satisfy another client's GETATTR request, the server only needs to know if the client holding the delegation has a modified version of the file. If the client's copy of the delegated file is not modified (data or size), the server can satisfy the second client's GETATTR request from the attributes stored locally at the server. If the file is modified, the server only needs to know about this modified state. If the server determines that the file is currently modified, it will respond to the second client's GETATTR as if the file had been modified locally at the server.
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Since the form of the change attribute is determined by the server and is opaque to the client, the client and server need to agree on a method of communicating the modified state of the file. For the size attribute, the client will report its current view of the file size. For the change attribute, the handling is more involved.
For the client, the following steps will be taken when receiving an OPEN_DELEGATE_WRITE delegation:
o The value of the change attribute will be obtained from the server and cached. Let this value be represented by c.
o The client will create a value greater than c that will be used for communicating that modified data is held at the client. Let this value be represented by d.
o When the client is queried via CB_GETATTR for the change attribute, it checks to see if it holds modified data. If the file is modified, the value d is returned for the change attribute value. If this file is not currently modified, the client returns the value c for the change attribute.
For simplicity of implementation, the client MAY for each CB_GETATTR return the same value d. This is true even if, between successive CB_GETATTR operations, the client again modifies the file's data or metadata in its cache. The client can return the same value because the only requirement is that the client be able to indicate to the server that the client holds modified data. Therefore, the value of d may always be c + 1.
While the change attribute is opaque to the client in the sense that it has no idea what units of time, if any, the server is counting change with, it is not opaque in that the client has to treat it as an unsigned integer, and the server has to be able to see the results of the client's changes to that integer. Therefore, the server MUST encode the change attribute in network order when sending it to the client. The client MUST decode it from network order to its native order when receiving it, and the client MUST encode it in network order when sending it to the server. For this reason, change is defined as an unsigned integer rather than an opaque array of bytes.
For the server, the following steps will be taken when providing an OPEN_DELEGATE_WRITE delegation:
o Upon providing an OPEN_DELEGATE_WRITE delegation, the server will cache a copy of the change attribute in the data structure it uses to record the delegation. Let this value be represented by sc.
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o When a second client sends a GETATTR operation on the same file to the server, the server obtains the change attribute from the first client. Let this value be cc.
o If the value cc is equal to sc, the file is not modified and the server returns the current values for change, time_metadata, and time_modify (for example) to the second client.
o If the value cc is NOT equal to sc, the file is currently modified at the first client and most likely will be modified at the server at a future time. The server then uses its current time to construct attribute values for time_metadata and time_modify. A new value of sc, which we will call nsc, is computed by the server, such that nsc >= sc + 1. The server then returns the constructed time_metadata, time_modify, and nsc values to the requester. The server replaces sc in the delegation record with nsc. To prevent the possibility of time_modify, time_metadata, and change from appearing to go backward (which would happen if the client holding the delegation fails to write its modified data to the server before the delegation is revoked or returned), the server SHOULD update the file's metadata record with the constructed attribute values. For reasons of reasonable performance, committing the constructed attribute values to stable storage is OPTIONAL.
As discussed earlier in this section, the client MAY return the same cc value on subsequent CB_GETATTR calls, even if the file was modified in the client's cache yet again between successive CB_GETATTR calls. Therefore, the server must assume that the file has been modified yet again, and MUST take care to ensure that the new nsc it constructs and returns is greater than the previous nsc it returned. An example implementation's delegation record would satisfy this mandate by including a boolean field (let us call it "modified") that is set to FALSE when the delegation is granted, and an sc value set at the time of grant to the change attribute value. The modified field would be set to TRUE the first time cc != sc, and would stay TRUE until the delegation is returned or revoked. The processing for constructing nsc, time_modify, and time_metadata would use this pseudo code:
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if (!modified) { do CB_GETATTR for change and size;
if (cc != sc) modified = TRUE; } else { do CB_GETATTR for size; }
This would return to the client (that sent GETATTR) the attributes it requested, but make sure size comes from what CB_GETATTR returned. The server would not update the file's metadata with the client's modified size.
In the case that the file attribute size is different than the server's current value, the server treats this as a modification regardless of the value of the change attribute retrieved via CB_GETATTR and responds to the second client as in the last step.
This methodology resolves issues of clock differences between client and server and other scenarios where the use of CB_GETATTR break down.
It should be noted that the server is under no obligation to use CB_GETATTR, and therefore the server MAY simply recall the delegation to avoid its use.
The following events necessitate recall of an OPEN delegation:
o potentially conflicting OPEN request (or a READ or WRITE operation done with a special stateid)
o SETATTR sent by another client
o REMOVE request for the file
o RENAME request for the file as either the source or target of the RENAME
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Whether a RENAME of a directory in the path leading to the file results in recall of an OPEN delegation depends on the semantics of the server's file system. If that file system denies such RENAMEs when a file is open, the recall must be performed to determine whether the file in question is, in fact, open.
In addition to the situations above, the server may choose to recall OPEN delegations at any time if resource constraints make it advisable to do so. Clients should always be prepared for the possibility of recall.
When a client receives a recall for an OPEN delegation, it needs to update state on the server before returning the delegation. These same updates must be done whenever a client chooses to return a delegation voluntarily. The following items of state need to be dealt with:
o If the file associated with the delegation is no longer open and no previous CLOSE operation has been sent to the server, a CLOSE operation must be sent to the server.
o If a file has other open references at the client, then OPEN operations must be sent to the server. The appropriate stateids will be provided by the server for subsequent use by the client since the delegation stateid will no longer be valid. These OPEN requests are done with the claim type of CLAIM_DELEGATE_CUR. This will allow the presentation of the delegation stateid so that the client can establish the appropriate rights to perform the OPEN. (see Section 18.16, which describes the OPEN operation, for details.)
o If there are granted byte-range locks, the corresponding LOCK operations need to be performed. This applies to the OPEN_DELEGATE_WRITE delegation case only.
o For an OPEN_DELEGATE_WRITE delegation, if at the time of recall the file is not open for OPEN4_SHARE_ACCESS_WRITE/ OPEN4_SHARE_ACCESS_BOTH, all modified data for the file must be flushed to the server. If the delegation had not existed, the client would have done this data flush before the CLOSE operation.
o For an OPEN_DELEGATE_WRITE delegation when a file is still open at the time of recall, any modified data for the file needs to be flushed to the server.
o With the OPEN_DELEGATE_WRITE delegation in place, it is possible that the file was truncated during the duration of the delegation. For example, the truncation could have occurred as a result of an
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OPEN UNCHECKED with a size attribute value of zero. Therefore, if a truncation of the file has occurred and this operation has not been propagated to the server, the truncation must occur before any modified data is written to the server.
In the case of OPEN_DELEGATE_WRITE delegation, byte-range locking imposes some additional requirements. To precisely maintain the associated invariant, it is required to flush any modified data in any byte-range for which a WRITE_LT lock was released while the OPEN_DELEGATE_WRITE delegation was in effect. However, because the OPEN_DELEGATE_WRITE delegation implies no other locking by other clients, a simpler implementation is to flush all modified data for the file (as described just above) if any WRITE_LT lock has been released while the OPEN_DELEGATE_WRITE delegation was in effect.
An implementation need not wait until delegation recall (or the decision to voluntarily return a delegation) to perform any of the above actions, if implementation considerations (e.g., resource availability constraints) make that desirable. Generally, however, the fact that the actual OPEN state of the file may continue to change makes it not worthwhile to send information about opens and closes to the server, except as part of delegation return. An exception is when the client has no more internal opens of the file. In this case, sending a CLOSE is useful because it reduces resource utilization on the client and server. Regardless of the client's choices on scheduling these actions, all must be performed before the delegation is returned, including (when applicable) the close that corresponds to the OPEN that resulted in the delegation. These actions can be performed either in previous requests or in previous operations in the same COMPOUND request.
10.4.5. Clients That Fail to Honor Delegation Recalls
A client may fail to respond to a recall for various reasons, such as a failure of the backchannel from server to the client. The client may be unaware of a failure in the backchannel. This lack of awareness could result in the client finding out long after the failure that its delegation has been revoked, and another client has modified the data for which the client had a delegation. This is especially a problem for the client that held an OPEN_DELEGATE_WRITE delegation.
Status bits returned by SEQUENCE operations help to provide an alternate way of informing the client of issues regarding the status of the backchannel and of recalled delegations. When the backchannel is not available, the server returns the status bit SEQ4_STATUS_CB_PATH_DOWN on SEQUENCE operations. The client can
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react by attempting to re-establish the backchannel and by returning recallable objects if a backchannel cannot be successfully re- established.
Whether the backchannel is functioning or not, it may be that the recalled delegation is not returned. Note that the client's lease might still be renewed, even though the recalled delegation is not returned. In this situation, servers SHOULD revoke delegations that are not returned in a period of time equal to the lease period. This period of time should allow the client time to note the backchannel- down status and re-establish the backchannel.
When delegations are revoked, the server will return with the SEQ4_STATUS_RECALLABLE_STATE_REVOKED status bit set on subsequent SEQUENCE operations. The client should note this and then use TEST_STATEID to find which delegations have been revoked.
At the point a delegation is revoked, if there are associated opens on the client, these opens may or may not be revoked. If no byte- range lock or open is granted that is inconsistent with the existing open, the stateid for the open may remain valid and be disconnected from the revoked delegation, just as would be the case if the delegation were returned.
For example, if an OPEN for OPEN4_SHARE_ACCESS_BOTH with a deny of OPEN4_SHARE_DENY_NONE is associated with the delegation, granting of another such OPEN to a different client will revoke the delegation but need not revoke the OPEN, since the two OPENs are consistent with each other. On the other hand, if an OPEN denying write access is granted, then the existing OPEN must be revoked.
When opens and/or locks are revoked, the applications holding these opens or locks need to be notified. This notification usually occurs by returning errors for READ/WRITE operations or when a close is attempted for the open file.
If no opens exist for the file at the point the delegation is revoked, then notification of the revocation is unnecessary. However, if there is modified data present at the client for the file, the user of the application should be notified. Unfortunately, it may not be possible to notify the user since active applications may not be present at the client. See Section 10.5.1 for additional details.
In addition to providing delegations as part of the reply to OPEN operations, servers MAY provide delegations separate from open, via the OPTIONAL WANT_DELEGATION operation. This allows delegations to be obtained in advance of an OPEN that might benefit from them, for objects that are not a valid target of OPEN, or to deal with cases in which a delegation has been recalled and the client wants to make an attempt to re-establish it if the absence of use by other clients allows that.
The WANT_DELEGATION operation may be performed on any type of file object other than a directory.
When a delegation is obtained using WANT_DELEGATION, any open files for the same filehandle held by that client are to be treated as subordinate to the delegation, just as if they had been created using an OPEN of type CLAIM_DELEGATE_CUR. They are otherwise unchanged as to seqid, access and deny modes, and the relationship with byte-range locks. Similarly, because existing byte-range locks are subordinate to an open, those byte-range locks also become indirectly subordinate to that new delegation.
The WANT_DELEGATION operation provides for delivery of delegations via callbacks, when the delegations are not immediately available. When a requested delegation is available, it is delivered to the client via a CB_PUSH_DELEG operation. When this happens, open files for the same filehandle become subordinate to the new delegation at the point at which the delegation is delivered, just as if they had been created using an OPEN of type CLAIM_DELEGATE_CUR. Similarly, this occurs for existing byte-range locks subordinate to an open.
When locks and delegations are revoked, the assumptions upon which successful caching depends are no longer guaranteed. For any locks or share reservations that have been revoked, the corresponding state-owner needs to be notified. This notification includes applications with a file open that has a corresponding delegation that has been revoked. Cached data associated with the revocation must be removed from the client. In the case of modified data existing in the client's cache, that data must be removed from the client without being written to the server. As mentioned, the assumptions made by the client are no longer valid at the point when a lock or delegation has been revoked. For example, another client may have been granted a conflicting byte-range lock after the revocation of the byte-range lock at the first client. Therefore,
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the data within the lock range may have been modified by the other client. Obviously, the first client is unable to guarantee to the application what has occurred to the file in the case of revocation.
Notification to a state-owner will in many cases consist of simply returning an error on the next and all subsequent READs/WRITEs to the open file or on the close. Where the methods available to a client make such notification impossible because errors for certain operations may not be returned, more drastic action such as signals or process termination may be appropriate. The justification here is that an invariant on which an application depends may be violated. Depending on how errors are typically treated for the client- operating environment, further levels of notification including logging, console messages, and GUI pop-ups may be appropriate.
10.5.1. Revocation Recovery for Write Open Delegation
Revocation recovery for an OPEN_DELEGATE_WRITE delegation poses the special issue of modified data in the client cache while the file is not open. In this situation, any client that does not flush modified data to the server on each close must ensure that the user receives appropriate notification of the failure as a result of the revocation. Since such situations may require human action to correct problems, notification schemes in which the appropriate user or administrator is notified may be necessary. Logging and console messages are typical examples.
If there is modified data on the client, it must not be flushed normally to the server. A client may attempt to provide a copy of the file data as modified during the delegation under a different name in the file system namespace to ease recovery. Note that when the client can determine that the file has not been modified by any other client, or when the client has a complete cached copy of the file in question, such a saved copy of the client's view of the file may be of particular value for recovery. In another case, recovery using a copy of the file based partially on the client's cached data and partially on the server's copy as modified by other clients will be anything but straightforward, so clients may avoid saving file contents in these situations or specially mark the results to warn users of possible problems.
Saving of such modified data in delegation revocation situations may be limited to files of a certain size or might be used only when sufficient disk space is available within the target file system. Such saving may also be restricted to situations when the client has sufficient buffering resources to keep the cached copy available until it is properly stored to the target file system.
This section pertains to the caching of a file's attributes on a client when that client does not hold a delegation on the file.
The attributes discussed in this section do not include named attributes. Individual named attributes are analogous to files, and caching of the data for these needs to be handled just as data caching is for ordinary files. Similarly, LOOKUP results from an OPENATTR directory (as well as the directory's contents) are to be cached on the same basis as any other pathnames.
Clients may cache file attributes obtained from the server and use them to avoid subsequent GETATTR requests. Such caching is write through in that modification to file attributes is always done by means of requests to the server and should not be done locally and should not be cached. The exception to this are modifications to attributes that are intimately connected with data caching. Therefore, extending a file by writing data to the local data cache is reflected immediately in the size as seen on the client without this change being immediately reflected on the server. Normally, such changes are not propagated directly to the server, but when the modified data is flushed to the server, analogous attribute changes are made on the server. When OPEN delegation is in effect, the modified attributes may be returned to the server in reaction to a CB_RECALL call.
The result of local caching of attributes is that the attribute caches maintained on individual clients will not be coherent. Changes made in one order on the server may be seen in a different order on one client and in a third order on another client.
The typical file system application programming interfaces do not provide means to atomically modify or interrogate attributes for multiple files at the same time. The following rules provide an environment where the potential incoherencies mentioned above can be reasonably managed. These rules are derived from the practice of previous NFS protocols.
o All attributes for a given file (per-fsid attributes excepted) are cached as a unit at the client so that no non-serializability can arise within the context of a single file.
o An upper time boundary is maintained on how long a client cache entry can be kept without being refreshed from the server.
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o When operations are performed that change attributes at the server, the updated attribute set is requested as part of the containing RPC. This includes directory operations that update attributes indirectly. This is accomplished by following the modifying operation with a GETATTR operation and then using the results of the GETATTR to update the client's cached attributes.
Note that if the full set of attributes to be cached is requested by READDIR, the results can be cached by the client on the same basis as attributes obtained via GETATTR.
A client may validate its cached version of attributes for a file by fetching both the change and time_access attributes and assuming that if the change attribute has the same value as it did when the attributes were cached, then no attributes other than time_access have changed. The reason why time_access is also fetched is because many servers operate in environments where the operation that updates change does not update time_access. For example, POSIX file semantics do not update access time when a file is modified by the write system call [18]. Therefore, the client that wants a current time_access value should fetch it with change during the attribute cache validation processing and update its cached time_access.
The client may maintain a cache of modified attributes for those attributes intimately connected with data of modified regular files (size, time_modify, and change). Other than those three attributes, the client MUST NOT maintain a cache of modified attributes. Instead, attribute changes are immediately sent to the server.
In some operating environments, the equivalent to time_access is expected to be implicitly updated by each read of the content of the file object. If an NFS client is caching the content of a file object, whether it is a regular file, directory, or symbolic link, the client SHOULD NOT update the time_access attribute (via SETATTR or a small READ or READDIR request) on the server with each read that is satisfied from cache. The reason is that this can defeat the performance benefits of caching content, especially since an explicit SETATTR of time_access may alter the change attribute on the server. If the change attribute changes, clients that are caching the content will think the content has changed, and will re-read unmodified data from the server. Nor is the client encouraged to maintain a modified version of time_access in its cache, since the client either would eventually have to write the access time to the server with bad performance effects or never update the server's time_access, thereby resulting in a situation where an application that caches access time between a close and open of the same file observes the access time oscillating between the past and present. The time_access attribute
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always means the time of last access to a file by a read that was satisfied by the server. This way clients will tend to see only time_access changes that go forward in time.
10.7. Data and Metadata Caching and Memory Mapped Files
Some operating environments include the capability for an application to map a file's content into the application's address space. Each time the application accesses a memory location that corresponds to a block that has not been loaded into the address space, a page fault occurs and the file is read (or if the block does not exist in the file, the block is allocated and then instantiated in the application's address space).
As long as each memory-mapped access to the file requires a page fault, the relevant attributes of the file that are used to detect access and modification (time_access, time_metadata, time_modify, and change) will be updated. However, in many operating environments, when page faults are not required, these attributes will not be updated on reads or updates to the file via memory access (regardless of whether the file is local or is accessed remotely). A client or server MAY fail to update attributes of a file that is being accessed via memory-mapped I/O. This has several implications:
o If there is an application on the server that has memory mapped a file that a client is also accessing, the client may not be able to get a consistent value of the change attribute to determine whether or not its cache is stale. A server that knows that the file is memory-mapped could always pessimistically return updated values for change so as to force the application to always get the most up-to-date data and metadata for the file. However, due to the negative performance implications of this, such behavior is OPTIONAL.
o If the memory-mapped file is not being modified on the server, and instead is just being read by an application via the memory-mapped interface, the client will not see an updated time_access attribute. However, in many operating environments, neither will any process running on the server. Thus, NFS clients are at no disadvantage with respect to local processes.
o If there is another client that is memory mapping the file, and if that client is holding an OPEN_DELEGATE_WRITE delegation, the same set of issues as discussed in the previous two bullet points apply. So, when a server does a CB_GETATTR to a file that the client has modified in its cache, the reply from CB_GETATTR will not necessarily be accurate. As discussed earlier, the client's obligation is to report that the file has been modified since the
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delegation was granted, not whether it has been modified again between successive CB_GETATTR calls, and the server MUST assume that any file the client has modified in cache has been modified again between successive CB_GETATTR calls. Depending on the nature of the client's memory management system, this weak obligation may not be possible. A client MAY return stale information in CB_GETATTR whenever the file is memory-mapped.
o The mixture of memory mapping and byte-range locking on the same file is problematic. Consider the following scenario, where a page size on each client is 8192 bytes.
* Client A memory maps the first page (8192 bytes) of file X.
* Client B memory maps the first page (8192 bytes) of file X.
* Client A WRITE_LT locks the first 4096 bytes.
* Client B WRITE_LT locks the second 4096 bytes.
* Client A, via a STORE instruction, modifies part of its locked byte-range.
* Simultaneous to client A, client B executes a STORE on part of its locked byte-range.
Here the challenge is for each client to resynchronize to get a correct view of the first page. In many operating environments, the virtual memory management systems on each client only know a page is modified, not that a subset of the page corresponding to the respective lock byte-ranges has been modified. So it is not possible for each client to do the right thing, which is to write to the server only that portion of the page that is locked. For example, if client A simply writes out the page, and then client B writes out the page, client A's data is lost.
Moreover, if mandatory locking is enabled on the file, then we have a different problem. When clients A and B execute the STORE instructions, the resulting page faults require a byte-range lock on the entire page. Each client then tries to extend their locked range to the entire page, which results in a deadlock. Communicating the NFS4ERR_DEADLOCK error to a STORE instruction is difficult at best.
If a client is locking the entire memory-mapped file, there is no problem with advisory or mandatory byte-range locking, at least until the client unlocks a byte-range in the middle of the file.
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Given the above issues, the following are permitted:
o Clients and servers MAY deny memory mapping a file for which they know there are byte-range locks.
o Clients and servers MAY deny a byte-range lock on a file they know is memory-mapped.
o A client MAY deny memory mapping a file that it knows requires mandatory locking for I/O. If mandatory locking is enabled after the file is opened and mapped, the client MAY deny the application further access to its mapped file.
10.8. Name and Directory Caching without Directory Delegations
The NFSv4.1 directory delegation facility (described in Section 10.9 below) is OPTIONAL for servers to implement. Even where it is implemented, it may not always be functional because of resource availability issues or other constraints. Thus, it is important to understand how name and directory caching are done in the absence of directory delegations. These topics are discussed in the next two subsections.
The results of LOOKUP and READDIR operations may be cached to avoid the cost of subsequent LOOKUP operations. Just as in the case of attribute caching, inconsistencies may arise among the various client caches. To mitigate the effects of these inconsistencies and given the context of typical file system APIs, an upper time boundary is maintained for how long a client name cache entry can be kept without verifying that the entry has not been made invalid by a directory change operation performed by another client.
When a client is not making changes to a directory for which there exist name cache entries, the client needs to periodically fetch attributes for that directory to ensure that it is not being modified. After determining that no modification has occurred, the expiration time for the associated name cache entries may be updated to be the current time plus the name cache staleness bound.
When a client is making changes to a given directory, it needs to determine whether there have been changes made to the directory by other clients. It does this by using the change attribute as reported before and after the directory operation in the associated change_info4 value returned for the operation. The server is able to communicate to the client whether the change_info4 data is provided atomically with respect to the directory operation. If the change
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values are provided atomically, the client has a basis for determining, given proper care, whether other clients are modifying the directory in question.
The simplest way to enable the client to make this determination is for the client to serialize all changes made to a specific directory. When this is done, and the server provides before and after values of the change attribute atomically, the client can simply compare the after value of the change attribute from one operation on a directory with the before value on the subsequent operation modifying that directory. When these are equal, the client is assured that no other client is modifying the directory in question.
When such serialization is not used, and there may be multiple simultaneous outstanding operations modifying a single directory sent from a single client, making this sort of determination can be more complicated. If two such operations complete in a different order than they were actually performed, that might give an appearance consistent with modification being made by another client. Where this appears to happen, the client needs to await the completion of all such modifications that were started previously, to see if the outstanding before and after change numbers can be sorted into a chain such that the before value of one change number matches the after value of a previous one, in a chain consistent with this client being the only one modifying the directory.
In either of these cases, the client is able to determine whether the directory is being modified by another client. If the comparison indicates that the directory was updated by another client, the name cache associated with the modified directory is purged from the client. If the comparison indicates no modification, the name cache can be updated on the client to reflect the directory operation and the associated timeout can be extended. The post-operation change value needs to be saved as the basis for future change_info4 comparisons.
As demonstrated by the scenario above, name caching requires that the client revalidate name cache data by inspecting the change attribute of a directory at the point when the name cache item was cached. This requires that the server update the change attribute for directories when the contents of the corresponding directory is modified. For a client to use the change_info4 information appropriately and correctly, the server must report the pre- and post-operation change attribute values atomically. When the server is unable to report the before and after values atomically with respect to the directory operation, the server must indicate that
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fact in the change_info4 return value. When the information is not atomically reported, the client should not assume that other clients have not changed the directory.
The results of READDIR operations may be used to avoid subsequent READDIR operations. Just as in the cases of attribute and name caching, inconsistencies may arise among the various client caches. To mitigate the effects of these inconsistencies, and given the context of typical file system APIs, the following rules should be followed:
o Cached READDIR information for a directory that is not obtained in a single READDIR operation must always be a consistent snapshot of directory contents. This is determined by using a GETATTR before the first READDIR and after the last READDIR that contributes to the cache.
o An upper time boundary is maintained to indicate the length of time a directory cache entry is considered valid before the client must revalidate the cached information.
The revalidation technique parallels that discussed in the case of name caching. When the client is not changing the directory in question, checking the change attribute of the directory with GETATTR is adequate. The lifetime of the cache entry can be extended at these checkpoints. When a client is modifying the directory, the client needs to use the change_info4 data to determine whether there are other clients modifying the directory. If it is determined that no other client modifications are occurring, the client may update its directory cache to reflect its own changes.
As demonstrated previously, directory caching requires that the client revalidate directory cache data by inspecting the change attribute of a directory at the point when the directory was cached. This requires that the server update the change attribute for directories when the contents of the corresponding directory is modified. For a client to use the change_info4 information appropriately and correctly, the server must report the pre- and post-operation change attribute values atomically. When the server is unable to report the before and after values atomically with respect to the directory operation, the server must indicate that fact in the change_info4 return value. When the information is not atomically reported, the client should not assume that other clients have not changed the directory.
Directory caching for the NFSv4.1 protocol, as previously described, is similar to file caching in previous versions. Clients typically cache directory information for a duration determined by the client. At the end of a predefined timeout, the client will query the server to see if the directory has been updated. By caching attributes, clients reduce the number of GETATTR calls made to the server to validate attributes. Furthermore, frequently accessed files and directories, such as the current working directory, have their attributes cached on the client so that some NFS operations can be performed without having to make an RPC call. By caching name and inode information about most recently looked up entries in a Directory Name Lookup Cache (DNLC), clients do not need to send LOOKUP calls to the server every time these files are accessed.
This caching approach works reasonably well at reducing network traffic in many environments. However, it does not address environments where there are numerous queries for files that do not exist. In these cases of "misses", the client sends requests to the server in order to provide reasonable application semantics and promptly detect the creation of new directory entries. Examples of high miss activity are compilation in software development environments. The current behavior of NFS limits its potential scalability and wide-area sharing effectiveness in these types of environments. Other distributed stateful file system architectures such as AFS and DFS have proven that adding state around directory contents can greatly reduce network traffic in high-miss environments.
Delegation of directory contents is an OPTIONAL feature of NFSv4.1. Directory delegations provide similar traffic reduction benefits as with file delegations. By allowing clients to cache directory contents (in a read-only fashion) while being notified of changes, the client can avoid making frequent requests to interrogate the contents of slowly-changing directories, reducing network traffic and improving client performance. It can also simplify the task of determining whether other clients are making changes to the directory when the client itself is making many changes to the directory and changes are not serialized.
Directory delegations allow improved namespace cache consistency to be achieved through delegations and synchronous recalls, in the absence of notifications. In addition, if time-based consistency is
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sufficient, asynchronous notifications can provide performance benefits for the client, and possibly the server, under some common operating conditions such as slowly-changing and/or very large directories.
NFSv4.1 introduces the GET_DIR_DELEGATION (Section 18.39) operation to allow the client to ask for a directory delegation. The delegation covers directory attributes and all entries in the directory. If either of these change, the delegation will be recalled synchronously. The operation causing the recall will have to wait before the recall is complete. Any changes to directory entry attributes will not cause the delegation to be recalled.
In addition to asking for delegations, a client can also ask for notifications for certain events. These events include changes to the directory's attributes and/or its contents. If a client asks for notification for a certain event, the server will notify the client when that event occurs. This will not result in the delegation being recalled for that client. The notifications are asynchronous and provide a way of avoiding recalls in situations where a directory is changing enough that the pure recall model may not be effective while trying to allow the client to get substantial benefit. In the absence of notifications, once the delegation is recalled the client has to refresh its directory cache; this might not be very efficient for very large directories.
The delegation is read-only and the client may not make changes to the directory other than by performing NFSv4.1 operations that modify the directory or the associated file attributes so that the server has knowledge of these changes. In order to keep the client's namespace synchronized with the server, the server will notify the delegation-holding client (assuming it has requested notifications) of the changes made as a result of that client's directory-modifying operations. This is to avoid any need for that client to send subsequent GETATTR or READDIR operations to the server. If a single client is holding the delegation and that client makes any changes to the directory (i.e., the changes are made via operations sent on a session associated with the client ID holding the delegation), the delegation will not be recalled. Multiple clients may hold a delegation on the same directory, but if any such client modifies the directory, the server MUST recall the delegation from the other clients, unless those clients have made provisions to be notified of that sort of modification.
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Delegations can be recalled by the server at any time. Normally, the server will recall the delegation when the directory changes in a way that is not covered by the notification, or when the directory changes and notifications have not been requested. If another client removes the directory for which a delegation has been granted, the server will recall the delegation.
10.9.3. Attributes in Support of Directory Notifications
See Section 5.11 for a description of the attributes associated with directory notifications.
The server will recall the directory delegation by sending a callback to the client. It will use the same callback procedure as used for recalling file delegations. The server will recall the delegation when the directory changes in a way that is not covered by the notification. However, the server need not recall the delegation if attributes of an entry within the directory change.
If the server notices that handing out a delegation for a directory is causing too many notifications to be sent out, it may decide to not hand out delegations for that directory and/or recall those already granted. If a client tries to remove the directory for which a delegation has been granted, the server will recall all associated delegations.
The implementation sections for a number of operations describe situations in which notification or delegation recall would be required under some common circumstances. In this regard, a similar set of caveats to those listed in Section 10.2 apply.
Recovery from client or server restart for state on regular files has two main goals: avoiding the necessity of breaking application guarantees with respect to locked files and delivery of updates cached at the client. Neither of these goals applies to directories protected by OPEN_DELEGATE_READ delegations and notifications. Thus, no provision is made for reclaiming directory delegations in the event of client or server restart. The client can simply establish a directory delegation in the same fashion as was done initially.
11. Multi-Server Namespace
NFSv4.1 supports attributes that allow a namespace to extend beyond the boundaries of a single server. It is RECOMMENDED that clients and servers support construction of such multi-server namespaces. Use of such multi-server namespaces is OPTIONAL, however, and for many purposes, single-server namespaces are perfectly acceptable. Use of multi-server namespaces can provide many advantages, however, by separating a file system's logical position in a namespace from the (possibly changing) logistical and administrative considerations that result in particular file systems being located on particular servers.
NFSv4.1 contains RECOMMENDED attributes that allow file systems on one server to be associated with one or more instances of that file system on other servers. These attributes specify such file system instances by specifying a server address target (either as a DNS name representing one or more IP addresses or as a literal IP address) together with the path of that file system within the associated single-server namespace.
The fs_locations_info RECOMMENDED attribute allows specification of one or more file system instance locations where the data corresponding to a given file system may be found. This attribute provides to the client, in addition to information about file system instance locations, significant information about the various file system instance choices (e.g., priority for use, writability, currency, etc.). It also includes information to help the client efficiently effect as seamless a transition as possible among multiple file system instances, when and if that should be necessary.
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The fs_locations RECOMMENDED attribute is inherited from NFSv4.0 and only allows specification of the file system locations where the data corresponding to a given file system may be found. Servers SHOULD make this attribute available whenever fs_locations_info is supported, but client use of fs_locations_info is to be preferred.
A given location in an NFSv4.1 namespace (typically but not necessarily a multi-server namespace) can have a number of file system instance locations associated with it (via the fs_locations or fs_locations_info attribute). There may also be an actual current file system at that location, accessible via normal namespace operations (e.g., LOOKUP). In this case, the file system is said to be "present" at that position in the namespace, and clients will typically use it, reserving use of additional locations specified via the location-related attributes to situations in which the principal location is no longer available.
When there is no actual file system at the namespace location in question, the file system is said to be "absent". An absent file system contains no files or directories other than the root. Any reference to it, except to access a small set of attributes useful in determining alternate locations, will result in an error, NFS4ERR_MOVED. Note that if the server ever returns the error NFS4ERR_MOVED, it MUST support the fs_locations attribute and SHOULD support the fs_locations_info and fs_status attributes.
While the error name suggests that we have a case of a file system that once was present, and has only become absent later, this is only one possibility. A position in the namespace may be permanently absent with the set of file system(s) designated by the location attributes being the only realization. The name NFS4ERR_MOVED reflects an earlier, more limited conception of its function, but this error will be returned whenever the referenced file system is absent, whether it has moved or not.
Except in the case of GETATTR-type operations (to be discussed later), when the current filehandle at the start of an operation is within an absent file system, that operation is not performed and the error NFS4ERR_MOVED is returned, to indicate that the file system is absent on the current server.
Because a GETFH cannot succeed if the current filehandle is within an absent file system, filehandles within an absent file system cannot be transferred to the client. When a client does have filehandles
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within an absent file system, it is the result of obtaining them when the file system was present, and having the file system become absent subsequently.
It should be noted that because the check for the current filehandle being within an absent file system happens at the start of every operation, operations that change the current filehandle so that it is within an absent file system will not result in an error. This allows such combinations as PUTFH-GETATTR and LOOKUP-GETATTR to be used to get attribute information, particularly location attribute information, as discussed below.
The RECOMMENDED file system attribute fs_status can be used to interrogate the present/absent status of a given file system.
11.3. Getting Attributes for an Absent File System
When a file system is absent, most attributes are not available, but it is necessary to allow the client access to the small set of attributes that are available, and most particularly those that give information about the correct current locations for this file system: fs_locations and fs_locations_info.
As mentioned above, an exception is made for GETATTR in that attributes may be obtained for a filehandle within an absent file system. This exception only applies if the attribute mask contains at least one attribute bit that indicates the client is interested in a result regarding an absent file system: fs_locations, fs_locations_info, or fs_status. If none of these attributes is requested, GETATTR will result in an NFS4ERR_MOVED error.
When a GETATTR is done on an absent file system, the set of supported attributes is very limited. Many attributes, including those that are normally REQUIRED, will not be available on an absent file system. In addition to the attributes mentioned above (fs_locations, fs_locations_info, fs_status), the following attributes SHOULD be available on absent file systems. In the case of RECOMMENDED attributes, they should be available at least to the same degree that they are available on present file systems.
change_policy: This attribute is useful for absent file systems and can be helpful in summarizing to the client when any of the location-related attributes change.
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fsid: This attribute should be provided so that the client can determine file system boundaries, including, in particular, the boundary between present and absent file systems. This value must be different from any other fsid on the current server and need have no particular relationship to fsids on any particular destination to which the client might be directed.
mounted_on_fileid: For objects at the top of an absent file system, this attribute needs to be available. Since the fileid is within the present parent file system, there should be no need to reference the absent file system to provide this information.
Other attributes SHOULD NOT be made available for absent file systems, even when it is possible to provide them. The server should not assume that more information is always better and should avoid gratuitously providing additional information.
When a GETATTR operation includes a bit mask for one of the attributes fs_locations, fs_locations_info, or fs_status, but where the bit mask includes attributes that are not supported, GETATTR will not return an error, but will return the mask of the actual attributes supported with the results.
Handling of VERIFY/NVERIFY is similar to GETATTR in that if the attribute mask does not include fs_locations, fs_locations_info, or fs_status, the error NFS4ERR_MOVED will result. It differs in that any appearance in the attribute mask of an attribute not supported for an absent file system (and note that this will include some normally REQUIRED attributes) will also cause an NFS4ERR_MOVED result.
A READDIR performed when the current filehandle is within an absent file system will result in an NFS4ERR_MOVED error, since, unlike the case of GETATTR, no such exception is made for READDIR.
Attributes for an absent file system may be fetched via a READDIR for a directory in a present file system, when that directory contains the root directories of one or more absent file systems. In this case, the handling is as follows:
o If the attribute set requested includes one of the attributes fs_locations, fs_locations_info, or fs_status, then fetching of attributes proceeds normally and no NFS4ERR_MOVED indication is returned, even when the rdattr_error attribute is requested.
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o If the attribute set requested does not include one of the attributes fs_locations, fs_locations_info, or fs_status, then if the rdattr_error attribute is requested, each directory entry for the root of an absent file system will report NFS4ERR_MOVED as the value of the rdattr_error attribute.
o If the attribute set requested does not include any of the attributes fs_locations, fs_locations_info, fs_status, or rdattr_error, then the occurrence of the root of an absent file system within the directory will result in the READDIR failing with an NFS4ERR_MOVED error.
o The unavailability of an attribute because of a file system's absence, even one that is ordinarily REQUIRED, does not result in any error indication. The set of attributes returned for the root directory of the absent file system in that case is simply restricted to those actually available.
The location-bearing attributes (fs_locations and fs_locations_info), together with the possibility of absent file systems, provide a number of important facilities in providing reliable, manageable, and scalable data access.
When a file system is present, these attributes can provide alternative locations, to be used to access the same data, in the event of server failures, communications problems, or other difficulties that make continued access to the current file system impossible or otherwise impractical. Under some circumstances, multiple alternative locations may be used simultaneously to provide higher-performance access to the file system in question. Provision of such alternate locations is referred to as "replication" although there are cases in which replicated sets of data are not in fact present, and the replicas are instead different paths to the same data.
When a file system is present and becomes absent, clients can be given the opportunity to have continued access to their data, at an alternate location. In this case, a continued attempt to use the data in the now-absent file system will result in an NFS4ERR_MOVED error and, at that point, the successor locations (typically only one although multiple choices are possible) can be fetched and used to continue access. Transfer of the file system contents to the new location is referred to as "migration", but it should be kept in mind that there are cases in which this term can be used, like "replication", when there is no actual data migration per se.
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Where a file system was not previously present, specification of file system location provides a means by which file systems located on one server can be associated with a namespace defined by another server, thus allowing a general multi-server namespace facility. A designation of such a location, in place of an absent file system, is called a "referral".
Because client support for location-related attributes is OPTIONAL, a server may (but is not required to) take action to hide migration and referral events from such clients, by acting as a proxy, for example. The server can determine the presence of client support from the arguments of the EXCHANGE_ID operation (see Section 18.35.3).
The fs_locations and fs_locations_info attributes provide alternative locations, to be used to access data in place of or in addition to the current file system instance. On first access to a file system, the client should obtain the value of the set of alternate locations by interrogating the fs_locations or fs_locations_info attribute, with the latter being preferred.
In the event that server failures, communications problems, or other difficulties make continued access to the current file system impossible or otherwise impractical, the client can use the alternate locations as a way to get continued access to its data. Depending on specific attributes of these alternate locations, as indicated within the fs_locations_info attribute, multiple locations may be used simultaneously, to provide higher performance through the exploitation of multiple paths between client and target file system.
The alternate locations may be physical replicas of the (typically read-only) file system data, or they may reflect alternate paths to the same server or provide for the use of various forms of server clustering in which multiple servers provide alternate ways of accessing the same physical file system. How these different modes of file system transition are represented within the fs_locations and fs_locations_info attributes and how the client deals with file system transition issues will be discussed in detail below.
Multiple server addresses, whether they are derived from a single entry with a DNS name representing a set of IP addresses or from multiple entries each with its own server address, may correspond to the same actual server. The fact that two addresses correspond to the same server is shown by a common so_major_id field within the eir_server_owner field returned by EXCHANGE_ID (see Section 18.35.3).
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For a detailed discussion of how server address targets interact with the determination of server identity specified by the server owner field, see Section 11.5.
When a file system is present and becomes absent, clients can be given the opportunity to have continued access to their data, at an alternate location, as specified by the fs_locations or fs_locations_info attribute. Typically, a client will be accessing the file system in question, get an NFS4ERR_MOVED error, and then use the fs_locations or fs_locations_info attribute to determine the new location of the data. When fs_locations_info is used, additional information will be available that will define the nature of the client's handling of the transition to a new server.
Such migration can be helpful in providing load balancing or general resource reallocation. The protocol does not specify how the file system will be moved between servers. It is anticipated that a number of different server-to-server transfer mechanisms might be used with the choice left to the server implementor. The NFSv4.1 protocol specifies the method used to communicate the migration event between client and server.
The new location may be an alternate communication path to the same server or, in the case of various forms of server clustering, another server providing access to the same physical file system. The client's responsibilities in dealing with this transition depend on the specific nature of the new access path as well as how and whether data was in fact migrated. These issues will be discussed in detail below.
When multiple server addresses correspond to the same actual server, as shown by a common value for the so_major_id field of the eir_server_owner field returned by EXCHANGE_ID, the location or locations may designate alternate server addresses in the form of specific server network addresses. These can be used to access the file system in question at those addresses and when it is no longer accessible at the original address.
Although a single successor location is typical, multiple locations may be provided, together with information that allows priority among the choices to be indicated, via information in the fs_locations_info attribute. Where suitable, clustering mechanisms make it possible to provide multiple identical file systems or paths to them; this allows the client the opportunity to deal with any resource or communications issues that might limit data availability.
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When an alternate location is designated as the target for migration, it must designate the same data (with metadata being the same to the degree indicated by the fs_locations_info attribute). Where file systems are writable, a change made on the original file system must be visible on all migration targets. Where a file system is not writable but represents a read-only copy (possibly periodically updated) of a writable file system, similar requirements apply to the propagation of updates. Any change visible in the original file system must already be effected on all migration targets, to avoid any possibility that a client, in effecting a transition to the migration target, will see any reversion in file system state.
Referrals provide a way of placing a file system in a location within the namespace essentially without respect to its physical location on a given server. This allows a single server or a set of servers to present a multi-server namespace that encompasses file systems located on multiple servers. Some likely uses of this include establishment of site-wide or organization-wide namespaces, or even knitting such together into a truly global namespace.
Referrals occur when a client determines, upon first referencing a position in the current namespace, that it is part of a new file system and that the file system is absent. When this occurs, typically by receiving the error NFS4ERR_MOVED, the actual location or locations of the file system can be determined by fetching the fs_locations or fs_locations_info attribute.
The locations-related attribute may designate a single file system location or multiple file system locations, to be selected based on the needs of the client. The server, in the fs_locations_info attribute, may specify priorities to be associated with various file system location choices. The server may assign different priorities to different locations as reported to individual clients, in order to adapt to client physical location or to effect load balancing. When both read-only and read-write file systems are present, some of the read-only locations might not be absolutely up-to-date (as they would have to be in the case of replication and migration). Servers may also specify file system locations that include client-substituted variables so that different clients are referred to different file systems (with different data contents) based on client attributes such as CPU architecture.
When the fs_locations_info attribute indicates that there are multiple possible targets listed, the relationships among them may be important to the client in selecting which one to use. The same rules specified in Section 11.4.1 defining the appropriate standards
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for the data propagation apply to these multiple replicas as well. For example, the client might prefer a writable target on a server that has additional writable replicas to which it subsequently might switch. Note that, as distinguished from the case of replication, there is no need to deal with the case of propagation of updates made by the current client, since the current client has not accessed the file system in question.
Use of multi-server namespaces is enabled by NFSv4.1 but is not required. The use of multi-server namespaces and their scope will depend on the applications used and system administration preferences.
Multi-server namespaces can be established by a single server providing a large set of referrals to all of the included file systems. Alternatively, a single multi-server namespace may be administratively segmented with separate referral file systems (on separate servers) for each separately administered portion of the namespace. The top-level referral file system or any segment may use replicated referral file systems for higher availability.
Generally, multi-server namespaces are for the most part uniform, in that the same data made available to one client at a given location in the namespace is made available to all clients at that location. However, there are facilities provided that allow different clients to be directed to different sets of data, so as to adapt to such client characteristics as CPU architecture.
As mentioned above, a single location entry may have a server address target in the form of a DNS name that may represent multiple IP addresses, while multiple location entries may have their own server address targets that reference the same server. Whether two IP addresses designate the same server is indicated by the existence of a common so_major_id field within the eir_server_owner field returned by EXCHANGE_ID (see Section 18.35.3), subject to further verification (for details see Section 2.10.5).
When multiple addresses for the same server exist, the client may assume that for each file system in the namespace of a given server network address, there exist file systems at corresponding namespace locations for each of the other server network addresses. It may do this even in the absence of explicit listing in fs_locations and fs_locations_info. Such corresponding file system locations can be used as alternate locations, just as those explicitly specified via the fs_locations and fs_locations_info attributes. Where these specific addresses are explicitly designated in the fs_locations_info
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attribute, the conditions of use specified in this attribute (e.g., priorities, specification of simultaneous use) may limit the client's use of these alternate locations.
If a single location entry designates multiple server IP addresses, the client cannot assume that these addresses are multiple paths to the same server. In most cases, they will be, but the client MUST verify that before acting on that assumption. When two server addresses are designated by a single location entry and they correspond to different servers, this normally indicates some sort of misconfiguration, and so the client should avoid using such location entries when alternatives are available. When they are not, clients should pick one of IP addresses and use it, without using others that are not directed to the same server.
When clients make use of servers that implement referrals, replication, and migration, care should be taken that a user who mounts a given file system that includes a referral or a relocated file system continues to see a coherent picture of that user-side file system despite the fact that it contains a number of server-side file systems that may be on different servers.
One important issue is upward navigation from the root of a server- side file system to its parent (specified as ".." in UNIX), in the case in which it transitions to that file system as a result of referral, migration, or a transition as a result of replication. When the client is at such a point, and it needs to ascend to the parent, it must go back to the parent as seen within the multi-server namespace rather than sending a LOOKUPP operation to the server, which would result in the parent within that server's single-server namespace. In order to do this, the client needs to remember the filehandles that represent such file system roots and use these instead of sending a LOOKUPP operation to the current server. This will allow the client to present to applications a consistent namespace, where upward navigation and downward navigation are consistent.
Another issue concerns refresh of referral locations. When referrals are used extensively, they may change as server configurations change. It is expected that clients will cache information related to traversing referrals so that future client-side requests are resolved locally without server communication. This is usually rooted in client-side name look up caching. Clients should periodically purge this data for referral points in order to detect changes in location information. When the change_policy attribute
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changes for directories that hold referral entries or for the referral entries themselves, clients should consider any associated cached referral information to be out of date.
Transitions between file system instances, whether due to switching between replicas upon server unavailability or to server-initiated migration events, are best dealt with together. This is so even though, for the server, pragmatic considerations will normally force different implementation strategies for planned and unplanned transitions. Even though the prototypical use cases of replication and migration contain distinctive sets of features, when all possibilities for these operations are considered, there is an underlying unity of these operations, from the client's point of view, that makes treating them together desirable.
A number of methods are possible for servers to replicate data and to track client state in order to allow clients to transition between file system instances with a minimum of disruption. Such methods vary between those that use inter-server clustering techniques to limit the changes seen by the client, to those that are less aggressive, use more standard methods of replicating data, and impose a greater burden on the client to adapt to the transition.
The NFSv4.1 protocol does not impose choices on clients and servers with regard to that spectrum of transition methods. In fact, there are many valid choices, depending on client and application requirements and their interaction with server implementation choices. The NFSv4.1 protocol does define the specific choices that can be made, how these choices are communicated to the client, and how the client is to deal with any discontinuities.
In the sections below, references will be made to various possible server implementation choices as a way of illustrating the transition scenarios that clients may deal with. The intent here is not to define or limit server implementations but rather to illustrate the range of issues that clients may face.
In the discussion below, references will be made to a file system having a particular property or to two file systems (typically the source and destination) belonging to a common class of any of several types. Two file systems that belong to such a class share some important aspects of file system behavior that clients may depend upon when present, to easily effect a seamless transition between file system instances. Conversely, where the file systems do not
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belong to such a common class, the client has to deal with various sorts of implementation discontinuities that may cause performance or other issues in effecting a transition.
Where the fs_locations_info attribute is available, such file system classification data will be made directly available to the client (see Section 11.10 for details). When only fs_locations is available, default assumptions with regard to such classifications have to be inferred (see Section 11.9 for details).
In cases in which one server is expected to accept opaque values from the client that originated from another server, the servers SHOULD encode the "opaque" values in big-endian byte order. If this is done, servers acting as replicas or immigrating file systems will be able to parse values like stateids, directory cookies, filehandles, etc., even if their native byte order is different from that of other servers cooperating in the replication and migration of the file system.
11.7.1. File System Transitions and Simultaneous Access
When a single file system may be accessed at multiple locations, either because of an indication of file system identity as reported by the fs_locations or fs_locations_info attributes or because two file system instances have corresponding locations on server addresses that connect to the same server (as indicated by a common so_major_id field in the eir_server_owner field returned by EXCHANGE_ID), the client will, depending on specific circumstances as discussed below, either:
o Access multiple instances simultaneously, each of which represents an alternate path to the same data and metadata.
o Access one instance (or set of instances) and then transition to an alternative instance (or set of instances) as a result of network issues, server unresponsiveness, or server-directed migration. The transition may involve changes in filehandles, fileids, the change attribute, and/or locking state, depending on the attributes of the source and destination file system instances, as specified in the fs_locations_info attribute.
Which of these choices is possible, and how a transition is effected, is governed by equivalence classes of file system instances as reported by the fs_locations_info attribute, and for file system instances in the same location within a multi-homed single-server namespace, as indicated by the value of the so_major_id field of the eir_server_owner field returned by EXCHANGE_ID.
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11.7.2. Simultaneous Use and Transparent Transitions
When two file system instances have the same location within their respective single-server namespaces and those two server network addresses designate the same server (as indicated by the same value of the so_major_id field of the eir_server_owner field returned in response to EXCHANGE_ID), those file system instances can be treated as the same, and either used together simultaneously or serially with no transition activity required on the part of the client. In this case, we refer to the transition as "transparent", and the client in transferring access from one to the other is acting as it would in the event that communication is interrupted, with a new connection and possibly a new session being established to continue access to the same file system.
Whether simultaneous use of the two file system instances is valid is controlled by whether the fs_locations_info attribute shows the two instances as having the same simultaneous-use class. See Section 11.10.1 for information about the definition of the various use classes, including the simultaneous-use class.
Note that for two such file systems, any information within the fs_locations_info attribute that indicates the need for special transition activity, i.e., the appearance of the two file system instances with different handle, fileid, write-verifier, change, and readdir classes, indicates a serious problem. The client, if it allows transition to the file system instance at all, must not treat this as a transparent transition. The server SHOULD NOT indicate that these instances belong to different handle, fileid, write- verifier, change, and readdir classes, whether or not the two instances are shown belonging to the same simultaneous-use class.
Where these conditions do not apply, a non-transparent file system instance transition is required with the details depending on the respective handle, fileid, write-verifier, change, and readdir classes of the two file system instances, and whether the two servers' addresses in question have the same eir_server_scope value as reported by EXCHANGE_ID.
11.7.2.1. Simultaneous Use of File System Instances
When the conditions in Section 11.7.2 hold, in either of the following two cases, the client may use the two file system instances simultaneously.
o The fs_locations_info attribute does not contain separate per- network-address entries for file system instances at the distinct network addresses. This includes the case in which the
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fs_locations_info attribute is unavailable. In this case, the fact that the two server addresses connect to the same server (as indicated by the two addresses sharing the same the so_major_id value and subsequently confirmed as described in Section 2.10.5) justifies simultaneous use, and there is no fs_locations_info attribute information contradicting that.
o The fs_locations_info attribute indicates that two file system instances belong to the same simultaneous-use class.
In this case, the client may use both file system instances simultaneously, as representations of the same file system, whether that happens because the two network addresses connect to the same physical server or because different servers connect to clustered file systems and export their data in common. When simultaneous use is in effect, any change made to one file system instance must be immediately reflected in the other file system instance(s). Locks are treated as part of a common lease, associated with a common client ID. Depending on the details of the eir_server_owner returned by EXCHANGE_ID, the two server instances may be accessed by different sessions or a single session in common.
When the conditions in Section 11.7.2.1 hold and the fs_locations_info attribute explicitly shows the file system instances for these distinct network addresses as belonging to different simultaneous-use classes, the file system instances should not be used by the client simultaneously. Rather, they should be used serially with one being used unless and until communication difficulties, lack of responsiveness, or an explicit migration event causes another file system instance (or set of file system instances sharing a common simultaneous-use class) to be used.
When a change of file system instance is to be done, the client will use the same client ID already in effect. If the client already has connections to the new server address, these will be used. Otherwise, new connections to existing sessions or new sessions associated with the existing client ID are established as indicated by the eir_server_owner returned by EXCHANGE_ID.
In all such transparent transition cases, the following apply:
o If filehandles are persistent, they stay the same. If filehandles are volatile, they either stay the same or expire, but the reason for expiration is not due to the file system transition.
o Fileid values do not change across the transition.
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o The file system will have the same fsid in both the old and new locations.
o Change attribute values are consistent across the transition and do not have to be refetched. When change attributes indicate that a cached object is still valid, it can remain cached.
o Client and state identifiers retain their validity across the transition, except where their staleness is recognized and reported by the new server. Except where such staleness requires it, no lock reclamation is needed. Any such staleness is an indication that the server should be considered to have restarted and is reported as discussed in Section 8.4.2.
o Write verifiers are presumed to retain their validity and can be used to compare with verifiers returned by COMMIT on the new server. If COMMIT on the new server returns an identical verifier, then it is expected that the new server has all of the data that was written unstably to the original server and has committed that data to stable storage as requested.
o Readdir cookies are presumed to retain their validity and can be presented to subsequent READDIR requests together with the readdir verifier with which they are associated. When the verifier is accepted as valid, the cookie will continue the READDIR operation so that the entire directory can be obtained by the client.
There are a number of ways in which filehandles can be handled across a file system transition. These can be divided into two broad classes depending upon whether the two file systems across which the transition happens share sufficient state to effect some sort of continuity of file system handling.
When there is no such cooperation in filehandle assignment, the two file systems are reported as being in different handle classes. In this case, all filehandles are assumed to expire as part of the file system transition. Note that this behavior does not depend on the fh_expire_type attribute and supersedes the specification of the FH4_VOL_MIGRATION bit, which only affects behavior when fs_locations_info is not available.
When there is cooperation in filehandle assignment, the two file systems are reported as being in the same handle classes. In this case, persistent filehandles remain valid after the file system
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transition, while volatile filehandles (excluding those that are only volatile due to the FH4_VOL_MIGRATION bit) are subject to expiration on the target server.
In NFSv4.0, the issue of continuity of fileids in the event of a file system transition was not addressed. The general expectation had been that in situations in which the two file system instances are created by a single vendor using some sort of file system image copy, fileids will be consistent across the transition, while in the analogous multi-vendor transitions they will not. This poses difficulties, especially for the client without special knowledge of the transition mechanisms adopted by the server. Note that although fileid is not a REQUIRED attribute, many servers support fileids and many clients provide APIs that depend on fileids.
It is important to note that while clients themselves may have no trouble with a fileid changing as a result of a file system transition event, applications do typically have access to the fileid (e.g., via stat). The result is that an application may work perfectly well if there is no file system instance transition or if any such transition is among instances created by a single vendor, yet be unable to deal with the situation in which a multi-vendor transition occurs at the wrong time.
Providing the same fileids in a multi-vendor (multiple server vendors) environment has generally been held to be quite difficult. While there is work to be done, it needs to be pointed out that this difficulty is partly self-imposed. Servers have typically identified fileid with inode number, i.e. with a quantity used to find the file in question. This identification poses special difficulties for migration of a file system between vendors where assigning the same index to a given file may not be possible. Note here that a fileid is not required to be useful to find the file in question, only that it is unique within the given file system. Servers prepared to accept a fileid as a single piece of metadata and store it apart from the value used to index the file information can relatively easily maintain a fileid value across a migration event, allowing a truly transparent migration event.
In any case, where servers can provide continuity of fileids, they should, and the client should be able to find out that such continuity is available and take appropriate action. Information about the continuity (or lack thereof) of fileids across a file system transition is represented by specifying whether the file systems in question are of the same fileid class.
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Note that when consistent fileids do not exist across a transition (either because there is no continuity of fileids or because fileid is not a supported attribute on one of instances involved), and there are no reliable filehandles across a transition event (either because there is no filehandle continuity or because the filehandles are volatile), the client is in a position where it cannot verify that files it was accessing before the transition are the same objects. It is forced to assume that no object has been renamed, and, unless there are guarantees that provide this (e.g., the file system is read-only), problems for applications may occur. Therefore, use of such configurations should be limited to situations where the problems that this may cause can be tolerated.
Since fsids are generally only unique within a per-server basis, it is likely that they will change during a file system transition. One exception is the case of transparent transitions, but in that case we have multiple network addresses that are defined as the same server (as specified by a common value of the so_major_id field of eir_server_owner). Clients should not make the fsids received from the server visible to applications since they may not be globally unique, and because they may change during a file system transition event. Applications are best served if they are isolated from such transitions to the extent possible.
Although normally a single source file system will transition to a single target file system, there is a provision for splitting a single source file system into multiple target file systems, by specifying the FSLI4F_MULTI_FS flag.
When a file system transition is made and the fs_locations_info indicates that the file system in question may be split into multiple file systems (via the FSLI4F_MULTI_FS flag), the client SHOULD do GETATTRs to determine the fsid attribute on all known objects within the file system undergoing transition to determine the new file system boundaries.
Clients may maintain the fsids passed to existing applications by mapping all of the fsids for the descendant file systems to the common fsid used for the original file system.
Splitting a file system may be done on a transition between file systems of the same fileid class, since the fact that fileids are unique within the source file system ensure they will be unique in each of the target file systems.
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11.7.6. The Change Attribute and File System Transitions
Since the change attribute is defined as a server-specific one, change attributes fetched from one server are normally presumed to be invalid on another server. Such a presumption is troublesome since it would invalidate all cached change attributes, requiring refetching. Even more disruptive, the absence of any assured continuity for the change attribute means that even if the same value is retrieved on refetch, no conclusions can be drawn as to whether the object in question has changed. The identical change attribute could be merely an artifact of a modified file with a different change attribute construction algorithm, with that new algorithm just happening to result in an identical change value.
When the two file systems have consistent change attribute formats, and this fact is communicated to the client by reporting in the same change class, the client may assume a continuity of change attribute construction and handle this situation just as it would be handled without any file system transition.
In a file system transition, the client needs to handle cases in which the two servers have cooperated in state management and in which they have not. Cooperation by two servers in state management requires coordination of client IDs. Before the client attempts to use a client ID associated with one server in a request to the server of the other file system, it must eliminate the possibility that two non-cooperating servers have assigned the same client ID by accident. The client needs to compare the eir_server_scope values returned by each server. If the scope values do not match, then the servers have not cooperated in state management. If the scope values match, then this indicates the servers have cooperated in assigning client IDs to the point that they will reject client IDs that refer to state they do not know about. See Section 2.10.4 for more information about the use of server scope.
In the case of migration, the servers involved in the migration of a file system SHOULD transfer all server state from the original to the new server. When this is done, it must be done in a way that is transparent to the client. With replication, such a degree of common state is typically not the case. Clients, however, should use the information provided by the eir_server_scope returned by EXCHANGE_ID (as modified by the validation procedures described in Section 2.10.4) to determine whether such sharing may be in effect, rather than making assumptions based on the reason for the transition.
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This state transfer will reduce disruption to the client when a file system transition occurs. If the servers are successful in transferring all state, the client can attempt to establish sessions associated with the client ID used for the source file system instance. If the server accepts that as a valid client ID, then the client may use the existing stateids associated with that client ID for the old file system instance in connection with that same client ID in connection with the transitioned file system instance. If the client in question already had a client ID on the target system, it may interrogate the stateid values from the source system under that new client ID, with the assurance that if they are accepted as valid, then they represent validly transferred lock state for the source file system, which has been transferred to the target server.
When the two servers belong to the same server scope, it does not mean that when dealing with the transition, the client will not have to reclaim state. However, it does mean that the client may proceed using its current client ID when establishing communication with the new server, and the new server will either recognize the client ID as valid or reject it, in which case locks must be reclaimed by the client.
File systems cooperating in state management may actually share state or simply divide the identifier space so as to recognize (and reject as stale) each other's stateids and client IDs. Servers that do share state may not do so under all conditions or at all times. If the server cannot be sure when accepting a client ID that it reflects the locks the client was given, the server must treat all associated state as stale and report it as such to the client.
When the two file system instances are on servers that do not share a server scope value, the client must establish a new client ID on the destination, if it does not have one already, and reclaim locks if allowed by the server. In this case, old stateids and client IDs should not be presented to the new server since there is no assurance that they will not conflict with IDs valid on that server. Note that in this case, lock reclaim may be attempted even when the servers involved in the transfer have different server scope values (see Section 8.4.2.1 for the contrary case of reclaim after server reboot). Servers with different server scope values may cooperate to allow reclaim for locks associated with the transfer of a file system even if they do not cooperate sufficiently to share a server scope.
In either case, when actual locks are not known to be maintained, the destination server may establish a grace period specific to the given file system, with non-reclaim locks being rejected for that file system, even though normal locks are being granted for other file
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systems. Clients should not infer the absence of a grace period for file systems being transitioned to a server from responses to requests for other file systems.
In the case of lock reclamation for a given file system after a file system transition, edge conditions can arise similar to those for reclaim after server restart (although in the case of the planned state transfer associated with migration, these can be avoided by securely recording lock state as part of state migration). Unless the destination server can guarantee that locks will not be incorrectly granted, the destination server should not allow lock reclaims and should avoid establishing a grace period.
Once all locks have been reclaimed, or there were no locks to reclaim, the client indicates that there are no more reclaims to be done for the file system in question by sending a RECLAIM_COMPLETE operation with the rca_one_fs parameter set to true. Once this has been done, non-reclaim locking operations may be done, and any subsequent request to do reclaims will be rejected with the error NFS4ERR_NO_GRACE.
Information about client identity may be propagated between servers in the form of client_owner4 and associated verifiers, under the assumption that the client presents the same values to all the servers with which it deals.
Servers are encouraged to provide facilities to allow locks to be reclaimed on the new server after a file system transition. Often, however, in cases in which the two servers do not share a server scope value, such facilities may not be available and the client should be prepared to re-obtain locks, even though it is possible that the client may have its LOCK or OPEN request denied due to a conflicting lock.
The consequences of having no facilities available to reclaim locks on the new server will depend on the type of environment. In some environments, such as the transition between read-only file systems, such denial of locks should not pose large difficulties in practice. When an attempt to re-establish a lock on a new server is denied, the client should treat the situation as if its original lock had been revoked. Note that when the lock is granted, the client cannot assume that no conflicting lock could have been granted in the interim. Where change attribute continuity is present, the client may check the change attribute to check for unwanted file modifications. Where even this is not available, and the file system is not read-only, a client may reasonably treat all pending locks as having been revoked.
In the case of lease renewal, the client may not be submitting requests for a file system that has been transferred to another server. This can occur because of the lease renewal mechanism. The client renews the lease associated with all file systems when submitting a request on an associated session, regardless of the specific file system being referenced.
In order for the client to schedule renewal of its lease where there is locking state that may have been relocated to the new server, the client must find out about lease relocation before that lease expire. To accomplish this, the SEQUENCE operation will return the status bit SEQ4_STATUS_LEASE_MOVED if responsibility for any of the renewed locking state has been transferred to a new server. This will continue until the client receives an NFS4ERR_MOVED error for each of the file systems for which there has been locking state relocation.
When a client receives an SEQ4_STATUS_LEASE_MOVED indication from a server, for each file system of the server for which the client has locking state, the client should perform an operation. For simplicity, the client may choose to reference all file systems, but what is important is that it must reference all file systems for which there was locking state where that state has moved. Once the client receives an NFS4ERR_MOVED error for each such file system, the server will clear the SEQ4_STATUS_LEASE_MOVED indication. The client can terminate the process of checking file systems once this indication is cleared (but only if the client has received a reply for all outstanding SEQUENCE requests on all sessions it has with the server), since there are no others for which locking state has moved.
A client may use GETATTR of the fs_status (or fs_locations_info)<