RFC 3530
Network File System (NFS) version 4 Protocol
2. Protocol Data Types
The syntax and semantics to describe the data types of the NFS version 4 protocol are defined in the XDR [RFC1832] and RPC [RFC1831] documents. The next sections build upon the XDR data types to define types and structures specific to this protocol.2.1. Basic Data Types
Data Type Definition ____________________________________________________________________ int32_t typedef int int32_t; uint32_t typedef unsigned int uint32_t; int64_t typedef hyper int64_t; uint64_t typedef unsigned hyper uint64_t; attrlist4 typedef opaque attrlist4<>; Used for file/directory attributes bitmap4 typedef uint32_t bitmap4<>; Used in attribute array encoding. changeid4 typedef uint64_t changeid4; Used in definition of change_info clientid4 typedef uint64_t clientid4; Shorthand reference to client identification component4 typedef utf8str_cs component4; Represents path name components count4 typedef uint32_t count4; Various count parameters (READ, WRITE, COMMIT) length4 typedef uint64_t length4; Describes LOCK lengths
linktext4 typedef utf8str_cs linktext4;
Symbolic link contents
mode4 typedef uint32_t mode4;
Mode attribute data type
nfs_cookie4 typedef uint64_t nfs_cookie4;
Opaque cookie value for READDIR
nfs_fh4 typedef opaque nfs_fh4<NFS4_FHSIZE>;
Filehandle definition; NFS4_FHSIZE is defined as 128
nfs_ftype4 enum nfs_ftype4;
Various defined file types
nfsstat4 enum nfsstat4;
Return value for operations
offset4 typedef uint64_t offset4;
Various offset designations (READ, WRITE,
LOCK, COMMIT)
pathname4 typedef component4 pathname4<>;
Represents path name for LOOKUP, OPEN and others
qop4 typedef uint32_t qop4;
Quality of protection designation in SECINFO
sec_oid4 typedef opaque sec_oid4<>;
Security Object Identifier
The sec_oid4 data type is not really opaque.
Instead contains an ASN.1 OBJECT IDENTIFIER as used
by GSS-API in the mech_type argument to
GSS_Init_sec_context. See [RFC2743] for details.
seqid4 typedef uint32_t seqid4;
Sequence identifier used for file locking
utf8string typedef opaque utf8string<>;
UTF-8 encoding for strings
utf8str_cis typedef opaque utf8str_cis;
Case-insensitive UTF-8 string
utf8str_cs typedef opaque utf8str_cs;
Case-sensitive UTF-8 string
utf8str_mixed typedef opaque utf8str_mixed;
UTF-8 strings with a case sensitive prefix and
a case insensitive suffix.
verifier4 typedef opaque verifier4[NFS4_VERIFIER_SIZE];
Verifier used for various operations (COMMIT,
CREATE, OPEN, READDIR, SETCLIENTID,
SETCLIENTID_CONFIRM, WRITE) NFS4_VERIFIER_SIZE is
defined as 8.
2.2. Structured Data Types
nfstime4
struct nfstime4 {
int64_t seconds;
uint32_t nseconds;
}
The nfstime4 structure gives the number of seconds and nanoseconds
since midnight or 0 hour January 1, 1970 Coordinated Universal Time
(UTC). Values greater than zero for the seconds field denote dates
after the 0 hour January 1, 1970. Values less than zero for the
seconds field denote dates before the 0 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 0 hour January 1, 1970, the
seconds field would have a value of negative one (-1) and the
nseconds fields would have a value of one-half second (500000000).
Values greater than 999,999,999 for nseconds are considered 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 filesystem object is less than
defined, loss of precision can occur. An adjunct time maintenance
protocol is recommended to reduce client and server time skew.
time_how4
enum time_how4 {
SET_TO_SERVER_TIME4 = 0,
SET_TO_CLIENT_TIME4 = 1
};
settime4
union settime4 switch (time_how4 set_it) {
case SET_TO_CLIENT_TIME4:
nfstime4 time;
default:
void;
};
The above definitions are used as the attribute definitions to set
time values. If set_it is SET_TO_SERVER_TIME4, then the server uses
its local representation of time for the time value.
specdata4
struct specdata4 {
uint32_t specdata1; /* major device number */
uint32_t specdata2; /* minor device number */
};
This data type represents additional information for the device file
types NF4CHR and NF4BLK.
fsid4
struct fsid4 {
uint64_t major;
uint64_t minor;
};
This type is the filesystem identifier that is used as a mandatory
attribute.
fs_location4
struct fs_location4 {
utf8str_cis server<>;
pathname4 rootpath;
};
fs_locations4
struct fs_locations4 {
pathname4 fs_root;
fs_location4 locations<>;
};
The fs_location4 and fs_locations4 data types are used for the
fs_locations recommended attribute which is used for migration and
replication support.
fattr4
struct fattr4 {
bitmap4 attrmask;
attrlist4 attr_vals;
};
The fattr4 structure 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).
0 1
+-----------+-----------+-----------+--
| count | 31 .. 0 | 63 .. 32 |
+-----------+-----------+-----------+--
change_info4
struct change_info4 {
bool atomic;
changeid4 before;
changeid4 after;
};
This structure is used with the CREATE, LINK, REMOVE, RENAME
operations to let the client know the value of the change attribute
for the directory in which the target filesystem object resides.
clientaddr4
struct clientaddr4 {
/* see struct rpcb in RFC 1833 */
string r_netid<>; /* network id */
string r_addr<>; /* universal address */
};
The clientaddr4 structure is used as part of the SETCLIENTID
operation to either specify the address of the client that is using a
clientid or as part of the callback registration. The
r_netid and r_addr fields are specified in [RFC1833], but they are underspecified in [RFC1833] as far as what they should look like for specific protocols. For TCP over IPv4 and for UDP over IPv4, the format of r_addr is the US-ASCII string: h1.h2.h3.h4.p1.p2 The prefix, "h1.h2.h3.h4", is the standard textual form for representing an IPv4 address, which is always four octets long. Assuming big-endian ordering, h1, h2, h3, and h4, are respectively, the first through fourth octets each converted to ASCII-decimal. Assuming big-endian ordering, p1 and p2 are, respectively, the first and second octets each converted to ASCII-decimal. For example, if a host, in big-endian order, has an address of 0x0A010307 and there is a service listening on, in big endian order, port 0x020F (decimal 527), then the complete universal address is "10.1.3.7.2.15". For TCP over IPv4 the value of r_netid is the string "tcp". For UDP over IPv4 the value of r_netid is the string "udp". For TCP over IPv6 and for UDP over IPv6, the format of r_addr is the US-ASCII string: x1:x2:x3:x4:x5:x6:x7:x8.p1.p2 The suffix "p1.p2" is the service port, and is computed the same way as with universal addresses for TCP and UDP over IPv4. The prefix, "x1:x2:x3:x4:x5:x6:x7:x8", is the standard textual form for representing an IPv6 address as defined in Section 2.2 of [RFC2373]. Additionally, the two alternative forms specified in Section 2.2 of [RFC2373] are also acceptable. For TCP over IPv6 the value of r_netid is the string "tcp6". For UDP over IPv6 the value of r_netid is the string "udp6". cb_client4 struct cb_client4 { unsigned int cb_program; clientaddr4 cb_location; }; This structure is used by the client to inform the server of its call back address; includes the program number and client address.
nfs_client_id4
struct nfs_client_id4 {
verifier4 verifier;
opaque id<NFS4_OPAQUE_LIMIT>;
};
This structure is part of the arguments to the SETCLIENTID operation.
NFS4_OPAQUE_LIMIT is defined as 1024.
open_owner4
struct open_owner4 {
clientid4 clientid;
opaque owner<NFS4_OPAQUE_LIMIT>;
};
This structure is used to identify the owner of open state.
NFS4_OPAQUE_LIMIT is defined as 1024.
lock_owner4
struct lock_owner4 {
clientid4 clientid;
opaque owner<NFS4_OPAQUE_LIMIT>;
};
This structure is used to identify the owner of file locking state.
NFS4_OPAQUE_LIMIT is defined as 1024.
open_to_lock_owner4
struct open_to_lock_owner4 {
seqid4 open_seqid;
stateid4 open_stateid;
seqid4 lock_seqid;
lock_owner4 lock_owner;
};
This structure 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.
stateid4
struct stateid4 {
uint32_t seqid;
opaque other[12];
};
This structure is used for the various state sharing mechanisms
between the client and server. For the client, this data structure
is read-only. The starting value of the seqid field is undefined.
The server is required to increment the seqid field monotonically 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.
3. RPC and Security Flavor
The NFS version 4 protocol is a Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
application that uses RPC version 2 and the corresponding eXternal
Data Representation (XDR) as defined in [RFC1831] and [RFC1832]. The
RPCSEC_GSS security flavor as defined in [RFC2203] MUST be used as
the mechanism to deliver stronger security for the NFS version 4
protocol.
3.1. Ports and Transports
Historically, NFS version 2 and version 3 servers have resided on
port 2049. The registered port 2049 [RFC3232] for the NFS protocol
should be the default configuration. Using the registered port for
NFS services means the NFS client will not need to use the RPC
binding protocols as described in [RFC1833]; this will allow NFS to
transit firewalls.
Where an NFS version 4 implementation supports operation over the IP
network protocol, the supported transports between NFS and IP MUST be
among the IETF-approved congestion control transport protocols, which
include TCP and SCTP. To enhance the possibilities for
interoperability, an NFS version 4 implementation MUST support
operation over the TCP transport protocol, at least until such time
as a standards track RFC revises this requirement to use a different
IETF-approved congestion control transport protocol.
If TCP is used as the transport, the client and server SHOULD use
persistent connections. This will prevent the weakening of TCP's
congestion control via short lived connections and will improve
performance for the WAN environment by eliminating the need for SYN
handshakes.
As noted in the Security Considerations section, the authentication model for NFS version 4 has moved from machine-based to principal- based. However, this modification of the authentication model does not imply a technical requirement to move the TCP connection management model from whole machine-based to one based on a per user model. In particular, NFS over TCP client implementations have traditionally multiplexed traffic for multiple users over a common TCP connection between an NFS client and server. This has been true, regardless whether the NFS client is using AUTH_SYS, AUTH_DH, RPCSEC_GSS or any other flavor. Similarly, NFS over TCP server implementations have assumed such a model and thus scale the implementation of TCP connection management in proportion to the number of expected client machines. It is intended that NFS version 4 will not modify this connection management model. NFS version 4 clients that violate this assumption can expect scaling issues on the server and hence reduced service. Note that for various timers, the client and server should avoid inadvertent synchronization of those timers. For further discussion of the general issue refer to [Floyd].3.1.1. Client Retransmission Behavior
When processing a request received over a reliable transport such as TCP, the NFS version 4 server MUST NOT silently drop the request, except if the transport connection has been broken. Given such a contract between NFS version 4 clients and servers, clients MUST NOT retry a request unless one or both of the following are true: o The transport connection has been broken o The procedure being retried is the NULL procedure Since reliable transports, such as TCP, do not always synchronously inform a peer when the other peer has broken the connection (for example, when an NFS server reboots), the NFS version 4 client may want to actively "probe" the connection to see if has been broken. Use of the NULL procedure is one recommended way to do so. So, when a client experiences a remote procedure call timeout (of some arbitrary implementation specific amount), rather than retrying the remote procedure call, it could instead issue a NULL procedure call to the server. If the server has died, the transport connection break will eventually be indicated to the NFS version 4 client. The client can then reconnect, and then retry the original request. If the NULL procedure call gets a response, the connection has not broken. The client can decide to wait longer for the original request's response, or it can break the transport connection and reconnect before re-sending the original request.
For callbacks from the server to the client, the same rules apply, but the server doing the callback becomes the client, and the client receiving the callback becomes the server.3.2. Security Flavors
Traditional RPC implementations have included AUTH_NONE, AUTH_SYS, AUTH_DH, and AUTH_KRB4 as security flavors. With [RFC2203] an additional security flavor of RPCSEC_GSS has been introduced which uses the functionality of GSS-API [RFC2743]. This allows for the use of various security mechanisms by the RPC layer without the additional implementation overhead of adding RPC security flavors. For NFS version 4, the RPCSEC_GSS security flavor MUST be used to enable the mandatory security mechanism. Other flavors, such as, AUTH_NONE, AUTH_SYS, and AUTH_DH MAY be implemented as well.3.2.1. Security mechanisms for NFS version 4
The use of RPCSEC_GSS requires selection of: mechanism, quality of protection, and service (authentication, integrity, privacy). The remainder of this document will refer to these three parameters of the RPCSEC_GSS security as the security triple.3.2.1.1. Kerberos V5 as a security triple
The Kerberos V5 GSS-API mechanism as described in [RFC1964] MUST be implemented and provide the following security triples. column descriptions: 1 == number of pseudo flavor 2 == name of pseudo flavor 3 == mechanism's OID 4 == mechanism's algorithm(s) 5 == RPCSEC_GSS service 1 2 3 4 5 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 390003 krb5 1.2.840.113554.1.2.2 DES MAC MD5 rpc_gss_svc_none 390004 krb5i 1.2.840.113554.1.2.2 DES MAC MD5 rpc_gss_svc_integrity 390005 krb5p 1.2.840.113554.1.2.2 DES MAC MD5 rpc_gss_svc_privacy for integrity, and 56 bit DES for privacy. Note that the pseudo flavor is presented here as a mapping aid to the implementor. Because this NFS 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 NFS version 3 since the security negotiation is done via the MOUNT protocol. For a discussion of NFS' use of RPCSEC_GSS and Kerberos V5, please see [RFC2623]. Users and implementors are warned that 56 bit DES is no longer considered state of the art in terms of resistance to brute force attacks. Once a revision to [RFC1964] is available that adds support for AES, implementors are urged to incorporate AES into their NFSv4 over Kerberos V5 protocol stacks, and users are similarly urged to migrate to the use of AES.3.2.1.2. LIPKEY as a security triple
The LIPKEY GSS-API mechanism as described in [RFC2847] MUST be implemented and provide the following security triples. The definition of the columns matches the previous subsection "Kerberos V5 as security triple" 1 2 3 4 5 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 390006 lipkey 1.3.6.1.5.5.9 negotiated rpc_gss_svc_none 390007 lipkey-i 1.3.6.1.5.5.9 negotiated rpc_gss_svc_integrity 390008 lipkey-p 1.3.6.1.5.5.9 negotiated rpc_gss_svc_privacy The mechanism algorithm is listed as "negotiated". This is because LIPKEY is layered on SPKM-3 and in SPKM-3 [RFC2847] the confidentiality and integrity algorithms are negotiated. Since SPKM-3 specifies HMAC-MD5 for integrity as MANDATORY, 128 bit cast5CBC for confidentiality for privacy as MANDATORY, and further specifies that HMAC-MD5 and cast5CBC MUST be listed first before weaker algorithms, specifying "negotiated" in column 4 does not impair interoperability. In the event an SPKM-3 peer does not support the mandatory algorithms, the other peer is free to accept or reject the GSS-API context creation. Because SPKM-3 negotiates the algorithms, subsequent calls to LIPKEY's GSS_Wrap() and GSS_GetMIC() by RPCSEC_GSS will use a quality of protection value of 0 (zero). See section 5.2 of [RFC2025] for an explanation. LIPKEY uses SPKM-3 to create a secure channel in which to pass a user name and password from the client to the server. Once the user name and password have been accepted by the server, calls to the LIPKEY context are redirected to the SPKM-3 context. See [RFC2847] for more details.
3.2.1.3. SPKM-3 as a security triple
The SPKM-3 GSS-API mechanism as described in [RFC2847] MUST be implemented and provide the following security triples. The definition of the columns matches the previous subsection "Kerberos V5 as security triple". 1 2 3 4 5 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 390009 spkm3 1.3.6.1.5.5.1.3 negotiated rpc_gss_svc_none 390010 spkm3i 1.3.6.1.5.5.1.3 negotiated rpc_gss_svc_integrity 390011 spkm3p 1.3.6.1.5.5.1.3 negotiated rpc_gss_svc_privacy For a discussion as to why the mechanism algorithm is listed as "negotiated", see the previous section "LIPKEY as a security triple." Because SPKM-3 negotiates the algorithms, subsequent calls to SPKM- 3's GSS_Wrap() and GSS_GetMIC() by RPCSEC_GSS will use a quality of protection value of 0 (zero). See section 5.2 of [RFC2025] for an explanation. Even though LIPKEY is layered over SPKM-3, SPKM-3 is specified as a mandatory set of triples to handle the situations where the initiator (the client) is anonymous or where the initiator has its own certificate. If the initiator is anonymous, there will not be a user name and password to send to the target (the server). If the initiator has its own certificate, then using passwords is superfluous.3.3. Security Negotiation
With the NFS version 4 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 filesystem name space that are available for use by NFS clients. In turn the NFS server may be configured such that each of these entry points may have different or multiple security mechanisms in use. The security negotiation between client and server must 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 the section "Security Considerations" for further discussion.
3.3.1. SECINFO
The new SECINFO operation will allow the client to determine, on a per filehandle basis, what security triple is to be used for server access. In general, the client will not have to use the SECINFO operation except during initial communication with the server or when the client crosses policy boundaries at the server. It is possible that the server's policies change during the client's interaction therefore forcing the client to negotiate a new security triple.3.3.2. Security Error
Based on the assumption that each NFS version 4 client and server must support a minimum set of security (i.e., LIPKEY, SPKM-3, and Kerberos-V5 all under RPCSEC_GSS), the NFS client will start its communication with the server with one of the minimal security triples. 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 triple currently being used is not appropriate for access to the server's filesystem resources. The client is then responsible for determining what security triples are available at the server and choose one which is appropriate for the client. See the section for the "SECINFO" operation for further discussion of how the client will respond to the NFS4ERR_WRONGSEC error and use SECINFO.3.4. Callback RPC Authentication
Except as noted elsewhere in this section, the callback RPC (described later) MUST mutually authenticate the NFS server to the principal that acquired the clientid (also described later), using the security flavor the original SETCLIENTID operation used. For AUTH_NONE, there are no principals, so this is a non-issue. AUTH_SYS has no notions of mutual authentication or a server principal, so the callback from the server simply uses the AUTH_SYS credential that the user used when he set up the delegation. For AUTH_DH, one commonly used convention is that the server uses the credential corresponding to this AUTH_DH principal: unix.host@domain where host and domain are variables corresponding to the name of server host and directory services domain in which it lives such as a Network Information System domain or a DNS domain.
Because LIPKEY is layered over SPKM-3, it is permissible for the
server to use SPKM-3 and not LIPKEY for the callback even if the
client used LIPKEY for SETCLIENTID.
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
For NFS, the "service" element is
nfs
Implementations of security mechanisms will convert nfs@hostname to
various different forms. For Kerberos V5 and LIPKEY, the following
form is RECOMMENDED:
nfs/hostname
For Kerberos V5, nfs/hostname would be a server principal in the
Kerberos Key Distribution Center database. This is the same
principal the client acquired a GSS-API context for when it issued
the SETCLIENTID operation, therefore, the realm name for the server
principal must be the same for the callback as it was for the
SETCLIENTID.
For LIPKEY, this would be the username passed to the target (the NFS
version 4 client that receives the callback).
It should be noted that LIPKEY may not work for callbacks, since the
LIPKEY client uses a user id/password. If the NFS client receiving
the callback can authenticate the NFS server's user name/password
pair, and if the user that the NFS server is authenticating to has a
public key certificate, then it works.
In situations where the NFS client uses LIPKEY and uses a per-host
principal for the SETCLIENTID operation, instead of using LIPKEY for
SETCLIENTID, it is RECOMMENDED that SPKM-3 with mutual authentication
be used. This effectively means that the client will use a
certificate to authenticate and identify the initiator to the target
on the NFS server. Using SPKM-3 and not LIPKEY has the following
advantages:
o When the server does a callback, it must authenticate to the
principal used in the SETCLIENTID. Even if LIPKEY is used,
because LIPKEY is layered over SPKM-3, the NFS client will need to
have a certificate that corresponds to the principal used in the
SETCLIENTID operation. From an administrative perspective, having
a user name, password, and certificate for both the client and
server is redundant.
o LIPKEY was intended to minimize additional infrastructure
requirements beyond a certificate for the target, and the
expectation is that existing password infrastructure can be
leveraged for the initiator. In some environments, a per-host
password does not exist yet. If certificates are used for any
per-host principals, then additional password infrastructure is
not needed.
o In cases when a host is both an NFS client and server, it can
share the same per-host certificate.
4. Filehandles
The filehandle in the NFS protocol is a per server unique identifier
for a filesystem 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 filesystem
object.
4.1. Obtaining the First Filehandle
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 NFS version 2
protocol [RFC1094] and the NFS version 3 protocol [RFC1813], 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 filesystem path name 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 [RFC2054] and [RFC2055]. With the use
of the public filehandle in combination with the LOOKUP operation in
the NFS version 2 and 3 protocols, it has been demonstrated that the
MOUNT protocol is unnecessary for viable interaction between NFS
client and server.
Therefore, the NFS version 4 protocol will not use an ancillary
protocol for translation from string based path names to a
filehandle. Two special filehandles will be used as starting points
for the NFS client.
4.1.1. Root Filehandle
The first of the special filehandles is the ROOT filehandle. The ROOT filehandle is the "conceptual" root of the filesystem name space 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 name space is in the section "NFS Server Name Space".4.1.2. Public Filehandle
The second special filehandle is the PUBLIC filehandle. Unlike the ROOT filehandle, the PUBLIC filehandle may be bound or represent an arbitrary filesystem 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 filesystem 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 filesystem object. The client may not make any assumptions about this binding. The client uses the PUBLIC filehandle via the PUTPUBFH operation.4.2. Filehandle Types
In the NFS version 2 and 3 protocols, there was one type of filehandle with a single set of semantics. This type of filehandle is termed "persistent" in NFS Version 4. The semantics of a persistent filehandle remain the same as before. A new type of filehandle introduced in NFS Version 4 is the "volatile" filehandle, which attempts to accommodate certain server environments. The volatile filehandle type was introduced to address server functionality or implementation issues which make correct implementation of a persistent filehandle infeasible. Some server environments do not provide a filesystem level invariant that can be used to construct a persistent filehandle. The underlying server filesystem may not provide the invariant or the server's filesystem 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 filesystem 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 which may be used by the client to determine the filehandle types being returned by the server.4.2.1. General Properties of a Filehandle
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 which might cause incorrect behavior. Further discussion of filehandle and attribute comparison in the context of data caching is presented in the section "Data Caching and File Identity". As an example, in the case that two different path names when traversed at the server terminate at the same filesystem object, the server SHOULD return the same filehandle for each path. This can occur if a hard link is used to create two file names which 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 path names traversals.4.2.2. Persistent Filehandle
A persistent filehandle is defined as having a fixed value for the lifetime of the filesystem object to which it refers. Once the server creates the filehandle for a filesystem object, the server MUST accept the same filehandle for the object for the lifetime of the object. If the server restarts or reboots the NFS server must honor the same filehandle value as it did in the server's previous instantiation. Similarly, if the filesystem 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 filesystem 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 filesystem 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 filesystem in whole has been destroyed or the filesystem has simply been removed from the server's name space (i.e., unmounted in a UNIX environment).4.2.3. Volatile Filehandle
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 mandatory attribute "fh_expire_type" is used by the client to determine what type of filehandle the server is providing for a particular filesystem. This attribute is a bitmask with the following values: FH4_PERSISTENT The value of FH4_PERSISTENT is used to indicate a persistent filehandle, which is valid until the object is removed from the filesystem. 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 migration. If FH4_VOL_ANY is set, FH4_VOL_MIGRATION is redundant.
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 which provide volatile filehandles that may expire while open
(i.e., if FH4_VOL_MIGRATION or FH4_VOL_RENAME is set or if
FH4_VOLATILE_ANY is set and FH4_NOEXPIRE_WITH_OPEN not set), 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 upon
server restart.
Note that the bits FH4_VOL_MIGRATION and FH4_VOL_RENAME allow the
client to determine that expiration has occurred whenever a specific
event occurs, without an explicit filehandle expiration error from
the server. FH4_VOL_ANY does not provide this form of information.
In situations where the server will expire many, but not all
filehandles upon migration (e.g., all but those that are open),
FH4_VOLATILE_ANY (in this case with FH4_NOEXPIRE_WITH_OPEN) is a
better choice since the client may not assume that all filehandles
will expire when migration occurs, and it is likely that additional
expirations will occur (as a result of file CLOSE) that are separated
in time from the migration event itself.
4.2.4. 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]
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 reboots, the table is gone (it is volatile).
If volatile bit is 0, then it is a persistent filehandle with a
different structure following it.
4.3. Client Recovery from Filehandle Expiration
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 filesystem object in question. With these names, the client should be able to recover by finding a filehandle in the name space that is still available or by starting at the root of the server's filesystem name space. If the expired filehandle refers to an object that has been removed from the filesystem, 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 path name based on the processing of the rename request. The client can then regenerate the new filehandle based on the new path name. The client could also use the compound operation mechanism to construct a set of operations like: 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 must be handled in a flexible manner. The NFS version 3 fattr3 structure contains a fixed list of attributes that not all clients and servers are able to support or care about. The fattr3 structure can not be extended as new needs arise and it provides no way to indicate non-support. With the NFS version 4 protocol, the client is able 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: mandatory, recommended, and named. Both mandatory and recommended attributes are supported in the NFS version 4 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 mandatory or recommended attributes may be added to the NFS protocol between major revisions by publishing a standards-track RFC which allocates a new attribute number value and defines the encoding for the attribute. See the section "Minor Versioning" 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 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 which are classified as mandatory is deliberately small since servers must 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 mandatory 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 the underlying filesystem at the server has a named attribute directory or not. Therefore, operations such as SETATTR and GETATTR on the named attribute directory are undefined.
5.1. Mandatory Attributes
These MUST be supported by every NFS version 4 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 mandatory 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.5.2. Recommended Attributes
These attributes are understood well enough to warrant support in the NFS version 4 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 which 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 supported by the server. This will not always be comfortable to clients but the client is better positioned decide whether and how to fabricate or construct an attribute or whether to do without the attribute.5.3. Named Attributes
These attributes are not supported by direct encoding in the NFS Version 4 protocol but are accessed by string names rather than numbers and correspond to an uninterpreted stream of bytes which are stored with the filesystem object. The name space for these attributes may be accessed by using the OPENATTR operation. The OPENATTR operation returns a filehandle for a virtual "attribute directory" and further perusal of the name space may be done using READDIR and LOOKUP operations on this filehandle. Named attributes may then be examined or changed by normal READ and WRITE and CREATE operations on the filehandles returned from READDIR and LOOKUP. Named attributes may have attributes.
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 filesystem. If a server does support named attributes, a client which is also able to handle them should be able to copy a file's data and meta-data 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. Names of attributes will not be controlled by this document or other IETF standards track documents. See the section "IANA Considerations" for further discussion.5.4. Classification of Attributes
Each of the Mandatory and Recommended attributes can be classified in one of three categories: per server, per filesystem, or per filesystem object. Note that it is possible that some per filesystem attributes may vary within the filesystem. See the "homogeneous" attribute for its definition. 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. o The per server attribute is: lease_time o The per filesystem attributes are: supp_attr, fh_expire_type, link_support, symlink_support, unique_handles, aclsupport, cansettime, case_insensitive, case_preserving, chown_restricted, files_avail, files_free, files_total, fs_locations, homogeneous, maxfilesize, maxname, maxread, maxwrite, no_trunc, space_avail, space_free, space_total, time_delta o The per filesystem object attributes are: type, change, size, named_attr, fsid, rdattr_error, filehandle, ACL, archive, fileid, hidden, maxlink, mimetype, mode, numlinks, owner, owner_group, rawdev, space_used, system, time_access, time_backup, time_create, time_metadata, time_modify, mounted_on_fileid For quota_avail_hard, quota_avail_soft, and quota_used see their definitions below for the appropriate classification.
5.5. Mandatory Attributes - Definitions
Name # DataType Access Description ___________________________________________________________________ supp_attr 0 bitmap READ The bit vector which would retrieve all mandatory and recommended attributes that are supported for this object. The scope of this attribute applies to all objects with a matching fsid. type 1 nfs4_ftype READ The type of the object (file, directory, symlink, etc.) fh_expire_type 2 uint32 READ Server uses this to specify filehandle expiration behavior to the client. See the section "Filehandles" for additional description. change 3 uint64 READ 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 filesystem object can not be updated more frequently than the resolution of time_metadata. size 4 uint64 R/W The size of the object in bytes.
link_support 5 bool READ True, if the object's
filesystem supports
hard links.
symlink_support 6 bool READ True, if the object's
filesystem supports
symbolic links.
named_attr 7 bool READ True, if this object
has named attributes.
In other words, object
has a non-empty named
attribute directory.
fsid 8 fsid4 READ Unique filesystem
identifier for the
filesystem holding
this object. fsid
contains major and
minor components each
of which are uint64.
unique_handles 9 bool READ True, if two distinct
filehandles guaranteed
to refer to two
different filesystem
objects.
lease_time 10 nfs_lease4 READ Duration of leases at
server in seconds.
rdattr_error 11 enum READ Error returned from
getattr during
readdir.
filehandle 19 nfs_fh4 READ The filehandle of this
object (primarily for
readdir requests).
5.6. Recommended Attributes - Definitions
Name # Data Type Access Description _____________________________________________________________________ ACL 12 nfsace4<> R/W The access control list for the object. aclsupport 13 uint32 READ Indicates what types of ACLs are supported on the current filesystem. archive 14 bool R/W True, if this file has been archived since the time of last modification (deprecated in favor of time_backup). cansettime 15 bool READ True, if the server is able to change the times for a filesystem object as specified in a SETATTR operation. case_insensitive 16 bool READ True, if filename comparisons on this filesystem are case insensitive. case_preserving 17 bool READ True, if filename case on this filesystem are preserved. chown_restricted 18 bool READ 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).
fileid 20 uint64 READ A number uniquely
identifying the file
within the
filesystem.
files_avail 21 uint64 READ File slots available
to this user on the
filesystem
containing this
object - this should
be the smallest
relevant limit.
files_free 22 uint64 READ Free file slots on
the filesystem
containing this
object - this should
be the smallest
relevant limit.
files_total 23 uint64 READ Total file slots on
the filesystem
containing this
object.
fs_locations 24 fs_locations READ Locations where this
filesystem may be
found. If the
server returns
NFS4ERR_MOVED
as an error, this
attribute MUST be
supported.
hidden 25 bool R/W True, if the file is
considered hidden
with respect to the
Windows API.
homogeneous 26 bool READ True, if this
object's filesystem
is homogeneous,
i.e., are per
filesystem
attributes the same
for all filesystem's
objects?
maxfilesize 27 uint64 READ Maximum supported
file size for the
filesystem of this
object.
maxlink 28 uint32 READ Maximum number of
links for this
object.
maxname 29 uint32 READ Maximum filename
size supported for
this object.
maxread 30 uint64 READ Maximum read size
supported for this
object.
maxwrite 31 uint64 READ Maximum write size
supported 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.
mimetype 32 utf8<> R/W MIME body
type/subtype of this
object.
mode 33 mode4 R/W UNIX-style mode and
permission bits for
this object.
no_trunc 34 bool READ True, if a name
longer than name_max
is used, an error be
returned and name is
not truncated.
numlinks 35 uint32 READ Number of hard links
to this object.
owner 36 utf8<> R/W The string name of
the owner of this
object.
owner_group 37 utf8<> R/W The string name of
the group ownership
of this object.
quota_avail_hard 38 uint64 READ For definition see
"Quota Attributes"
section below.
quota_avail_soft 39 uint64 READ For definition see
"Quota Attributes"
section below.
quota_used 40 uint64 READ For definition see
"Quota Attributes"
section below.
rawdev 41 specdata4 READ Raw device
identifier. UNIX
device major/minor
node information.
If the value of
type is not
NF4BLK or NF4CHR,
the value return
SHOULD NOT be
considered useful.
space_avail 42 uint64 READ Disk space in bytes
available to this
user on the
filesystem
containing this
object - this should
be the smallest
relevant limit.
space_free 43 uint64 READ Free disk space in
bytes on the
filesystem
containing this
object - this should
be the smallest
relevant limit.
space_total 44 uint64 READ Total disk space in
bytes on the
filesystem
containing this
object.
space_used 45 uint64 READ Number of filesystem
bytes allocated to
this object.
system 46 bool R/W True, if this file
is a "system" file
with respect to the
Windows API.
time_access 47 nfstime4 READ The time of last
access to the object
by a read that was
satisfied by the
server.
time_access_set 48 settime4 WRITE Set the time of last
access to the
object. SETATTR
use only.
time_backup 49 nfstime4 R/W The time of last
backup of the
object.
time_create 50 nfstime4 R/W The time of creation
of the object. This
attribute does not
have any relation to
the traditional UNIX
file attribute
"ctime" or "change
time".
time_delta 51 nfstime4 READ Smallest useful
server time
granularity.
time_metadata 52 nfstime4 READ The time of last
meta-data
modification of the
object.
time_modify 53 nfstime4 READ The time of last
modification to the
object.
time_modify_set 54 settime4 WRITE Set the time of last
modification to the
object. SETATTR use
only.
mounted_on_fileid 55 uint64 READ Like fileid, but if
the target
filehandle is the
root of a filesystem
return the fileid of
the underlying
directory.
5.7. Time Access
As defined above, the time_access attribute represents the time of
last access to the object by a read that was satisfied by the server.
The notion of what is an "access" depends on server's operating
environment and/or the server's filesystem semantics. For example,
for servers obeying POSIX semantics, time_access would be updated
only by the READLINK, READ, and READDIR operations and not any of the
operations that modify the content of the object. 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 filesystem, the server
should make 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.