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Network File System (NFS) Direct Data Placement
draft-ietf-nfsv4-nfsdirect-08

The information below is for an old version of the document that is already published as an RFC.
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This is an older version of an Internet-Draft that was ultimately published as RFC 5667.
Authors Tom Talpey , Brent Callaghan
Last updated 2015-10-14 (Latest revision 2008-04-16)
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draft-ietf-nfsv4-nfsdirect-08
NFSv4 Working Group                                      Tom Talpey
Internet-Draft                                               NetApp
Intended status: Standards Track                    Brent Callaghan
Expires: October 17, 2008                                     Apple
                                                     April 16, 2008

                       NFS Direct Data Placement
                     draft-ietf-nfsv4-nfsdirect-08

Status of this Memo

     By submitting this Internet-Draft, each author represents that any
     applicable patent or other IPR claims of which he or she is aware
     have been or will be disclosed, and any of which he or she becomes
     aware will be disclosed, in accordance with Section 6 of BCP 79.

     Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
     Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups.  Note that
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     Drafts.

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     as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in
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     The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at
         http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt

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         http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html.

Abstract

   This draft defines the bindings of the various Network File System
   (NFS) versions to the Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) operations
   supported by the RPC/RDMA transport protocol.  It describes the use
   of direct data placement by means of server-initiated RDMA operations
   into client-supplied buffers for implementations of NFS versions 2,
   3, 4 and 4.1 over such an RDMA transport.

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Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
   2.  Transfers from NFS Client to NFS Server  . . . . . . . . . . 2
   3.  Transfers from NFS Server to NFS Client  . . . . . . . . . . 3
   4.  NFS Versions 2 and 3 Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
   5.  NFS Version 4 Mapping  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
   5.1.  NFS Version 4 Callbacks  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
   6.  Port Usage Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
   7.  Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
   8.  IANA Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
   9.  Acknowledgments  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
   10.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
   11.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
   12.  Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
   13.  Intellectual Property and Copyright Statements  . . . . .  11
   Acknowledgment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11

Requirements Language

   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 [RFC2119].

1.  Introduction

   The Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) Transport for Remote Procedure
   Calls (RPC) [RPCRDMA] allows an RPC client application to post
   buffers in a Chunk list for specific arguments and results from an
   RPC call.  The RDMA transport header conveys this list of client
   buffer addresses to the server where the application can associate
   them with client data and use RDMA operations to transfer the results
   directly to and from the posted buffers on the client.  The client
   and server must agree on a consistent mapping of posted buffers to
   RPC.  This document details the mapping for each version of the NFS
   protocol [RFC1094] [RFC1813] [RFC3530] [NFSv4.1].

2.  Transfers from NFS Client to NFS Server

   The RDMA Read list, in the RDMA transport header, allows an RPC
   client to marshal RPC call data selectively.  Large chunks of data,
   such as the file data of an NFS WRITE request, MAY be referenced by
   an RDMA Read list and be moved efficiently and directly-placed by an
   RDMA Read operation initiated by the server.

   The process of identifying these chunks for the RDMA Read list can be
   implemented entirely within the RPC layer.  It is transparent to the

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   upper-level protocol, such as NFS.  For instance, the file data
   portion of an NFS WRITE request can be selected as an RDMA "chunk"
   within the eXternal Data Representation (XDR) marshaling code of RPC
   based on a size criterion, independently of the NFS protocol layer.
   The XDR unmarshaling on the receiving system can identify the
   correspondence between Read chunks and protocol elements via the XDR
   position value encoded in the Read chunk entry.

   RPC RDMA Read chunks are employed by this NFS mapping to convey
   specific NFS data to the server in a manner which may be directly
   placed.  The following sections describe this mapping for versions of
   the NFS protocol.

3.  Transfers from NFS Server to NFS Client

   The RDMA Write list, in the RDMA transport header, allows the client
   to post one or more buffers into which the server will RDMA Write
   designated result chunks directly.  If the client sends a null Write
   list, then results from the RPC call will be returned as either an
   inline reply, as chunks in an RDMA Read list of server-posted
   buffers, or in a client-posted reply buffer.

   Each posted buffer in a Write list is represented as an array of
   memory segments.  This allows the client some flexibility in
   submitting discontiguous memory segments into which the server will
   scatter the result.  Each segment is described by a triplet
   consisting of the segment handle or steering tag (STag), segment
   length, and memory address or offset.

      struct xdr_rdma_segment {
         uint32 handle;    /* Registered memory handle */
         uint32 length;    /* Length of the chunk in bytes */
         uint64 offset;    /* Chunk virtual address or offset */
      };

      struct xdr_write_chunk {
         struct xdr_rdma_segment target<>;
      };

      struct xdr_write_list {
         struct xdr_write_chunk entry;
         struct xdr_write_list  *next;
      };

   The sum of the segment lengths yields the total size of the buffer,
   which MUST be large enough to accept the result.  If the buffer is
   too small, the server MUST return an XDR encode error.  The server

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   MUST return the result data for a posted buffer by progressively
   filling its segments, perhaps leaving some trailing segments unfilled
   or partially full if the size of the result is less than the total
   size of the buffer segments.

   The server returns the RDMA Write list to the client with the segment
   length fields overwritten to indicate the amount of data RDMA Written
   to each segment.  Results returned by direct placement MUST NOT be
   returned by other methods, e.g., by Read chunk list or inline.  If no
   result data at all is returned for the element, the server places no
   data in the buffer(s), but does return zeroes in the segment length
   fields corresponding to the result.

   The RDMA Write list allows the client to provide multiple result
   buffers - each buffer maps to a specific result in the reply.  The
   NFS client and server implementations agree by specifying the mapping
   of results to buffers for each RPC procedure.  The following sections
   describe this mapping for versions of the NFS protocol.

   Through the use of RDMA Write lists in NFS requests, it is not
   necessary to employ the RDMA Read lists in the NFS replies, as
   described in the RPC/RDMA protocol.  This enables more efficient
   operation, by avoiding the need for the server to expose buffers for
   RDMA, and also avoiding "RDMA_DONE" exchanges.  Clients MAY
   additionally employ RDMA Reply chunks to receive entire messages, as
   described in [RPCRDMA].

4.  NFS Versions 2 and 3 Mapping

   A single RDMA Write list entry MAY be posted by the client to receive
   either the opaque file data from a READ request or the pathname from
   a READLINK request.  The server MUST ignore a Write list for any
   other NFS procedure, as well as any Write list entries beyond the
   first in the list.

   Similarly, a single RDMA Read list entry MAY be posted by the client
   to supply the opaque file data for a WRITE request or the pathname
   for a SYMLINK request.  The server MUST ignore any Read list for
   other NFS procedures, as well as additional Read list entries beyond
   the first in the list.

   Because there are no NFS version 2 or 3 requests that transfer bulk
   data in both directions, it is not necessary to post requests
   containing both Write and Read lists.  Any unneeded Read or Write
   lists are ignored by the server.

   In the case where the outgoing request or expected incoming reply is

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   larger than the maximum size supported on the connection, it is
   possible for the RPC layer to post the entire message or result in a
   special "RDMA_NOMSG" message type which is transferred entirely by
   RDMA.  This is implemented in RPC, below NFS and therefore has no
   effect on the message contents.

   Non-RDMA (inline) WRITE transfers MAY OPTIONALLY employ the
   "RDMA_MSGP" padding method described in the RPC/RDMA protocol, if the
   appropriate value for the server is known to the client.  Padding
   allows the opaque file data to arrive at the server in an aligned
   fashion, which may improve server performance.

   The NFS version 2 and 3 protocols are frequently limited in practice
   to requests containing less than or equal to 8 kilobytes and 32
   kilobytes of data, respectively.  In these cases, it is often
   practical to support basic operation without employing a
   configuration exchange as discussed in [RPCRDMA].  The server MUST
   post buffers large enough to receive the largest possible incoming
   message (approximately 12KB for NFS version 2, or 36KB for NFS
   version 3, would be vastly sufficient), and the client can post
   buffers large enough to receive replies based on the "rsize" it is
   using to the server, plus a fixed overhead for the RPC and NFS
   headers.  Because the server MUST NOT return data in excess of this
   size, the client can be assured of the adequacy of its posted buffer
   sizes.

   Flow control is handled dynamically by the RPC RDMA protocol, and
   write padding is OPTIONAL and therefore MAY remain unused.

   Alternatively, if the server is administratively configured to values
   appropriate for all its clients, the same assurance of
   interoperability within the domain can be made.

   The use of a configuration protocol with NFS v2 and v3 is therefore
   OPTIONAL.  Employing a configuration exchange may allow some
   advantage to server resource management through accurately sizing
   buffers, enabling the server to know exactly how many RDMA Reads may
   be in progress at once on the client connection, and enabling client
   write padding which may be desirable for certain servers when RDMA
   Read is impractical.

5.  NFS Version 4 Mapping

   This specification applies to the first minor version of NFS version
   4 (NFSv4.0) and any subsequent minor versions that do not override
   this mapping.

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   The Write list MUST be considered only for the COMPOUND procedure.
   This procedure returns results from a sequence of operations.  Only
   the opaque file data from an NFS READ operation, and the pathname
   from a READLINK operation MUST utilize entries from the Write list.

   If there is no Write list, i.e., the list is null, then any READ or
   READLINK operations in the COMPOUND MUST return their data inline.
   The NFSv4.0 client MUST ensure in this case that any result of its
   READ and READLINK requests will fit within its receive buffers, in
   order to avoid a resulting RDMA transport error upon transfer.  The
   server is not required to detect this.

   The first entry in the Write list MUST be used by the first READ or
   READLINK in the COMPOUND request.  The next Write list entry by the
   by the next READ or READLINK, and so on.  If there are more READ or
   READLINK operations than Write list entries, then any remaining
   operations MUST return their results inline.

   If a Write list entry is presented, then the corresponding READ or
   READLINK MUST return its data via an RDMA Write to the buffer
   indicated by the Write list entry.  If the Write list entry has zero
   RDMA segments, or if the total size of the segments is zero, then the
   corresponding READ or READLINK operation MUST return its result
   inline.

   The following example shows an RDMA Write list with three posted
   buffers A, B, and C.  The designated operations in the compound
   request, READ and READLINK, consume the posted buffers by writing
   their results back to each buffer.

      RDMA Write list:

         A --> B --> C

      Compound request:

         PUTFH LOOKUP READ PUTFH LOOKUP READLINK PUTFH LOOKUP READ
                       |                   |                   |
                       v                   v                   v
                       A                   B                   C

   If the client does not want to have the READLINK result returned
   directly, then it provides a zero length array of segment triplets
   for buffer B or sets the values in the segment triplet for buffer B
   to zeros so that the READLINK result MUST be returned inline.

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   The situation is similar for RDMA Read lists sent by the client and
   applies to the NFSv4.0 WRITE and SYMLINK procedures as for v3.
   Additionally, inline segments too large to fit in posted buffers MAY
   be transferred in special "RDMA_NOMSG" messages.

   Non-RDMA (inline) WRITE transfers MAY OPTIONALLY employ the
   "RDMA_MSGP" padding method described in the RPC/RDMA protocol, if the
   appropriate value for the server is known to the client.  Padding
   allows the opaque file data to arrive at the server in an aligned
   fashion, which may improve server performance.  In order to ensure
   accurate alignment for all data, it is likely that the client will
   restrict its use of OPTIONAL padding to COMPOUND requests containing
   only a single WRITE operation.

   Unlike NFS versions 2 and 3, the maximum size of an NFS version 4
   COMPOUND is not bounded, even when RDMA chunks are in use.  While it
   might appear that a configuration protocol exchange (such as the one
   described in [RPCRDMA]) would help, in fact the layering issues
   involved in building COMPOUNDs by NFS make such a mechanism
   unworkable.

   However, typical NFS version 4 clients rarely issue such problematic
   requests.  In practice, they behave in much more predictable ways, in
   fact most still support the traditional rsize/wsize mount parameters.
   Therefore, most NFS version 4 clients function over RPC/RDMA in the
   same way as NFS versions 2 and 3, operationally.

   There are however advantages to allowing both client and server to
   operate with prearranged size constraints, for example use of the
   sizes to better manage the server's response cache.  An extension to
   NFS version 4 supporting a more comprehensive exchange of upper layer
   parameters is part of [NFSv4.1].

5.1.  NFS Version 4 Callbacks

   The NFS version 4 protocols support server-initiated callbacks to
   selected clients, in order to notify them of events such as recalled
   delegations, etc.  These callbacks present no particular issue to
   being framed over RPC/RDMA, since such callbacks do not carry bulk
   data such as NFS READ or NFS WRITE.  They MAY be transmitted inline
   via RDMA_MSG, or if the callback message or its reply overflow the
   negotiated buffer sizes for a callback connection, they MAY be
   transferred via the RDMA_NOMSG method as described above for other
   exchanges.

   One special case is noteworthy: in NFS version 4.1, the callback
   channel is optionally negotiated to be on the same connection as one
   used for client requests.  In this case, and because the XID is

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   present in the RPC/RDMA header, the client MUST ascertain whether the
   message is in fact an RPC REPLY, and therefore a reply to a prior
   request and carrying its XID, before processing it as such.  By the
   same token, the server MUST ascertain whether an incoming message on
   such a callback-eligible connection is an RPC CALL, before optionally
   processing the XID.

   In the callback case, the XID present in the RPC/RDMA header will
   potentially have any value which may (or may not) collide with an XID
   used by the client for a previous or future request.  The client and
   server MUST inspect the RPC component of the message to determine its
   potential disposition as either an RPC CALL or RPC REPLY, prior to
   processing this XID, and MUST NOT reject or accept it without also
   determining the proper context.

6.  Port Usage Considerations

   NFS use of direct data placement introduces a need for an additional
   NFS port number assignment for networks which share traditional UDP
   and TCP port spaces with RDMA services.  The iWARP [RFC5041]
   [RFC5040] protocol is such an example (Infiniband is not).

   NFS servers for versions 2 and 3 [RFC1094] [RFC1813] traditionally
   listen for clients on UDP and TCP port 2049, and additionally, they
   register these with the portmapper and/or rpcbind [RFC1833] service.
   However, [RFC3530] requires NFS servers for version 4 to listen on
   TCP port 2049, and they are not required to register.

   An NFS version 2 or version 3 server supporting RPC/RDMA on such a
   network and registering itself with the RPC portmapper MAY choose an
   arbitrary port, or MAY use the alternative well-known port number for
   its RPC/RDMA service.  The chosen port MAY be registered with the RPC
   portmapper under the netid assigned by the requirement in [RPCRDMA].

   An NFS version 4 server supporting RPC/RDMA on such a network MUST
   use the alternative well-known port number for its RPC/RDMA service.
   Clients SHOULD connect to this well-known port without consulting the
   RPC portmapper (as for NFSv4/TCP).

   The port number assigned to an NFS service over an RPC/RDMA transport
   is available from the IANA port registry [RFC3232].

7.  Security Considerations

   The RDMA transport for RPC [RPCRDMA] supports all RPC [RFC1831bis]
   security models, including RPCSEC_GSS [RFC2203] security and link-
   level security.  The choice of RDMA Read and RDMA Write to return RPC
   argument and results, respectively, does not affect this, since it

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   only changes the method of data transfer.  Specifically, the
   requirements of [RPCRDMA] ensure that this choice does not introduce
   new vulnerabilities.

   Because this document defines only the binding of the NFS protocols
   atop [RPCRDMA], all relevant security considerations are therefore to
   be described at that layer.

8.  IANA Considerations

   This document has no IANA considerations.

9.  Acknowledgments

   The authors would like to thank Dave Noveck and Chet Juszczak for
   their contributions to this document.

10.  Normative References

   [RFC2119]
      S. Bradner, "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement
      Levels",
      Best Current Practice,
      BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

   [RFC1094]
      "NFS: Network File System Protocol Specification",
      (NFS version 2) Informational RFC,
      http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1094.txt

   [RFC1831bis]
      R. Thurlow, Ed., "RPC: Remote Procedure Call Protocol
      Specification Version 2",
      Standards Track RFC

   [RFC1813]
      B. Callaghan, B. Pawlowski, P. Staubach, "NFS Version 3 Protocol
      Specification",
      Informational RFC,
      http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1813.txt

   [RFC1833]
      R. Srinivasan, "Binding Protocols for ONC RPC Version 2",
      Standards Track RFC,
      http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1833.txt

   [RFC3530]
      S. Shepler, et al., "NFS version 4 Protocol",

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      Standards Track RFC,
      http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3530.txt

   [NFSv4.1]
      S. Shepler et al., ed., "NFSv4 Minor Version 1"
      Internet Draft Work in Progress,
      draft-ietf-nfsv4-minorversion1

   [RFC2203]
      M. Eisler, A. Chiu, L. Ling, "RPCSEC_GSS Protocol Specification",
      Standards Track RFC,
      http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2203.txt

11.  Informative References

   [RFC3232]
      Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA),
      Port Registry database,
      http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3232.txt
      http://www.iana.org/assignments/port-numbers

   [RPCRDMA]
      T. Talpey, B. Callaghan, "Remote Direct Memory Access Transport
      for Remote Procedure Call"
      Internet Draft Work in Progress,
      draft-ietf-nfsv4-rpcrdma

   [RFC5041]
      H. Shah et al., "Direct Data Placement over Reliable Transports",
      Standards Track RFC

   [RFC5040]
      R. Recio et al., "A Remote Direct Memory Access Protocol
      Specification",
      Standards Track RFC

12.  Authors' Addresses

     Tom Talpey
     Network Appliance, Inc.
     1601 Trapelo Road, #16
     Waltham, MA 02451 USA

     Phone: +1 781 768 5329
     EMail: thomas.talpey@netapp.com

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     Brent Callaghan
     Apple Computer, Inc.
     MS: 302-4K
     2 Infinite Loop
     Cupertino, CA 95014 USA

     EMail: brentc@apple.com

13.  Intellectual Property and Copyright Statements

Full Copyright Statement

     Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2008).

     This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions
     contained in BCP 78, and except as set forth therein, the authors
     retain all their rights.

     This document and the information contained herein are provided on
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     REPRESENTS OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY, THE
     IETF TRUST AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL
     WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY
     WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE
     ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS
     FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Intellectual Property
     The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any
     Intellectual Property Rights or other rights that might be claimed
     to pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described
     in this document or the extent to which any license under such
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     it has made any independent effort to identify any such rights.
     Information on the procedures with respect to rights in RFC
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     Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat and any
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     specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository
     at http://www.ietf.org/ipr.

     The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any
     copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary

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     rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement
     this standard.  Please address the information to the IETF at ietf-
     ipr@ietf.org.

Acknowledgment
     Funding for the RFC Editor function is provided by the IETF
     Administrative Support Activity (IASA).

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