Skip to main content

Network File System (NFS) Direct Data Placement
draft-ietf-nfsv4-rfc5667bis-00

The information below is for an old version of the document.
Document Type
This is an older version of an Internet-Draft that was ultimately published as RFC 8267.
Author Chuck Lever
Last updated 2016-06-13
RFC stream Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
Formats
Reviews
Additional resources Mailing list discussion
Stream WG state WG Document
Document shepherd (None)
IESG IESG state Became RFC 8267 (Proposed Standard)
Consensus boilerplate Unknown
Telechat date (None)
Responsible AD (None)
Send notices to (None)
draft-ietf-nfsv4-rfc5667bis-00
Network File System Version 4                              C. Lever, Ed.
Internet-Draft                                                    Oracle
Obsoletes: 5667 (if approved)                              June 13, 2016
Intended status: Standards Track
Expires: December 15, 2016

            Network File System (NFS) Direct Data Placement
                     draft-ietf-nfsv4-rfc5667bis-00

Abstract

   This document defines the bindings of the various Network File System
   (NFS) versions to the Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) operations
   supported by the RPC-over-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.  This document
   obsoletes RFC 5667.

Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF).  Note that other groups may also distribute
   working documents as Internet-Drafts.  The list of current Internet-
   Drafts is at http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   This Internet-Draft will expire on December 15, 2016.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2016 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

Lever                   Expires December 15, 2016               [Page 1]
Internet-Draft          NFS Direct Data Placement              June 2016

   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
     1.1.  Requirements Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
     1.2.  Planned Changes To This Document  . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Transfers from NFS Client to NFS Server . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  Transfers from NFS Server to NFS Client . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   4.  NFS Versions 2 and 3 Mapping  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   5.  NFS Version 4 Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     5.1.  NFS Version 4 Callbacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   6.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
   7.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
   8.  Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
   9.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
     9.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
     9.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
   Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11

1.  Introduction

   The Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) Transport for Remote Procedure
   Call (RPC) [I-D.ietf-nfsv4-rfc5666bis] 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] [RFC7530] [RFC5661].

1.1.  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].

1.2.  Planned Changes To This Document

   The following changes will be made, relative to [RFC5667]:

   o  References to [RFC5666] will be replaced with references to
      [I-D.ietf-nfsv4-rfc5666bis].  Corrections and updates relative to
      new language in [I-D.ietf-nfsv4-rfc5666bis] will be introduced.

Lever                   Expires December 15, 2016               [Page 2]
Internet-Draft          NFS Direct Data Placement              June 2016

   o  References to obsolete RFCs will be replaced.

   o  The reference to a non-existant NFSv4 SYMLINK operation will be
      replaced with NFSv4 CREATE(NF4LNK).

   o  The discussion of 12KB and 36KB inline threshold will be removed.

   o  The discussion of NFSv4 COMPOUND handling will be completed.

   o  An explicit discussion of NFSv4.0 and NFSv4.1 backchannel
      operation will be introduced.

   o  An IANA Considerations section is required by IDNITS.

   o  Code excerpts will be modernized.

   Other minor changes and editorial corrections may also be made.

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
   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 that 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 either as an

Lever                   Expires December 15, 2016               [Page 3]
Internet-Draft          NFS Direct Data Placement              June 2016

   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.

   <CODE BEGINS>

      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;
      };

   <CODE ENDS>

   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
   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 zeros in the segment length
   fields corresponding to the result.

Lever                   Expires December 15, 2016               [Page 4]
Internet-Draft          NFS Direct Data Placement              June 2016

   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-over-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 [I-D.ietf-nfsv4-rfc5666bis].

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
   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 that 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-over-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

Lever                   Expires December 15, 2016               [Page 5]
Internet-Draft          NFS Direct Data Placement              June 2016

   kilobytes of data, respectively.  In these cases, it is often
   practical to support basic operation without employing a
   configuration exchange as discussed in [I-D.ietf-nfsv4-rfc5666bis].
   The server MUST post buffers large enough to receive the largest
   possible incoming message (approximately 12 KB for NFS version 2, or
   36 KB 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.

   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 is used
   by the next READ or READLINK, and so on.  If there are more READ or

Lever                   Expires December 15, 2016               [Page 6]
Internet-Draft          NFS Direct Data Placement              June 2016

   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.

   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-over-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.

Lever                   Expires December 15, 2016               [Page 7]
Internet-Draft          NFS Direct Data Placement              June 2016

   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 [I-D.ietf-nfsv4-rfc5666bis]) 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-over-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 [RFC5661].

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-over-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 transaction
   ID (XID) is present in the RPC-over-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-over-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.

Lever                   Expires December 15, 2016               [Page 8]
Internet-Draft          NFS Direct Data Placement              June 2016

6.  IANA Considerations

   NFS use of direct data placement introduces a need for an additional
   NFS port number assignment for networks that 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, [RFC7530] 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-over-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-over-RDMA service.  The chosen port MAY be registered
   with the RPC portmapper under the netid assigned by the requirement
   in [I-D.ietf-nfsv4-rfc5666bis].

   An NFS version 4 server supporting RPC-over-RDMA on such a network
   MUST use the alternative well-known port number for its RPC-over-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-over-RDMA
   transport is available from the IANA port registry [RFC3232].

7.  Security Considerations

   The RDMA transport for RPC [I-D.ietf-nfsv4-rfc5666bis] supports all
   RPC [RFC5531] 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 only changes the method of data transfer.
   Specifically, the requirements of [I-D.ietf-nfsv4-rfc5666bis] ensure
   that this choice does not introduce new vulnerabilities.

   Because this document defines only the binding of the NFS protocols
   atop [I-D.ietf-nfsv4-rfc5666bis], all relevant security
   considerations are therefore to be described at that layer.

8.  Acknowledgments

   The author gratefully acknowledges the work of Brent Callaghan and
   Tom Talpey on the original NFS Direct Data Placement specification
   [RFC5667].  The author also wishes to thank Bill Baker and Greg
   Marsden for their support of this work.

Lever                   Expires December 15, 2016               [Page 9]
Internet-Draft          NFS Direct Data Placement              June 2016

9.  References

9.1.  Normative References

   [RFC1833]  Srinivasan, R., "Binding Protocols for ONC RPC Version 2",
              RFC 1833, DOI 10.17487/RFC1833, August 1995,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc1833>.

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, DOI 10.17487/
              RFC2119, March 1997,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.

   [RFC2203]  Eisler, M., Chiu, A., and L. Ling, "RPCSEC_GSS Protocol
              Specification", RFC 2203, DOI 10.17487/RFC2203, September
              1997, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2203>.

   [RFC5531]  Thurlow, R., "RPC: Remote Procedure Call Protocol
              Specification Version 2", RFC 5531, DOI 10.17487/RFC5531,
              May 2009, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5531>.

   [RFC5661]  Shepler, S., Ed., Eisler, M., Ed., and D. Noveck, Ed.,
              "Network File System (NFS) Version 4 Minor Version 1
              Protocol", RFC 5661, DOI 10.17487/RFC5661, January 2010,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5661>.

   [RFC7530]  Haynes, T., Ed. and D. Noveck, Ed., "Network File System
              (NFS) Version 4 Protocol", RFC 7530, DOI 10.17487/RFC7530,
              March 2015, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7530>.

9.2.  Informative References

   [I-D.ietf-nfsv4-rfc5666bis]
              Lever, C., Simpson, W., and T. Talpey, "Remote Direct
              Memory Access Transport for Remote Procedure Call, Version
              One", draft-ietf-nfsv4-rfc5666bis-07 (work in progress),
              May 2016.

   [RFC1094]  Nowicki, B., "NFS: Network File System Protocol
              specification", RFC 1094, DOI 10.17487/RFC1094, March
              1989, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc1094>.

   [RFC1813]  Callaghan, B., Pawlowski, B., and P. Staubach, "NFS
              Version 3 Protocol Specification", RFC 1813, DOI 10.17487/
              RFC1813, June 1995,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc1813>.

Lever                   Expires December 15, 2016              [Page 10]
Internet-Draft          NFS Direct Data Placement              June 2016

   [RFC3232]  Reynolds, J., Ed., "Assigned Numbers: RFC 1700 is Replaced
              by an On-line Database", RFC 3232, DOI 10.17487/RFC3232,
              January 2002, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3232>.

   [RFC5040]  Recio, R., Metzler, B., Culley, P., Hilland, J., and D.
              Garcia, "A Remote Direct Memory Access Protocol
              Specification", RFC 5040, DOI 10.17487/RFC5040, October
              2007, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5040>.

   [RFC5041]  Shah, H., Pinkerton, J., Recio, R., and P. Culley, "Direct
              Data Placement over Reliable Transports", RFC 5041, DOI
              10.17487/RFC5041, October 2007,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5041>.

   [RFC5666]  Talpey, T. and B. Callaghan, "Remote Direct Memory Access
              Transport for Remote Procedure Call", RFC 5666, DOI
              10.17487/RFC5666, January 2010,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5666>.

   [RFC5667]  Talpey, T. and B. Callaghan, "Network File System (NFS)
              Direct Data Placement", RFC 5667, DOI 10.17487/RFC5667,
              January 2010, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5667>.

Author's Address

   Charles Lever (editor)
   Oracle Corporation
   1015 Granger Avenue
   Ann Arbor, MI  48104
   USA

   Phone: +1 734 274 2396
   Email: chuck.lever@oracle.com

Lever                   Expires December 15, 2016              [Page 11]