Network File System Version 4                              C. Lever, Ed.
Internet-Draft                                                    Oracle
Obsoletes: 5666 (if approved)                                  T. Talpey
Intended status: Standards Track                               Microsoft
Expires: June 3, 2016                                   December 1, 2015


    Remote Direct Memory Access Transport for Remote Procedure Call
                     draft-ietf-nfsv4-rfc5666bis-00

Abstract

   This document describes a protocol providing Remote Direct Memory
   Access (RDMA) as a new transport for Remote Procedure Call (RPC).
   The RDMA transport binding conveys the benefits of efficient, bulk-
   data transport over high-speed networks, while providing for minimal
   change to RPC applications and with no required revision of the
   application RPC protocol, or the RPC protocol itself.  This document
   obsoletes RFC 5666.

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 June 3, 2016.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2015 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



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

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     1.1.  Requirements Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     1.2.  RPC Over RDMA Transports  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   2.  Changes Since RFC 5666  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     2.1.  Changes To The Specification  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     2.2.  Changes To The Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   3.  Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     3.1.  Remote Procedure Calls  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     3.2.  Remote Direct Memory Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   4.  Protocol Framework  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
     4.1.  Transfer Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
     4.2.  RPC-over-RDMA Framing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
     4.3.  Flow Control  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
     4.4.  XDR Encoding With Chunks  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
     4.5.  Data Exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
     4.6.  Message Size  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21
   5.  RPC-over-RDMA In Operation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  22
     5.1.  Fixed Header Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  22
     5.2.  Chunk Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  24
     5.3.  Forming Messages  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  25
     5.4.  Memory Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  28
     5.5.  Handling Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  29
     5.6.  XDR Language Description  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  30
     5.7.  Deprecated Protocol Elements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  33
   6.  Upper Layer Binding Specifications  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  33
     6.1.  Determining DDP-Eligibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  34
     6.2.  Write List Ordering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  35
     6.3.  DDP-Eligibility Violation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  35
     6.4.  Other Binding Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  36
   7.  RPC Bind Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  36
   8.  Bi-directional RPC-over-RDMA  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  37
     8.1.  RPC Direction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  37
     8.2.  Backward Direction Flow Control . . . . . . . . . . . . .  38
     8.3.  Conventions For Backward Operation  . . . . . . . . . . .  40
     8.4.  Backward Direction Upper Layer Binding  . . . . . . . . .  42
   9.  Transport Protocol Extensibility  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  42
     9.1.  Bumping The RPC-over-RDMA Version . . . . . . . . . . . .  43
   10. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  43
   11. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  45
   12. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  46
   13. Appendices  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  46
     13.1.  Appendix 1: XDR Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  46



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   14. References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  47
     14.1.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  47
     14.2.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  49
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  50

1.  Introduction

   This document obsoletes RFC 5666, but makes no operational changes to
   RPC-over-RDMA Version One protocol on the wire.  It is published to
   clarify ambiguous text that is subject to multiple interpretations,
   deprecate unimplemented RPC-over-RDMA Version One protocol elements,
   and introduce conventions to allow bi-directional RPC-over-RDMA
   operation.

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.  RPC Over RDMA Transports

   Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) [RFC5040] [RFC5041] [IB] is a
   technique for efficient movement of data between end nodes, which
   becomes increasingly compelling over high-speed transports.  By
   directing data into destination buffers as it is sent on a network,
   and placing it via direct memory access by hardware, the double
   benefit of faster transfers and reduced host overhead is obtained.

   Open Network Computing Remote Procedure Call (ONC RPC, or simply,
   RPC) [RFC5531] is a remote procedure call protocol that has been run
   over a variety of transports.  Most RPC implementations today use UDP
   or TCP.  RPC messages are defined in terms of an eXternal Data
   Representation (XDR) [RFC4506], which provides a canonical data
   representation across a variety of host architectures.  An XDR data
   stream is conveyed differently on each type of transport.  On UDP,
   RPC messages are encapsulated inside datagrams, while on a TCP byte
   stream, RPC messages are delineated by a record marking protocol.  An
   RDMA transport also conveys RPC messages in a unique fashion that
   must be fully described if RPC implementations are to interoperate.

   RDMA transports present new semantics unlike the behaviors of either
   UDP or TCP alone.  They retain message delineations like UDP while
   also providing a reliable, sequenced data transfer like TCP.  Also,
   they provide the new efficient, bulk-transfer service enabled by
   Remote Direct Memory Access.  RDMA transports are therefore naturally
   viewed as a new transport type by RPC.




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   RDMA as a transport will benefit the performance of RPC protocols
   that move large "chunks" of data, since RDMA hardware excels at
   moving data efficiently between host memory and a high-speed network
   with little or no host CPU involvement.  In this context, the Network
   File System (NFS) protocol, in all its versions [RFC1094] [RFC1813]
   [RFC7530] [RFC5661], is an obvious beneficiary of RDMA.  A complete
   problem statement is discussed in [RFC5532], and related NFSv4 issues
   are discussed in [RFC5661].  Many other RPC-based protocols can also
   benefit.

   Although the RDMA transport described here provides relatively
   transparent support for any RPC application, this document goes
   further in describing mechanisms that can optimize the use of RDMA
   with more active participation by the RPC application.

2.  Changes Since RFC 5666

2.1.  Changes To The Specification

   The following alterations have been made to the RPC-over-RDMA Version
   One specification:

   o  Often implementers familiar with RDMA are not familiar with the
      mechanics of RPC, and vice versa.  Section 2 has been expanded to
      introduce and explain key RPC, XDR, and RDMA terminology.  These
      terms are now used consistently throughout the specification.

   o  Section 3 has been re-organized and split into sub-sections to
      facilitate locating specific requirements and definitions.

   o  Section 4 and 5 have been combined for clarity and to improve the
      organization of this information.

   o  The specification of the optional Connection Configuration
      Protocol has been removed from the specification, as there are no
      known implementations of the protocol.

   o  Sections discussing requirements for Upper Layer Bindings have
      been added.

   o  A section discussing RPC-over-RDMA protocol extensibility has been
      added.

2.2.  Changes To The Protocol

   The specific changes to the protocol are:





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   o  Support for the Read-Read transfer model has been deprecated.
      Read-Read is a slower transfer model than Read-Write, thus
      implementers have chosen not to support it.

   o  Support for the RDMA_MSGP message type has been deprecated.  It
      has no benefit for RPC programs that place bulk payload items in
      the middle of their argument or result lists, as is typical with
      NFSv4 COMPOUND RPCs [RFC7530].  It is also not beneficial when the
      inline threshold is significantly smaller than the system page
      size.

   o  The XDR definition of RPC-over-RDMA Version One has been updated
      (without on-the-wire changes) to align with the terms and concepts
      introduced in this specification.

   o  Specific requirements related to handling XDR round-up and
      abstract data types have been added.

   o  Clear guidance about Send and Receive buffer size has been added.
      This enables better decisions about when to provide and use the
      Reply chunk.

   o  A section specifying bi-directional RPC operation on RPC-over-RDMA
      has been added.  This enables the NFSv4.1 backchannel [RFC5661] on
      RPC-over-RDMA Version One transports.

   The protocol version number is not changed because the protocol
   specified in this document fully interoperates with implementations
   of the RPC-over-RDMA Version One protocol specified in [RFC5666].

3.  Terminology

3.1.  Remote Procedure Calls

   This section introduces key elements of the Remote Procedure Call
   [RFC5531] and External Data Representation [RFC4506] protocols upon
   which RPC-over-RDMA Version One is constructed.

3.1.1.  Upper Layer Protocols

   Remote Procedure Calls are an abstraction used to implement the
   operations of an "upper layer protocol," sometimes referred to as a
   ULP.  One example of such a protocol is the Network File System
   Version 4.0 [RFC7530].







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3.1.2.  Requesters And Responders

   Like a local procedure call, every Remote Procedure Call has a set of
   "arguments" and a set of "results".  A calling context is not allowed
   to proceed until the procedure's results are available to it.  Unlike
   a local procedure call, the called procedure is executed remotely
   rather than in the local application's context.

   The RPC protocol as described in [RFC5531] is fundamentally a
   message-passing protocol between one server and one or more clients.
   ONC RPC transactions are made up of two types of messages:

   CALL Message
      A CALL message, or "Call", requests work.  A Call is designated by
      the value CALL in the message's msg_type field.  An arbitrary
      unique value is placed in the message's xid field.

   REPLY Message
      A REPLY message, or "Reply", reports the results of work requested
      by a Call.  A Reply is designated by the value REPLY in the
      message's msg_type field.  The value contained in the message's
      xid field is copied from the Call whose results are being
      reported.

   An RPC client endpoint, or "requester", serializes an RPC call's
   arguments and conveys them to a server endpoint via an RPC call
   message.  This message contains an RPC protocol header, a header
   describing the requested upper layer operation, and all arguments.

   The server endpoint, or "responder", deserializes the arguments and
   processes the requested operation.  It then serializes the
   operation's results into another byte stream.  This byte stream is
   conveyed back to the requester via an RPC reply message.  This
   message contains an RPC protocol header, a header describing the
   upper layer reply, and all results.  The requester deserializes the
   results and allows the original caller to proceed.

   RPC-over-RDMA is a connection-oriented RPC transport.  When a
   connection-oriented transport is used, ONC RPC client endpoints are
   responsible for initiating transport connections, while ONC RPC
   service endpoints wait passively for incoming connection requests.

3.1.3.  External Data Representation

   In a heterogenous environment, one cannot assume that all requesters
   and responders represent data the same way.  RPC uses eXternal Data
   Representation, or XDR, to translate data types and serialize
   arguments and results.  The XDR protocol encodes data independent of



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   the endianness or size of host-native data types, allowing
   unambiguous decoding of data on the receiving end.  RPC programs are
   specified by writing an XDR definition of their procedures, argument
   data types, and result data types.

   XDR assumes that the number of bits in a byte (octet) and their order
   are the same on both endpoints and on the physical network.  The
   smallest indivisible unit of XDR encoding is a group of four octets
   in little-endian order.  XDR also flattens lists, arrays, and other
   abstract data types so they can be conveyed as a simple stream of
   bytes.

   A serialized stream of bytes that is the result of XDR encoding is
   referred to as an "XDR stream."  A sending endpoint encodes native
   data into an XDR stream and then transmits that stream to a receiver.
   A receiving endpoint decodes incoming XDR byte streams into its
   native data representation format.

   The function of an RPC transport is to convey RPC messages, each
   encoded as a separate XDR stream, from one endpoint to another.

3.1.3.1.  XDR Opaque Data

   Sometimes a data item must be transferred as-is, without encoding or
   decoding.  Such a data item is referred to as "opaque data."  XDR
   encoding places opaque data items directly into an XDR stream without
   altering its content in any way.

   Typically Upper Layer Protocols or applications manage any needed
   data translation in this case.  Examples of opaque data items include
   the contents of files, and generic byte strings.

3.1.3.2.  XDR Round-up

   The number of octets in a variable-size data item precedes that item
   in the encoding stream.  If the size of an encoded data item is not a
   multiple of four octets, octets containing zero are added to the end
   of the item so that the next encoded data item starts on a four-octet
   boundary.  The encoded size of the item is not changed by the
   addition of the extra octets.

   This technique is referred to as "XDR round-up," and the extra octets
   are referred to as "XDR padding".  The content of XDR pad octets is
   ignored by receivers.







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3.2.  Remote Direct Memory Access

   An RPC requester can be made more efficient if large RPC messages are
   transferred by a third party such as intelligent network interface
   hardware (data movement offload), and placed in the receiver's memory
   so that no additional adjustment of data alignment has to be made
   (direct data placement).  Remote Direct Memory Access, or "RDMA" is a
   network transport technology that enables both optimizations.

3.2.1.  Direct Data Placement

   Very often, RPC implementations copy the contents of RPC messages
   into a buffer before being sent.  An efficient RPC implementation can
   send bulk data without copying it into a separate send buffer first.

   However, socket-based RPC implementations are often unable to receive
   data directly into its final place in memory.  Receivers often need
   to copy incoming data to finish an RPC operation; sometimes, only to
   adjust data alignment.

   In this document, "RDMA" refers to the physical mechanism an RDMA
   transport utilizes when moving data.  Though it may not be optimal,
   before an RDMA transfer, the sender may still copy data into place.
   After an RDMA transfer, the receiver may copy that data again to its
   final destination.

   This document uses the term "direct data placement" (or DDP) to refer
   specifically to an optimized data transfer where it is unnecessary
   for a receiving host's CPU to copy transferred data again after it
   has been received.  Not all RDMA-based data transfer qualifies as
   Direct Data Placement, and DDP can be achieved using non-RDMA
   mechanisms.

3.2.2.  RDMA Transport Requirements

   The RPC-over-RDMA Version One protocol assumes the physical transport
   provides the following abstract operations.  A more complete
   discussion of these operations is found in [RFC5040].

   RDMA Send
      The RDMA provider supports an RDMA Send operation with completion
      signaled at the receiver when data is placed in a pre-posted
      buffer.  The amount of transferred data is limited only by the
      size of the receiver's buffer.  Sends complete at the receiver in
      the order they were issued at the sender.

   RDMA Receive




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      Receive endpoints pre-post enough RDMA Receive operations to catch
      incoming RDMA Send operations.  To reduce the amount of memory
      that must remain pinned awaiting incoming Sends, receive buffers
      are limited in size and number.  Flow-control to prevent
      overrunning receiver resources is provided by the upper layer
      protocol.

   Registered Memory
      All data moved via tagged RDMA operations is resident in
      registered memory at its destination.  This protocol assumes that
      each segment of registered memory MUST be identified with a
      steering tag of no more than 32 bits and memory addresses of up to
      64 bits in length.

   RDMA Write
      The RDMA provider supports an RDMA Write operation to directly
      place data in the receiver's buffer.  An RDMA Write is initiated
      by the sender and completion is signaled at the sender.  No
      completion is signaled at the receiver.  The sender uses a
      steering tag, memory address, and length of the remote destination
      buffer.

      RDMA Writes are not necessarily ordered with respect to one
      another, but are ordered with respect to RDMA Sends.  A subsequent
      RDMA Send completion obtained at the receiver guarantees that
      prior RDMA Write data has been successfully placed in the
      receiver's memory.

   RDMA Read
      The RDMA provider supports an RDMA Read operation to directly
      place peer source data in the requester's buffer.  An RDMA Read is
      initiated by the receiver and completion is signaled at the
      receiver.  The receiver provides steering tags, memory addresses,
      and a length for the remote source and local destination buffers.
      Since the peer at the data source receives no notification of RDMA
      Read completion, there is an assumption that on receiving the
      data, the receiver will signal completion with an RDMA Send
      message, so that the peer can free the source buffers and the
      associated steering tags.

   The RPC-over-RDMA Version One protocol is designed to be carried over
   RDMA transports that support the above abstract operations.  This
   protocol conveys to the RPC peer information sufficient for that RPC
   peer to direct an RDMA layer to perform transfers containing RPC data
   and to communicate their result(s).  For example, it is readily
   carried over RDMA transports such as Internet Wide Area RDMA Protocol
   (iWARP) [RFC5040] [RFC5041], or InfiniBand [IB].




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4.  Protocol Framework

4.1.  Transfer Models

   A "transfer model" designates which endpoint is responsible for
   performing RDMA Read and Write operations.  To enable these
   operations, the peer endpoint first exposes segments of its memory to
   the endpoint performing the RDMA Read and Write operations.

   Read-Read
      Requesters expose their memory to the responder, and the responder
      exposes its memory to requesters.  The responder employs RDMA Read
      operations to convey RPC arguments or whole RPC calls.  Requesters
      employ RDMA Read operations to convey RPC results or whole RPC
      relies.

   Write-Write
      Requesters expose their memory to the responder, and the responder
      exposes its memory to requesters.  Requesters employ RDMA Write
      operations to convey RPC arguments or whole RPC calls.  The
      responder employs RDMA Write operations to convey RPC results or
      whole RPC relies.

   Read-Write
      Requesters expose their memory to the responder, but the responder
      does not expose its memory.  The responder employs RDMA Read
      operations to convey RPC arguments or whole RPC calls.  The
      responder employs RDMA Write operations to convey RPC results or
      whole RPC relies.

   Write-Read
      The responder exposes its memory to requesters, but requesters do
      not expose their memory.  Requesters employ RDMA Write operations
      to convey RPC arguments or whole RPC calls.  Requesters employ
      RDMA Read operations to convey RPC results or whole RPC relies.

   [RFC5666] specifies the use of both the Read-Read and the Read-Write
   Transfer Model.  All current RPC-over-RDMA Version One
   implementations use the Read-Write Transfer Model.  Use of the Read-
   Read Transfer Model by RPC-over-RDMA Version One implementations is
   therefore deprecated.  Other Transfer Models may be used by a future
   version of RPC-over-RDMA.

4.2.  RPC-over-RDMA Framing

   During transmission, the XDR stream containing an RPC message is
   preceded by an RPC-over-RDMA header.  This header is analogous to the




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   record marking used for RPC over TCP but is more extensive, since
   RDMA transports support several modes of data transfer.

   All transfers of an RPC message begin with an RDMA Send that
   transfers an RPC-over-RDMA header and part or all of the accompanying
   RPC message.  Because the size of what may be transmitted via RDMA
   Send is limited by the size of the receiver's pre-posted buffers, the
   RPC-over-RDMA transport provides a number of methods to reduce the
   amount transferred via RDMA Send.  Parts of RPC messages not
   transferred via RDMA Send are transferred using RDMA Read or RDMA
   Write operations.

   RPC-over-RDMA framing replaces all other RPC framing (such as TCP
   record marking) when used atop an RPC-over-RDMA association, even
   when the underlying RDMA protocol may itself be layered atop a
   transport with a defined RPC framing (such as TCP).

   It is however possible for RPC-over-RDMA to be dynamically enabled in
   the course of negotiating the use of RDMA via an Upper Layer Protocol
   exchange.  Because RPC framing delimits an entire RPC request or
   reply, the resulting shift in framing must occur between distinct RPC
   messages, and in concert with the transport.

4.3.  Flow Control

   It is critical to provide RDMA Send flow control for an RDMA
   connection.  RDMA receive operations can fail if a pre-posted receive
   buffer is not available to accept an incoming RDMA Send, and repeated
   occurrences of such errors can be fatal to the connection.  This is a
   departure from conventional TCP/IP networking where buffers are
   allocated dynamically as part of receiving messages.

   It is not practical to provide for fixed credit limits at the
   responder.  Fixed limits scale poorly, since posted buffers are
   dedicated to the associated connection until consumed by receive
   operations.  In addition, for protocol correctness, a responder must
   always be able to reply to requesters, whether or not the responder
   has posted buffers to accept more requests.

   Therefore, flow control for RDMA Send operations is implemented as a
   simple request/grant protocol in the RPC-over-RDMA header associated
   with each RPC message.  The RPC-over-RDMA header for RPC call
   messages contains a requested credit value for the responder, which
   MAY be dynamically adjusted by the caller to match its expected
   needs.

   The RPC-over-RDMA header for RPC reply messages provides the granted
   result, which MAY have any value except it MUST NOT be zero when no



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   in-progress operations are present at the responder, since such a
   value would result in deadlock.  The value MAY be adjusted up or down
   at each opportunity to match the responder's needs or policies.

   The requester MUST NOT send unacknowledged requests in excess of this
   granted responder credit limit.  If the limit is exceeded, the RDMA
   layer may signal an error, possibly terminating the connection.  Even
   if an error does not occur, it is OPTIONAL that the responder handle
   the excess request(s).  it MAY return an RPC error to the requester

   Note that the never-zero requirement implies that an responder MUST
   always provide at least one credit to each connected requester from
   which no requests are outstanding.  The requester would deadlock
   otherwise, unable to send another request.

   While RPC calls complete in any order, the current flow control limit
   at the responder is known to the requester from the Send ordering
   properties.  It is always the most recent responder-granted credit
   value minus the number of requests in flight.

   Certain RDMA implementations may impose additional flow control
   restrictions, such as limits on RDMA Read operations in progress at
   the responder.  Because these operations are outside the scope of
   this protocol, they are not addressed and SHOULD be provided for by
   other layers.

4.3.1.  Initial Connection State

   There are two operational parameters for each connection:

   Credit Limit
      The number of available receive buffers is a connection's credit
      limit.  The credit limit is advertised in the RPC-over-RDMA header
      in each RPC message, and can change during the lifetime of a
      connection.

   Inline Threshold
      The maximum RDMA message size that can be received is a
      connection's "inline threshold."  This is the size of the smallest
      posted receive buffer, though usually all of a connection's
      receive buffers are the same size.  Unlike the connection's credit
      limit, the inline threshold value is not advertised to peers via
      the RPC-over-RDMA Version One protocol, and there is no provision
      for the inline threshold value to change during the lifetime of an
      RPC-over-RDMA Version One connection.

   The longevity of a transport connection requires that sending
   endpoints respect the resource limits of peer receivers.  However,



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   when a connection is first established, peers cannot know how many
   receive buffers the other has, nor how large the buffers are.

   To provide a basis for an initial exchange of RPC requests, each RPC-
   over-RDMA connection is assumed to provide a basic level of
   interoperability: the ability to exchange at least one RPC message at
   a time that is 1024 bytes in size.  A responder MAY exceed this basic
   level of configuration, but a requester MUST NOT assume more than one
   credit is available, and MUST receive a valid reply from the
   responder carrying the actual number of available credits, prior to
   sending its next request.

   In the absense of an exchange of buffer size information (such as the
   Connection Configuration Protocol described in [RFC5666]), senders
   MUST assume the receiver's inline threshold is 1024 bytes.
   Implementations MUST support an inline threshold of 1024 bytes, but
   MAY support larger inline thresholds.

4.4.  XDR Encoding With Chunks

   On traditional RPC transports, XDR data items in an RPC message are
   encoded as a contiguous sequence of bytes for network transmission.
   However, in the case of an RDMA transport, during XDR encoding it can
   be determined that (for instance) an opaque byte array is large
   enough to be moved via an RDMA Read or RDMA Write operation.

   RPC-over-RDMA Version One provides a mechanism for moving part an RPC
   message via a separate RDMA data transfer.  A contiguous piece of an
   XDR stream that is split out and moved via a separate RDMA operation
   is known as a "chunk."  The sender removes the chunk data out from
   the XDR stream conveyed via RDMA Send, and the receiver inserts it
   before handing the reconstructed stream to the Upper Layer.

4.4.1.  DDP-Eligibility

   Only an XDR data item that might benefit from Direct Data Placement
   should be moved to a chunk.  The eligibility of specific XDR data
   items to be moved as a chunk, as opposed to being left in the XDR
   stream, is not specified by this document.  The Upper Layer Protocol
   MUST determine which items in its XDR definition are allowed to use
   Direct Data Placement.  Therefore an additional specification is
   needed that describes how an Upper Layer Protocol enables Direct Data
   Placement.  The set of requirements for a ULP to use an RDMA
   transport is known as an "Upper Layer Binding" specification, or ULB.

   An Upper Layer Binding states which specific individual XDR data
   items in an Upper Layer Protocol MAY be transferred via Direct Data
   Placement.  This document will refer to such XDR data items as "DDP-



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   eligible".  All other XDR data items MUST NOT be placed in a chunk.
   RPC-over-RDMA Version One uses RDMA Read and Write operations to
   transfer DDP-eligible data that has been placed in chunks.

   The details and requirements for Upper Layer Bindings are discussed
   in full in Section 6.

4.4.2.  RDMA Segments

   When encoding an RPC message that contains a DDP-eligible data item,
   the RPC-over-RDMA transport does not place the item into the RPC
   message's XDR stream.  Instead, it records in the RPC-over-RDMA
   header the address and size of the memory region containing the data
   item.  The requester sends this information for DDP-eligible data
   items in both RPC calls and replies.  The responder uses this
   information to initiate RDMA Read and Write operations on the memory
   regions.

   An "RDMA segment", or just "segment", is an RPC-over-RDMA header data
   object that contain the precise co-ordinates of a contiguous memory
   region that is to be conveyed via one or more RDMA Read or RDMA Write
   operations.  The following fields are contained in a segment:

   Handle
      Steering tag or handle obtained when the segment's memory is
      registered for RDMA.  Sometimes known as an R_key.

   Length
      The length of the segment in bytes.

   Offset
      The offset or beginning memory address of the segment.

   See [RFC5040] for further discussion of the meaning of these fields.

4.4.3.  Chunks

   A "chunk" refers to a portion of XDR stream data that is moved via
   RDMA Read or Write operations.  Chunk data is removed from the
   sender's XDR stream, transferred by separate RDMA operations, and
   then re-inserted into the receiver's XDR stream.

   Each chunk consists of one or more RDMA segments.  Each segment
   represents a single contiguous piece of that chunk.

   Except in special cases, a chunk contains exactly one XDR data item.
   This makes it straightforward to remove chunks from an XDR stream
   without affecting XDR alignment.



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      +----------------+ +----------------+------------------
      | RPC-over-RDMA  | |                |
      |    header w/   | |   RPC Header   | Non-chunk args/results
      |    segments    | |                |
      +----------------+ +----------------+------------------
               |
               +-> Chunk A
               +-> Chunk B
               +-> Chunk C
                    . . .


                 Block diagram of an RPC-over-RDMA message

   Not every message has chunks associated with it.  The structure of
   the RPC-over-RDMA header is covered in Section 5.

4.4.3.1.  Counted Arrays

   If a chunk is to move a counted array data type, the count of array
   elements MUST remain in the XDR stream, while the array elements MUST
   be moved to the chunk.  For example, when encoding an opaque byte
   array as a chunk, the count of bytes stays in the XDR stream, while
   the bytes in the array are removed from the XDR stream and
   transferred via the chunk.  Any byte count left in the XDR stream
   MUST match the sum of the lengths of the segments making up the
   chunk.  If they do not agree, an RPC protocol encoding error results.

   Individual array elements appear in the chunk in their entirety.  For
   example, when encoding an array of arrays as a chunk, the count of
   items in the enclosing array stays in the XDR stream, but each
   enclosed array, including its item count, is transferred as part of
   the chunk.

4.4.3.2.  Optional-data And Unions

   If a chunk is to move an optional-data data type, the "is present"
   field MUST remain in the XDR stream, while the data, if present, MUST
   be moved to the chunk.

   A union data type should never be made DDP-eligible, but one or more
   of its arms may be DDP-eligible.

4.4.4.  Read Chunks

   A "Read chunk" represents an XDR data item that is to be pulled from
   the requester to the responder using RDMA Read operations.




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   A Read chunk is a list of one or more RDMA segments.  Each segment in
   a Read chunk has an additional Position field.

   Position
      For data that is to be encoded, the byte offset in the RPC message
      XDR stream where the receiver re-inserts the chunk data.  The byte
      offset MUST be computed from the beginning of the RPC message, not
      the beginning of the RPC-over-RDMA header.  All segments belonging
      to the same Read chunk have the same value in their Position
      field.

   While constructing the RPC call, the requester registers memory
   regions containing data in Read chunks.  It advertises these chunks
   in the RPC-over-RDMA header of the RPC call.

   After receiving the RPC call via an RDMA Send operation, the
   responder transfers the chunk data from the requester using RDMA Read
   operations.  The responder reconstructs the transferred chunk data by
   concatenating the contents of each segment, in list order, into the
   RPC call XDR stream.  The first segment begins at the XDR position in
   the Position field, and subsequent segments are concatenated
   afterwards until there are no more segments left at that XDR
   Position.

4.4.4.1.  Read Chunk Round-up

   XDR requires each encoded data item to start on four-byte alignment.
   When an odd-length data item is marshaled, its length is encoded
   literally, while the data is padded so the next data item can start
   on a four-byte boundary in the XDR stream.  Receivers ignore the
   content of the pad bytes.

   Data items remaining in the XDR stream must all adhere to the above
   padding requirements.  When a Read chunk is removed from an XDR
   stream, the requester MUST remove any needed XDR padding for that
   chunk as well.  Alignment of the items remaining in the stream is
   unaffected.

   The length of a Read chunk is the sum of the lengths of the segments
   that comprise it.  If this sum is not a multiple of four, the
   requester MAY choose to send a Read chunk without any XDR padding.
   The responder MUST be prepared to provide appropriate round-up in its
   reconstructed XDR stream if the requester provides no actual round-up
   in a Read chunk.

   The Position field in read segments indicates where the containing
   Read chunk starts in the RPC message XDR stream.  The value in this
   field MUST be a multiple of four.  Moreover, all segments in the same



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   Read chunk share the same Position value, even if one or more of the
   segments have a non-four-byte aligned length.

4.4.4.2.  Decoding Read Chunks

   XDR decoding moves data from an XDR stream into a data structure
   provided by an RPC application.  Where elements of the destination
   data structure are buffers or strings, the RPC application can either
   pre-allocate storage to receive the data, or leave the string or
   buffer fields null and allow the XDR decode stage of RPC processing
   to automatically allocate storage of sufficient size.

   When decoding a message from an RDMA transport, the receiver first
   decodes the chunk lists from the RPC-over-RDMA header, then proceeds
   to decode the body of the RPC message.  Whenever the XDR offset in
   the decode stream matches that of a Read chunk, the transport
   initiates an RDMA Read to bring over the chunk data into locally
   registered memory for the destination buffer.

   When processing an RPC request, the responder acknowledges its
   completion of use of the source buffers by simply replying to the
   requester.  The requester may then free all source buffers advertised
   by the request.

4.4.5.  Write Chunks

   A "Write chunk" represents an XDR data item that is to be pushed from
   the responder to the requester using RDMA Write operations.

   A Write chunk is an array of one or more RDMA segments.  Segments in
   a Write chunk do not have a Position field because Write chunks are
   provided by a requester long before the responder prepares the reply
   XDR stream.

   While constructing the RPC call, the requester also sets up memory
   regions to catch DDP-eligible reply data.  The requester provides as
   many segments as needed to accommodate the largest possible size of
   the data item in each Write chunk.

   The responder transfers the chunk data to the requester using RDMA
   Write operations.  The responder copies the responder's Write chunk
   segments into the RPC-over-RDMA header to be sent with the reply.
   The responder updates the segment length fields to reflect the actual
   amount of data that is being returned in the chunk.  The updated
   length of a Write chunk segment MAY be zero if the segment was not
   filled by the responder.  However the responder MUST NOT change the
   number of segments in the Write chunk.




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   The responder then sends the RPC reply via an RDMA Send operation.
   After receiving the RPC reply, the requester reconstructs the
   transferred data by concatenating the contents of each segment, in
   array order, into RPC reply XDR stream.

4.4.5.1.  Unused Write Chunks

   There are occasions when a requester provides a Write chunk but the
   responder does not use it.  For example, an Upper Layer Protocol may
   have a union result where some arms of the union contain a DDP-
   eligible data item, and other arms do not.  To return an unused Write
   chunk, the responder MUST set the length of all segments in the chunk
   to zero.

   Unused write chunks, or unused bytes in write chunk segments, are not
   returned as results and their memory is returned to the Upper Layer
   as part of RPC completion.  However, the RPC layer MUST NOT assume
   that the buffers have not been modified.

4.4.5.2.  Write Chunk Round-up

   XDR requires each encoded data item to start on four-byte alignment.
   When an odd-length data item is marshaled, its length is encoded
   literally, while the data is padded so the next data item can start
   on a four-byte boundary in the XDR stream.  Receivers ignore the
   content of the pad bytes.

   Data items remaining in the XDR stream must all adhere to the above
   padding requirements.  When a Write chunk is removed from an XDR
   stream, the requester MUST remove any needed XDR padding for that
   chunk as well.  Alignment of the items remaining in the stream is
   unaffected.

   The length of a Write chunk is the sum of the lengths of the segments
   that comprise it.  If this sum is not a multiple of four, the
   responder MAY choose not to write XDR padding.  The requester does
   not know the actual length of a Write chunk when it is prepared, but
   it SHOULD provide enough segments to accommodate any needed XDR
   padding.  The requester MUST be prepared to provide appropriate
   round-up in its reconstructed XDR stream if the responder provides no
   actual round-up in a Write chunk.

4.5.  Data Exchange

   In summary, there are three mechanisms for moving data between
   requester and responder.

   Inline



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      Data is moved between requester and responder via an RDMA Send
      operation.

   RDMA Read
      Data is moved between requester and responder via an RDMA Read
      operation.  Address and offset are obtained from a Read chunk in
      the requester's RPC call message.

   RDMA Write
      Data is moved from responder to requester via an RDMA Write
      operation.  Address and offset are obtained from a Write chunk in
      the requester's RPC call message.

   Many combinations are possible.  For instance, an RPC call may
   contain some inline data along with Read or Write chunks.  The reply
   to that call may have chunks that the responder RDMA Writes back to
   the requester.  The following diagrams illustrate RPC calls that use
   these methods to move RPC message data.


        Requester                             Responder
            |               RPC Call              |
       Send |   ------------------------------>   |
            |                                     |
            |               RPC Reply             |
            |   <------------------------------   | Send


            An RPC with no chunks in the call or reply messages


       Requester                             Responder
           |        RPC Call + Write chunks      |
      Send |   ------------------------------>   |
           |                                     |
           |               Chunk 1               |
           |   <------------------------------   | Write
           |                  :                  |
           |               Chunk n               |
           |   <------------------------------   | Write
           |                                     |
           |               RPC Reply             |
           |   <------------------------------   | Send


               An RPC with write chunks in the call message





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   In the presence of write chunks, RDMA ordering guarantees that all
   data in the RDMA Write operations has been placed in memory prior to
   the requester's RPC reply processing.


       Requester                             Responder
           |        RPC Call + Read chunks       |
      Send |   ------------------------------>   |
           |                                     |
           |               Chunk 1               |
           |   +------------------------------   | Read
           |   v----------------------------->   |
           |                  :                  |
           |               Chunk n               |
           |   +------------------------------   | Read
           |   v----------------------------->   |
           |                                     |
           |               RPC Reply             |
           |   <------------------------------   | Send


                An RPC with read chunks in the call message


       Requester                             Responder
           |   RPC Call + Read and Write chunks  |
      Send |   ------------------------------>   |
           |                                     |
           |             Read chunk 1            |
           |   +------------------------------   | Read
           |   v----------------------------->   |
           |                  :                  |
           |             Read chunk n            |
           |   +------------------------------   | Read
           |   v----------------------------->   |
           |                                     |
           |             Write chunk 1           |
           |   <------------------------------   | Write
           |                  :                  |
           |             Write chunk n           |
           |   <------------------------------   | Write
           |                                     |
           |               RPC Reply             |
           |   <------------------------------   | Send


           An RPC with read and write chunks in the call message




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4.6.  Message Size

   The receiver of RDMA Send operations is required by RDMA to have
   previously posted one or more adequately sized buffers (see
   Section 4.3.1).  Memory savings can be achieved on both requesters
   and responders by leaving the inline threshold small.

4.6.1.  Short Messages

   RPC messages are frequently smaller than the connection's inline
   threshold.

   For example, the NFS version 3 GETATTR request is only 56 bytes: 20
   bytes of RPC header, plus a 32-byte file handle argument and 4 bytes
   for its length.  The reply to this common request is about 100 bytes.

   Since all RPC messages conveyed via RPC-over-RDMA require an RDMA
   Send operation, the most efficient way to send an RPC message that is
   smaller than the connection's inline threshold is to append its XDR
   stream directly to the buffer carrying the RPC-over-RDMA header.  An
   RPC-over-RDMA header with a small RPC call or reply message
   immediately following is transferred using a single RDMA Send
   operation.  No RDMA Read or Write operations are needed.

4.6.2.  Chunked Messages

   If DDP-eligible data items are present in an RPC message, a sender
   MAY remove them from the RPC message, and use RDMA Read or Write
   operations to move that data.  The RPC-over-RDMA header with the
   shortened RPC call or reply message immediately following is
   transferred using a single RDMA Send operation.  Removed DDP-eligible
   data items are conveyed using RDMA Read or Write operations using
   additional information provided in the RPC-over-RDMA header.

4.6.3.  Long Messages

   When an RPC message is larger than the connection's inline threshold
   and the Upper Layer Binding does not identify any DDP-eligible data
   items in the requested operation that may be moved separately, the
   RDMA transport MUST use RDMA Read and Write operations to convey the
   whole RPC message.  This mechanism is referred to as a "Long
   Message."

   To send an RPC message as a Long Message, the sender conveys only the
   RPC-over-RDMA header with an RDMA Send operation.  The RPC message
   itself is not included in the Send buffer.  Instead, the requester
   provides chunks that the responder uses to move the whole RPC
   message.



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   Long RPC call
      To handle an RPC request using a Long Message, the requester
      provides a special Read chunk that contains the RPC call's XDR
      stream.  Every segment in this Read chunk MUST contain zero in its
      Position field.  This chunk is known as a "Position Zero Read
      chunk."

   Long RPC reply
      To handle an RPC reply using a Long Message, the requester
      provides a single special Write chunk, known as the "Reply chunk",
      that contains the RPC reply's XDR stream.  The requester sizes the
      Reply chunk to accommodate the largest possible expected reply for
      that Upper Layer operation.

   Though the purpose of a Long Message is to handle large RPC messages,
   requesters MAY use a Long Message at any time to convey an RPC call.
   Responders SHOULD use a Long Message whenever a Reply chunk has been
   provided by a requester.  Both types of special chunk MAY be present
   in the same RPC message.

   Because these special chunks contain a whole RPC message, any XDR
   data item MAY appear in one of these special chunks without regard to
   its DDP-eligibility.  DDP-eligible data items MAY be removed from
   these special chunks and conveyed via normal chunks, but non-eligible
   data items MUST NOT appear in normal chunks.

5.  RPC-over-RDMA In Operation

   An RPC-over-RDMA Version One header precedes all RPC messages
   conveyed across an RDMA transport.  This header includes a copy of
   the message's transaction ID, data for RDMA flow control credits, and
   lists of memory addresses used for RDMA Read and Write operations.
   All RPC-over-RDMA header content MUST be XDR encoded.

   RPC message layout is unchanged from that described in [RFC5531]
   except for the possible removal of data items that are moved by RDMA
   Read or Write operations.  If an RPC message (along with its RPC-
   over-RDMA header) is larger than the connection's inline threshold
   even after any large chunks are removed, then the RPC message MAY be
   moved separately as a chunk, leaving just the RPC-over-RDMA header in
   the RDMA Send.

5.1.  Fixed Header Fields

   The RPC-over-RDMA header begins with four fixed 32-bit fields that
   MUST be present and that control the RDMA interaction including RDMA-
   specific flow control.  These four fields are:




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5.1.1.  Transaction ID (XID)

   The XID generated for the RPC call and reply.  Having the XID at a
   fixed location in the header makes it easy for the receiver to
   establish context as soon as the message arrives.  This XID MUST be
   the same as the XID in the RPC header.  The receiver MAY perform its
   processing based solely on the XID in the RPC-over-RDMA header, and
   thereby ignore the XID in the RPC header, if it so chooses.

5.1.2.  Version number

   For RPC-over-RDMA Version One, this field MUST contain the value 1
   (one).  Further discussion of protocol extensibility can be found in
   Section 9.

5.1.3.  Flow control credit value

   When sent in an RPC call message, the requested credit value is
   provided.  When sent in an RPC reply message, the granted credit
   value is returned.  RPC calls SHOULD NOT be sent in excess of the
   currently granted limit.  Further discussion of flow control can be
   found in Section 4.3.

5.1.4.  Message type

   o  RDMA_MSG = 0 indicates that chunk lists and an RPC message follow.
      The format of the chunk lists is discussed below.

   o  RDMA_NOMSG = 1 indicates that after the chunk lists there is no
      RPC message.  In this case, the chunk lists provide information to
      allow the responder to transfer the RPC message using RDMA Read or
      Write operations.

   o  RDMA_MSGP = 2 is reserved, and no longer used.

   o  RDMA_DONE = 3 is reserved, and no longer used.

   o  RDMA_ERROR = 4 is used to signal a responder-detected error in
      RDMA chunk encoding.

   For a message of type RDMA_MSG, the four fixed fields are followed by
   the Read and Write lists and the Reply chunk (though any or all three
   MAY be marked as not present), then an RPC message, beginning with
   its XID field.  The Send buffer holds two separate XDR streams: the
   first XDR stream contains the RPC-over-RDMA header, and the second
   XDR stream contains the RPC message.





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   For a message of type RDMA_NOMSG, the four fixed fields are followed
   by the Read and Write chunk lists and the Reply chunk (though any or
   all three MAY be marked as not present).  The Send buffer holds one
   XDR stream which contains the RPC-over-RDMA header.

   For a message of type RDMA_ERROR, the four fixed fields are followed
   by formatted error information.

   The above content (the fixed fields, the chunk lists, and the RPC
   message, when present) MUST be conveyed via a single RDMA Send
   operation.  A gather operation on the Send can be used to marshal the
   separate RPC-over-RDMA header, the chunk lists, and the RPC message
   itself.  However, the total length of the gathered send buffers
   cannot exceed the peer's inline threshold.

5.2.  Chunk Lists

   The chunk lists in an RPC-over-RDMA Version One header are three XDR
   optional-data fields that MUST follow the fixed header fields in
   RDMA_MSG and RDMA_NOMSG type messages.  Read Section 4.19 of
   [RFC4506] carefully to understand how optional-data fields work.
   Examples of XDR encoded chunk lists are provided in Section 13.1 to
   aid understanding.

5.2.1.  Read List

   Each RPC-over-RDMA Version One header has one "Read list."  The Read
   list is a list of zero or more Read segments, provided by the
   requester, that are grouped by their Position fields into Read
   chunks.  Each Read chunk advertises the locations of data the
   responder is to pull via RDMA Read operations.  The requester SHOULD
   sort the chunks in the Read list in Position order.

   Via a Position Zero Read Chunk, a requester may provide part or all
   of an entire RPC call message as the first chunk in this list.

   The Read list MAY be empty if the RPC call has no argument data that
   is DDP-eligible and the Position Zero Read Chunk is not being used.

5.2.2.  Write List

   Each RPC-over-RDMA Version One header has one "Write list."  The
   Write list is a list of zero or more Write chunks, provided by the
   requester.  Each Write chunk is an array of RDMA segments, thus the
   Write list is a list of counted arrays.  Each Write chunk advertises
   receptacles for DDP-eligible data to be pushed by the responder.





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   When a Write list is provided for the results of the RPC call, the
   responder MUST provide any corresponding data via RDMA Write to the
   memory referenced in the chunk's segments.  The Write list MAY be
   empty if the RPC operation has no DDP-eligible result data.

   When multiple Write chunks are present, the responder fills in each
   Write chunk with a DDP-eligible result until either there are no more
   results or no more Write chunks.  An Upper Layer Binding MUST
   determine how Write list entries are mapped to procedure arguments
   for each Upper Layer procedure.  For details, see Section 6.

   The RPC reply conveys the size of result data by returning the Write
   list to the requester with the lengths rewritten to match the actual
   transfer.  Decoding the reply therefore performs no local data
   transfer but merely returns the length obtained from the reply.

   Each decoded result consumes one entry in the Write list, which in
   turn consists of an array of RDMA segments.  The length of a Write
   chunk is therefore the sum of all returned lengths in all segments
   comprising the corresponding list entry.  As each Write chunk is
   decoded, the entire entry is consumed.

5.2.3.  Reply Chunk

   Each RPC-over-RDMA Version One header has one "Reply Chunk."  The
   Reply Chunk is a Write chunk, provided by the requester.  The Reply
   Chunk is a single counted array of RDMA segments.  A responder MAY
   convey part or all of an entire RPC reply message in this chunk.

   A requester provides the Reply chunk whenever it predicts the
   responder's reply might not fit in an RDMA Send operation.  A
   requester MAY choose to provide the Reply chunk even when the
   responder can return only a small reply.

5.3.  Forming Messages

5.3.1.  Short Messages

   A Short Message without chunks is contained entirely within a single
   RDMA Send Operation.  Since the RPC call message immediately follows
   the RPC-over-RDMA header in the send buffer, the requester MUST set
   the message type to RDMA_MSG.









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   <------------------ RPC-over-RDMA header --------------->
   +--------+---------+---------+------------+-------------+ +----------
   |        |         |         |            |     NULL    | | Whole
   |  XID   | Version | Credits |  RDMA_MSG  | Chunk Lists | |  RPC
   |        |         |         |            |             | | Message
   +--------+---------+---------+------------+-------------+ +----------


5.3.2.  Chunked Messages

   A Chunked Message is similar to a Short Message, but the RPC message
   does not contain the chunk data.  Since the RPC call message
   immediately follows the RPC-over-RDMA header in the send buffer, the
   requester MUST set the message type to RDMA_MSG.


   <------------------ RPC-over-RDMA header --------------->
   +--------+---------+---------+------------+-------------+ +----------
   |        |         |         |            |             | | Modified
   |  XID   | Version | Credits |  RDMA_MSG  | Chunk Lists | |   RPC
   |        |         |         |            |             | | Message
   +--------+---------+---------+------------+-------------+ +----------
                                                |
                                                |  +----------
                                                |  |
                                                +->| Chunks
                                                   |
                                                   +----------


5.3.3.  Long Call Messages

   To send a Long Call Message, the requester registers the memory
   containing the RPC call message and adds a chunk to the Read List at
   Position Zero.  Since the RPC call message does not follow the RPC-
   over-RDMA header in the send buffer, the requester MUST set the
   message type to RDMA_NOMSG.














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      <------------------ RPC-over-RDMA header --------------->
      +--------+---------+---------+------------+-------------+
      |        |         |         |            |             |
      |  XID   | Version | Credits | RDMA_NOMSG | Chunk Lists |
      |        |         |         |            |             |
      +--------+---------+---------+------------+-------------+
                                                   |
                                                   |  +----------
                                                   |  | RPC Call
                                                   +->|
                                                      | Message
                                                      +----------


   If a responder gets an RPC-over-RDMA header with a message type of
   RDMA_NOMSG and finds an initial Read list entry with a zero XDR
   position, it allocates a registered buffer and issues an RDMA Read of
   the RPC message into it.  The responder then proceeds to XDR decode
   the RPC message as if it had received it with the Send data.  Further
   decoding may issue additional RDMA Reads to bring over additional
   chunks.


       Requester                             Responder
           |        RDMA-over-RPC Header         |
      Send |   ------------------------------>   |
           |                                     |
           |          Long RPC Call Msg          |
           |   <------------------------------   | Read
           |   ------------------------------>   |
           |                                     |
           |         RDMA-over-RPC Reply         |
           |   <------------------------------   | Send


            A long call RPC with request supplied via RDMA Read

5.3.4.  Long Reply Messages

   To send a Long Reply Message, the requester MAY register a large
   buffer into which the responder can write an RPC reply.  This buffer
   is passed to the responder in the RPC call message as the Reply
   chunk.

   If the responder's reply message is too long to return with an RDMA
   Send operation, even after Write chunks are removed, then the
   responder performs an RDMA Write of the RPC reply message into the
   buffer indicated by the Reply chunk.  Since the RPC reply message



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   does not follow the RPC-over-RDMA header in the send buffer, the
   responder MUST set the message type to RDMA_NOMSG.


      <------------------ RPC-over-RDMA header --------------->
      +--------+---------+---------+------------+-------------+
      |        |         |         |            |             |
      |  XID   | Version | Credits | RDMA_NOMSG | Chunk Lists |
      |        |         |         |            |             |
      +--------+---------+---------+------------+-------------+
                                                   |
                                                   |  +----------
                                                   |  | RPC Reply
                                                   +->|
                                                      | Message
                                                      +----------



       Requester                             Responder
           |      RPC Call with Reply chunk      |
      Send |   ------------------------------>   |
           |                                     |
           |          Long RPC Reply Msg         |
           |   <------------------------------   | Write
           |         RDMA-over-RPC Header        |
           |   <------------------------------   | Send


              An RPC with long reply returned via RDMA Write

   The use of RDMA Write to return long replies requires that the
   requester anticipates a long reply and has some knowledge of its size
   so that an adequately sized buffer can be allocated.  Typically the
   Upper Layer Protocol can limit the size of RPC replies appropriately.

   It is possible for a single RPC procedure to employ both a long call
   for its arguments and a long reply for its results.  However, such an
   operation is atypical, as few upper layers define such exchanges.

5.4.  Memory Registration

   RDMA requires that all data be transferred between registered memory
   regions at the source and destination.  All protocol headers as well
   as separately transferred data chunks use registered memory.  Since
   the cost of registering and de-registering memory can be a large
   proportion of the RDMA transaction cost, it is important to minimize
   registration activity.  This is easily achieved within RPC-controlled



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   memory by allocating chunk list data and RPC headers in a reusable
   way from pre-registered pools.

   Data chunks transferred via RDMA Read and Write MAY occupy memory
   that persists outside the bounds of the RPC transaction.  Hence, the
   default behavior of an RPC-over-RDMA transport is to register and
   invalidate these chunks on every RPC transaction.  The requester
   transport implementation must ensure that these memory regions are
   properly fenced from the responder before allowing Upper Layer access
   to the data contained in them.

   The interface by which an upper-layer implementation communicates the
   eligibility of a data item locally to RPC for chunking is out of
   scope for this specification.  Depending on the implementation and
   constraints imposed by Upper Layer Bindings, it is possible to
   implement an RPC chunking facility that is transparent to upper
   layers.  However, such implementations may lead to inefficiencies,
   either because they require the RPC layer to perform expensive
   registration and de-registration of memory "on the fly", or they may
   require using RDMA chunks in reply messages, along with the resulting
   additional handshaking with the RPC-over-RDMA peer.  However, these
   issues are internal and generally confined to the local interface
   between RPC and its upper layers, one in which implementations are
   free to innovate.  The only requirement is that the resulting RPC-
   over-RDMA protocol sent to the peer is valid for the upper layer.

   The choice of which memory registration strategies to employ is left
   to requester and responder implementers.  To support the widest array
   of RDMA implementations, as well as the most general steering tag
   scheme, an Offset field is included in each segment.

   While zero-based offset schemes are available in many RDMA
   implementations, their use by RPC requires individual registration of
   each segment.  For such implementations, this can be a significant
   overhead.  By providing an offset in each chunk, many pre-
   registration or region-based registrations can be readily supported.
   By using a single, universal chunk representation, the RPC-over-RDMA
   protocol implementation is simplified to its most general form.

5.5.  Handling Errors

   When a peer receives an RPC-over-RDMA message, it MUST perform basic
   validity checks on the header and chunk contents.  If such errors are
   detected in the request, an RDMA_ERROR reply MUST be generated.

   Two types of errors are defined, version mismatch and invalid chunk
   format.




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   o  When a responder detects an RPC-over-RDMA header version that it
      does not support (currently this document defines only Version
      One), it replies with an error code of ERR_VERS, and provides the
      low and high inclusive version numbers it does, in fact, support.
      The version number in this reply MUST be any value otherwise valid
      at the receiver.

   o  When a responder detects other decoding errors in the header or
      chunks, one of the following errors MUST be returned: either an
      RPC decode error such as RPC_GARBAGEARGS, or the RPC-over-RDMA
      error code ERR_CHUNK.

   When a requester cannot parse a responder's reply, the requester
   SHOULD drop the RPC request and return an error to the application to
   prevent retransmission of an operation that can never complete.

   A requester might not provide a responder with enough resources to
   reply.  For example, if a requester's receive buffer is too small,
   the responder's Send operation completes with a Local Length Error,
   and the connection is dropped.  Or, if the requester's Reply chunk is
   too small to accommodate the whole RPC reply, the responder can tell
   as it is constructing the reply.  The responder SHOULD send a reply
   with RDMA_ERROR to signal to the requester that no RPC-level reply is
   possible, and the XID should not be retried.

   It is assumed that the link itself will provide some degree of error
   detection and retransmission.  iWARP's Marker PDU Aligned (MPA) layer
   (when used over TCP), Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP), as
   well as the InfiniBand link layer all provide Cyclic Redundancy Check
   (CRC) protection of the RDMA payload, and CRC-class protection is a
   general attribute of such transports.

   Additionally, the RPC layer itself can accept errors from the link
   level and recover via retransmission.  RPC recovery can handle
   complete loss and re-establishment of the link.  The details of
   reporting and recovery from RDMA link layer errors are outside the
   scope of this protocol specification.

   See Section 10 for further discussion of the use of RPC-level
   integrity schemes to detect errors and related efficiency issues.

5.6.  XDR Language Description

   Code components extracted from this document must include the
   following license boilerplate.


   <CODE BEGINS>



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      /*
       * Copyright (c) 2010, 2015 IETF Trust and the persons
       * identified as authors of the code.  All rights reserved.
       *
       * The authors of the code are:
       * B. Callaghan, T. Talpey, and C. Lever.
       *
       * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with
       * or without modification, are permitted provided that the
       * following conditions are met:
       *
       * - Redistributions of source code must retain the above
       *   copyright notice, this list of conditions and the
       *   following disclaimer.
       *
       * - Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above
       *   copyright notice, this list of conditions and the
       *   following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other
       *   materials provided with the distribution.
       *
       * - Neither the name of Internet Society, IETF or IETF
       *   Trust, nor the names of specific contributors, may be
       *   used to endorse or promote products derived from this
       *   software without specific prior written permission.
       *
       *   THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS
       *   AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED
       *   WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
       *   IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS
       *   FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO
       *   EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE
       *   LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL,
       *   EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT
       *   NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR
       *   SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS
       *   INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF
       *   LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY,
       *   OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING
       *   IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF
       *   ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
       */

      struct rpcrdma1_segment {
              uint32 rdma_handle;
              uint32 rdma_length;
              uint64 rdma_offset;
      };




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      struct rpcrdma1_read_segment {
              uint32                  rdma_position;
              struct rpcrdma1_segment rdma_target;
      };

      struct rpcrdma1_read_list {
              struct rpcrdma1_read_segment rdma_entry;
              struct rpcrdma1_read_list    *rdma_next;
      };

      struct rpcrdma1_write_chunk {
              struct rpcrdma1_segment rdma_target<>;
      };

      struct rpcrdma1_write_list {
              struct rpcrdma1_write_chunk rdma_entry;
              struct rpcrdma1_write_list  *rdma_next;
      };

      struct rpcrdma1_msg {
              uint32        rdma_xid;
              uint32        rdma_vers;
              uint32        rdma_credit;
              rpcrdma1_body rdma_body;
      };

      enum rpcrdma1_proc {
              RDMA_MSG = 0,
              RDMA_NOMSG = 1,
              RDMA_MSGP = 2,  /* Reserved */
              RDMA_DONE = 3,  /* Reserved */
              RDMA_ERROR = 4
      };

      struct rpcrdma1_chunks {
              struct rpcrdma1_read_list   *rdma_reads;
              struct rpcrdma1_write_list  *rdma_writes;
              struct rpcrdma1_write_chunk *rdma_reply;
      };

      enum rpcrdma1_errcode {
              RDMA_ERR_VERS = 1,
              RDMA_ERR_CHUNK = 2
      };

      union rpcrdma1_error switch (rpcrdma1_errcode err) {
              case RDMA_ERR_VERS:
                uint32 rdma_vers_low;



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                uint32 rdma_vers_high;
              case RDMA_ERR_CHUNK:
                void;
      };

      union rdma_body switch (rpcrdma1_proc proc) {
              case RDMA_MSG:
              case RDMA_NOMSG:
                rpcrdma1_chunks rdma_chunks;
              case RDMA_MSGP:
                uint32          rdma_align;
                uint32          rdma_thresh;
                rpcrdma1_chunks rdma_achunks;
              case RDMA_DONE:
                void;
              case RDMA_ERROR:
                rpcrdma1_error rdma_error;
      };

   <CODE ENDS>


5.7.  Deprecated Protocol Elements

5.7.1.  RDMA_MSGP

   Implementers of RPC-over-RDMA Version One have neglected to make use
   of the RDMA_MSGP message type.  Therefore RDMA_MSGP is deprecated.

   Senders SHOULD NOT send RDMA_MSGP type messages.  Receivers MUST
   treat received RDMA_MSGP type messages as they would treat RDMA_MSG
   type messages.  The additional alignment information is an
   optimization hint that may be ignored.

5.7.2.  RDMA_DONE

   Because implementations of RPC-over-RDMA Version One do not use the
   Read-Read transfer model, there should never be any need to send an
   RDMA_DONE type message.  Therefore RDMA_DONE is deprecated.

   Receivers MUST drop RDMA_DONE type messages without additional
   processing.

6.  Upper Layer Binding Specifications

   Each RPC program and version tuple that operates on an RDMA transport
   MUST have an Upper Layer Binding specification.  A ULB may be part of




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   another protocol specification, or it may be a stand-alone document,
   similar to [RFC5667].

   A ULB specification MUST provide four important pieces of
   information:

   o  Which XDR data items in the RPC program are eligible for Direct
      Data Placement

   o  How a responder utilizes chunks provided in a Write list

   o  How DDP-eligibility violations are reported to peers

   o  An rpcbind port assignment for operation of the RPC program on
      RDMA transports

6.1.  Determining DDP-Eligibility

   A DDP-eligible XDR data item is one that MAY be moved in a chunk.
   All other XDR data items MUST NOT be moved in a chunk that is part of
   a Short or Chunked Message, nor as a separate chunk in a Long
   Message.

   Only an XDR data item that might benefit from Direct Data Placement
   should be transferred in a chunk.  An Upper Layer Binding
   specification should consider an XDR data item for DDP-eligibility if
   the data item can be larger than a Send buffer, and at least one of
   the following:

   o  Is sensitive to page alignment (eg. it would require pullup on the
      receiver before it can be used)

   o  Is not translated or marshaled when it is XDR encoded (eg. an
      opaque array)

   o  Is not immediately used by applications (eg. is part of data
      backup or replication)

   The Upper Layer Protocol implementation or the RDMA transport
   implementation decide when to move a DDP-eligible data item into a
   chunk instead of leaving the item in the RPC message's XDR stream.
   The interface by which an Upper Layer implementation communicates the
   chunk eligibility of a data item locally to the RPC transport is out
   of scope for this specification.  The only requirement is that the
   resulting RPC-over-RDMA protocol sent to the peer is valid for the
   Upper Layer.





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   The XDR language definition of DDP-eligible data items is not
   decorated in any way.

   It is the responsibility of the protocol's Upper Layer Binding to
   specify DDP-eligibity rules so that if a DDP-eligible XDR data item
   is embedded within another, only one of these two objects is to be
   represented by a chunk.  This ensures that the mapping from XDR
   position to the XDR object represented is unambiguous.

   An Upper Layer Binding is considered ready to publish when:

   o  Every XDR data type in the protocol has been considered for DDP-
      eligibility

   o  Long Messages

6.2.  Write List Ordering

   Place holder

   An Upper Layer Binding MUST determine how Write list entries are
   mapped to procedure arguments for each Upper Layer procedure.

6.3.  DDP-Eligibility Violation

   If the Upper Layer on a receiver is not aware of the presence and
   operation of an RPC-over-RDMA transport under it, it could be
   challenging to discover when a sender has violated an Upper Layer
   Binding rule.

   If a violation does occur, RFC 5666 does not define an unambiguous
   mechanism for reporting the violation.  The violation of Binding
   rules is an Upper Layer Protocol issue, but it is likely that there
   is nothing the Upper Layer can do but reply with the equivalent of
   BAD XDR.

   When an erroneously-constructed reply reaches a requester, there is
   no recourse but to drop the reply, and perhaps the transport
   connection as well.

   Policing DDP-eligibility must be done in co-operation with the Upper
   Layer Protocol by its receive endpoint implementation.

   It is the Upper Layer Binding's responsibility to specify how a
   responder must reply if a requester violates a DDP-eligibilty rule.
   The Binding specification should provide similar guidance for
   requesters about handling invalid RPC-over-RDMA replies.




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6.4.  Other Binding Information

   An Upper Layer Binding may recommend inline threshold values for RPC-
   over-RDMA Version One connections bearing that Upper Layer Protocol.
   However, note that RPC-over-RDMA connections can be shared by more
   than one Upper Layer Protocol, and that mechanisms such as CCP often
   apply to all connections and Protocols that flow between two peers.

   If an Upper Layer Protocol specifies a method for exchanging inline
   threshold information, the sender can find out the receiver's
   threshold value only subsequent to establishing an RPC-over-RDMA
   connection.  The new threshold value can take effect only when a new
   connection is established.

7.  RPC Bind Parameters

   In setting up a new RDMA connection, the first action by a requester
   is to obtain a transport address for the responder.  The mechanism
   used to obtain this address, and to open an RDMA connection is
   dependent on the type of RDMA transport, and is the responsibility of
   each RPC protocol binding and its local implementation.

   RPC services normally register with a portmap or rpcbind [RFC1833]
   service, which associates an RPC program number with a service
   address.  (In the case of UDP or TCP, the service address for NFS is
   normally port 2049.)  This policy is no different with RDMA
   transports, although it may require the allocation of port numbers
   appropriate to each Upper Layer Protocol that uses the RPC framing
   defined here.

   When mapped atop the iWARP transport [RFC5040] [RFC5041], which uses
   IP port addressing due to its layering on TCP and/or SCTP, port
   mapping is trivial and consists merely of issuing the port in the
   connection process.  The NFS/RDMA protocol service address has been
   assigned port 20049 by IANA, for both iWARP/TCP and iWARP/SCTP.

   When mapped atop InfiniBand [IB], which uses a Group Identifier
   (GID)-based service endpoint naming scheme, a translation MUST be
   employed.  One such translation is defined in the InfiniBand Port
   Addressing Annex [IBPORT], which is appropriate for translating IP
   port addressing to the InfiniBand network.  Therefore, in this case,
   IP port addressing may be readily employed by the upper layer.

   When a mapping standard or convention exists for IP ports on an RDMA
   interconnect, there are several possibilities for each upper layer to
   consider:





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   o  One possibility is to have responder register its mapped IP port
      with the rpcbind service, under the netid (or netid's) defined
      here.  An RPC-over-RDMA-aware requester can then resolve its
      desired service to a mappable port, and proceed to connect.  This
      is the most flexible and compatible approach, for those upper
      layers that are defined to use the rpcbind service.

   o  A second possibility is to have the responder's portmapper
      register itself on the RDMA interconnect at a "well known" service
      address.  (On UDP or TCP, this corresponds to port 111.)  A
      requester could connect to this service address and use the
      portmap protocol to obtain a service address in response to a
      program number, e.g., an iWARP port number, or an InfiniBand GID.

   o  Alternatively, the requester could simply connect to the mapped
      well-known port for the service itself, if it is appropriately
      defined.  By convention, the NFS/RDMA service, when operating atop
      such an InfiniBand fabric, will use the same 20049 assignment as
      for iWARP.

   Historically, different RPC protocols have taken different approaches
   to their port assignment; therefore, the specific method is left to
   each RPC-over-RDMA-enabled Upper Layer binding, and not addressed
   here.

   In Section 12, "IANA Considerations", this specification defines two
   new "netid" values, to be used for registration of upper layers atop
   iWARP [RFC5040] [RFC5041] and (when a suitable port translation
   service is available) InfiniBand [IB].  Additional RDMA-capable
   networks MAY define their own netids, or if they provide a port
   translation, MAY share the one defined here.

8.  Bi-directional RPC-over-RDMA

8.1.  RPC Direction

8.1.1.  Forward Direction

   A traditional ONC RPC client is always a requester.  A traditional
   ONC RPC service is always a responder.  This traditional form of ONC
   RPC message passing is referred to as operation in the "forward
   direction."

   During forward direction operation, the ONC RPC client is responsible
   for establishing transport connections.






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8.1.2.  Backward Direction

   The ONC RPC standard does not forbid passing messages in the other
   direction.  An ONC RPC service endpoint can act as a requester, in
   which case an ONC RPC client endpoint acts as a responder.  This form
   of message passing is referred to as operation in the "backward
   direction."

   During backward direction operation, the ONC RPC client is
   responsible for establishing transport connections, even though ONC
   RPC Calls come from the ONC RPC server.

8.1.3.  Bi-direction

   A pair of endpoints may choose to use only forward or only backward
   direction operations on a particular transport.  Or, the endpoints
   may send operations in both directions concurrently on the same
   transport.

   Bi-directional operation occurs when both transport endpoints act as
   a requester and a responder at the same time.  As above, the ONC RPC
   client is responsible for establishing transport connections.

8.1.4.  XIDs with Bi-direction

   During bi-directional operation, the forward and backward directions
   use independent xid spaces.

   In other words, a forward direction requester MAY use the same xid
   value at the same time as a backward direction requester on the same
   transport connection, but such concurrent requests use represent
   distinct ONC RPC transactions.

8.2.  Backward Direction Flow Control

8.2.1.  Backward RPC-over-RDMA Credits

   Credits work the same way in the backward direction as they do in the
   forward direction.  However, forward direction credits and backward
   direction credits are accounted separately.

   In other words, the forward direction credit value is the same
   whether or not there are backward direction resources associated with
   an RPC-over-RDMA transport connection.  The backward direction credit
   value MAY be different than the forward direction credit value.  The
   rdma_credit field in a backward direction RPC-over-RDMA message MUST
   NOT contain the value zero.




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   A backward direction requester (an RPC-over-RDMA service endpoint)
   requests credits from the Responder (an RPC-over-RDMA client
   endpoint).  The Responder reports how many credits it can grant.
   This is the number of backward direction Calls the Responder is
   prepared to handle at once.

   When an RPC-over-RDMA server endpoint is operating correctly, it
   sends no more outstanding requests at a time than the client
   endpoint's advertised backward direction credit value.

8.2.2.  Receive Buffer Management

   An RPC-over-RDMA transport endpoint must pre-post receive buffers
   before it can receive and process incoming RPC-over-RDMA messages.
   If a sender transmits a message for a receiver which has no posted
   receive buffer, the RDMA provider is allowed to drop the RDMA
   connection.

8.2.2.1.  Client Receive Buffers

   Typically an RPC-over-RDMA caller posts only as many receive buffers
   as there are outstanding RPC Calls.  A client endpoint without
   backward direction support might therefore at times have no pre-
   posted receive buffers.

   To receive incoming backward direction Calls, an RPC-over-RDMA client
   endpoint must pre-post enough additional receive buffers to match its
   advertised backward direction credit value.  Each outstanding forward
   direction RPC requires an additional receive buffer above this
   minimum.

   When an RDMA transport connection is lost, all active receive buffers
   are flushed and are no longer available to receive incoming messages.
   When a fresh transport connection is established, a client endpoint
   must re-post a receive buffer to handle the Reply for each
   retransmitted forward direction Call, and a full set of receive
   buffers to handle backward direction Calls.

8.2.2.2.  Server Receive Buffers

   A forward direction RPC-over-RDMA service endpoint posts as many
   receive buffers as it expects incoming forward direction Calls.  That
   is, it posts no fewer buffers than the number of RPC-over-RDMA
   credits it advertises in the rdma_credit field of forward direction
   RPC replies.






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   To receive incoming backward direction replies, an RPC-over-RDMA
   server endpoint must pre-post a receive buffer for each backward
   direction Call it sends.

   When the existing transport connection is lost, all active receive
   buffers are flushed and are no longer available to receive incoming
   messages.  When a fresh transport connection is established, a server
   endpoint must re-post a receive buffer to handle the Reply for each
   retransmitted backward direction Call, and a full set of receive
   buffers for receiving forward direction Calls.

8.3.  Conventions For Backward Operation

8.3.1.  In the Absense of Backward Direction Support

   An RPC-over-RDMA transport endpoint might not support backward
   direction operation.  There might be no mechanism in the transport
   implementation to do so, or the Upper Layer Protocol consumer might
   not yet have configured the transport to handle backward direction
   traffic.

   A loss of the RDMA connection may result if the receiver is not
   prepared to receive an incoming message.  Thus a denial-of-service
   could result if a sender continues to send backchannel messages after
   every transport reconnect to an endpoint that is not prepared to
   receive them.

   For RPC-over-RDMA Version One transports, the Upper Layer Protocol is
   responsible for informing its peer when it has established a backward
   direction capability.  Otherwise even a simple backward direction
   NULL probe from a peer would result in a lost connection.

   An Upper Layer Protocol consumer MUST NOT perform backward direction
   ONC RPC operations unless the peer consumer has indicated it is
   prepared to handle them.  A description of Upper Layer Protocol
   mechanisms used for this indication is outside the scope of this
   document.

8.3.2.  Backward Direction Retransmission

   In rare cases, an ONC RPC transaction cannot be completed within a
   certain time.  This can be because the transport connection was lost,
   the Call or Reply message was dropped, or because the Upper Layer
   consumer delayed or dropped the ONC RPC request.  Typically, the
   requester sends the transaction again, reusing the same RPC XID.
   This is known as an "RPC retransmission".





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   In the forward direction, the Caller is the ONC RPC client.  The
   client is always responsible for establishing a transport connection
   before sending again.

   In the backward direction, the Caller is the ONC RPC server.  Because
   an ONC RPC server does not establish transport connections with
   clients, it cannot send a retransmission if there is no transport
   connection.  It must wait for the ONC RPC client to re-establish the
   transport connection before it can retransmit ONC RPC transactions in
   the backward direction.

   If an ONC RPC client has no work to do, it may be some time before it
   re-establishes a transport connection.  Backward direction Callers
   must be prepared to wait indefinitely before a connection is
   established before a pending backward direction ONC RPC Call can be
   retransmitted.

8.3.3.  Backward Direction Message Size

   RPC-over-RDMA backward direction messages are transmitted and
   received using the same buffers as messages in the forward direction.
   Therefore they are constrained to be no larger than receive buffers
   posted for forward messages.  Typical implementations have chosen to
   use 1024-byte buffers.

   It is expected that the Upper Layer Protocol consumer establishes an
   appropriate payload size limit for backward direction operations,
   either by advertising that size limit to its peers, or by convention.
   If that is done, backward direction messages do not exceed the size
   of receive buffers at either endpoint.

   If a sender transmits a backward direction message that is larger
   than the receiver is prepared for, the RDMA provider drops the
   message and the RDMA connection.

   If a sender transmits an RDMA message that is too small to convey a
   complete and valid RPC-over-RDMA and RPC message in either direction,
   the receiver MUST NOT use any value in the fields that were
   transmitted.  Namely, the rdma_credit field MUST be ignored, and the
   message dropped.

8.3.4.  Sending A Backward Direction Call

   To form a backward direction RPC-over-RDMA Call message on an RPC-
   over-RDMA Version One transport, an ONC RPC service endpoint
   constructs an RPC-over-RDMA header containing a fresh RPC XID in the
   rdma_xid field.




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   The rdma_vers field MUST contain the value one.  The number of
   requested credits is placed in the rdma_credit field.

   The rdma_proc field in the RPC-over-RDMA header MUST contain the
   value RDMA_MSG.  All three chunk lists MUST be empty.

   The ONC RPC Call header MUST follow immediately, starting with the
   same XID value that is present in the RPC-over-RDMA header.  The Call
   header's msg_type field MUST contain the value CALL.

8.3.5.  Sending A Backward Direction Reply

   To form a backward direction RPC-over-RDMA Reply message on an RPC-
   over-RDMA Version One transport, an ONC RPC client endpoint
   constructs an RPC-over-RDMA header containing a copy of the matching
   ONC RPC Call's RPC XID in the rdma_xid field.

   The rdma_vers field MUST contain the value one.  The number of
   granted credits is placed in the rdma_credit field.

   The rdma_proc field in the RPC-over-RDMA header MUST contain the
   value RDMA_MSG.  All three chunk lists MUST be empty.

   The ONC RPC Reply header MUST follow immediately, starting with the
   same XID value that is present in the RPC-over-RDMA header.  The
   Reply header's msg_type field MUST contain the value REPLY.

8.4.  Backward Direction Upper Layer Binding

   RPC programs that operate on RPC-over-RDMA Version One only in the
   backward direction do not require an Upper Layer Binding
   specification.  Because RPC-over-RDMA Version One operation in the
   backward direction does not allow chunking, there can be no DDP-
   eligible data items in such a program.  Backward direction operation
   occurs on an already-established connection, thus there is no need to
   specify RPC bind parameters.

9.  Transport Protocol Extensibility

   RPC programs are defined solely by their XDR definitions.  They are
   independent of the transport mechanism used to convey base RPC
   messages.  Protocols defined by XDR often have signifcant
   extensibility restrictions placed on them.

   Not all extensibility restrictions on RPC-based Upper Layer Protocols
   may be appropriate for an RPC transport protocol.  TCP [RFC0793], for
   example, is an RPC transport protocol that has been extended many
   times independently of the RPC and XDR standards.



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   RPC-over-RDMA might be considered as an extension of the RPC protocol
   rather than a separate transport, however.

   o  The mechanisms that TCP uses to move data are opaque to the RPC
      implementation and RPC programs using it.  Upper Layer Protocols
      are often aware that RPC-over-RDMA is present, as they identify
      data items that can be moved via direct data placement.

   o  RPC-over-RDMA is used only for moving RPC messages, and not ever
      for generic data transfer.

   o  RPC-over-RDMA relies on a more sophisticated set of base transport
      operations than traditional socket-based transports.
      Interoperability depends on RPC-over-RDMA implementations using
      these operations in a predictable way.

   o  The RPC-over-RDMA header is specified using XDR, unlike other RPC
      transport protocols.

9.1.  Bumping The RPC-over-RDMA Version

   Place holder section.

   Because the version number is encoded as part of the RPC-over-RDMA
   header and the RDMA_ERROR message type is used to indicate errors,
   these first four fields and the start of the chunk lists MUST always
   remain aligned at the same fixed offsets for all versions of the RPC-
   over-RDMA header.

   The value of the RPC-over-RDMA header's version field MUST be changed

   o  Whenever the on-the-wire format of the RPC-over-RDMA header is
      changed in a way that prevents interoperability with current
      implementations

   o  Whenever the set of abstract RDMA operations that may be used is
      changed

   o  Whenever the set of allowable transfer models is altered

10.  Security Considerations

   A primary consideration is the protection of the integrity and
   privacy of local memory by the RDMA transport itself.  The use of
   RPC-over-RDMA MUST NOT introduce any vulnerabilities to system memory
   contents, or to memory owned by user processes.  These protections
   are provided by the RDMA layer specifications, and specifically their
   security models.



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   It is REQUIRED that any RDMA provider used for RPC transport be
   conformant to the requirements of [RFC5042] in order to satisfy these
   protections.  Best practices to ensure memory contents are completely
   protected during an RPC transaction include the following.

   o  The use of Protection Domains to limit the exposure of memory
      regions to a single connection is critical.  Any attempt by a host
      not participating in that connection to re-use handles will result
      in a connection failure.  Because Upper Layer Protocol security
      mechanisms rely on this aspect of Reliable Connection behavior,
      strong authentication of the remote is recommended.

   o  Unpredictable memory handles should be used for any operation
      requiring advertised memory regions.  Advertising a continuously
      registered memory region allows a remote host to read or write to
      that region even when an RPC involving that memory is not under
      way.  Therefore advertising persistently registered memory should
      be avoided.

   o  Advertised memory regions should be invalidated as soon as related
      RPC operations are complete.  Invalidation and DMA unmapping of
      regions should be complete before an RPC application is allowed to
      continue execution and use the contents of a memory region.

   Once delivered securely by the RDMA provider, any RDMA-exposed
   addresses will contain only RPC payloads in the chunk lists,
   transferred under the protection of RPCSEC_GSS integrity and privacy.
   By these means, the data will be protected end-to-end, as required by
   the RPC layer security model.

   RPC provides its own security via the RPCSEC_GSS framework [RFC2203].
   RPCSEC_GSS can provide message authentication, integrity checking,
   and privacy.  This security mechanism is unaffected by the RDMA
   transport.  However, there is much data movement associated with
   computation and verification of integrity, or encryption/decryption,
   so certain performance advantages may be lost.

   For efficiency, a more appropriate security mechanism for RDMA links
   may be link-level protection, such as certain configurations of
   IPsec, which may be co-located in the RDMA hardware.  The use of
   link-level protection MAY be negotiated through the use of the
   RPCSEC_GSS mechanism defined in [RFC5403] in conjunction with the
   Channel Binding mechanism [RFC5056] and IPsec Channel Connection
   Latching [RFC5660].  Use of such mechanisms is REQUIRED where
   integrity and/or privacy is desired, and where efficiency is
   required.





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11.  IANA Considerations

   Three new assignments are specified by this document:

   - A new set of RPC "netids" for resolving RPC-over-RDMA services

   - Optional service port assignments for Upper Layer Bindings

   - An RPC program number assignment for the configuration protocol

   These assignments have been established, as below.

   The new RPC transport has been assigned an RPC "netid", which is an
   rpcbind [RFC1833] string used to describe the underlying protocol in
   order for RPC to select the appropriate transport framing, as well as
   the format of the service addresses and ports.

   The following "Netid" registry strings are defined for this purpose:


      NC_RDMA "rdma"
      NC_RDMA6 "rdma6"


   These netids MAY be used for any RDMA network satisfying the
   requirements of Section 2, and able to identify service endpoints
   using IP port addressing, possibly through use of a translation
   service as described above in Section 10, "RPC Binding".  The "rdma"
   netid is to be used when IPv4 addressing is employed by the
   underlying transport, and "rdma6" for IPv6 addressing.

   The netid assignment policy and registry are defined in [RFC5665].

   As a new RPC transport, this protocol has no effect on RPC program
   numbers or existing registered port numbers.  However, new port
   numbers MAY be registered for use by RPC-over-RDMA-enabled services,
   as appropriate to the new networks over which the services will
   operate.

   For example, the NFS/RDMA service defined in [RFC5667] has been
   assigned the port 20049, in the IANA registry:


      nfsrdma 20049/tcp Network File System (NFS) over RDMA
      nfsrdma 20049/udp Network File System (NFS) over RDMA
      nfsrdma 20049/sctp Network File System (NFS) over RDMA





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   The RPC program number assignment policy and registry are defined in
   [RFC5531].

12.  Acknowledgments

   The editor gratefully acknowledges the work of Brent Callaghan and
   Tom Talpey on the original RPC-over-RDMA Version One specification
   [RFC5666].

   The comments and contributions of Karen Deitke, William Simpson, Dai
   Ngo, Chunli Zhang, Dominique Martinet, and Mahesh Siddheshwar are
   accepted with many and great thanks.  The editor also wishes to thank
   Dave Noveck and Bill Baker for their unwavering support of this work.

   Special thanks go to nfsv4 Working Group Chair Spencer Shepler and
   nfsv4 Working Group Secretary Thomas Haynes for their support.

13.  Appendices

13.1.  Appendix 1: XDR Examples

   RPC-over-RDMA chunk lists are complex data types.  In this appendix,
   illustrations are provided to help readers grasp how chunk lists are
   represented inside an RPC-over-RDMA header.

   An RDMA segment is the simplest component, being made up of a 32-bit
   handle (H), a 32-bit length (L), and 64-bits of offset (OO).  Once
   flattened into an XDR stream, RDMA segments appear as


      HLOO


   A Read segment has an additional 32-bit position field.  Read
   segments appear as


      PHLOO


   A Read chunk is a list of Read segments.  Each segment is preceded by
   a 32-bit word containing a one if there is a segment, or a zero if
   there are no more segments (optional-data).  In XDR form, this would
   look like


      1 PHLOO 1 PHLOO 1 PHLOO 0




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   where P would hold the same value for each segment belonging to the
   same Read chunk.

   The Read List is also a list of Read segments.  In XDR form, this
   would look a lot like a Read chunk, except that the P values could
   vary across the list.  An empty Read List is encoded as a single
   32-bit zero.

   One Write chunk is a counted array of segments.  In XDR form, the
   count would appear as the first 32-bit word, followed by an HLOO for
   each element of the array.  For instance, a Write chunk with three
   elements would look like


      3 HLOO HLOO HLOO


   The Write List is a list of counted arrays.  In XDR form, this is a
   combination of optional-data and counted arrays.  To represent a
   Write List containing a Write chunk with three segments and a Write
   chunk with two segments, XDR would encode


      1 3 HLOO HLOO HLOO 1 2 HLOO HLOO 0


   An empty Write List is encoded as a single 32-bit zero.

   The Reply chunk is the same as a Write chunk.  Since it is an
   optional-data field, however, there is a 32-bit field in front of it
   that contains a one if the Reply chunk is present, or a zero if it is
   not.  After encoding, a Reply chunk with 2 segments would look like


      1 2 HLOO HLOO


   Frequently a requester does not provide any chunks.  In that case,
   after the four fixed fields in the RPC-over-RDMA header, there are
   simply three 32-bit fields that contain zero.

14.  References

14.1.  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>.



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   [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>.

   [RFC4506]  Eisler, M., Ed., "XDR: External Data Representation
              Standard", STD 67, RFC 4506, DOI 10.17487/RFC4506, May
              2006, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4506>.

   [RFC5042]  Pinkerton, J. and E. Deleganes, "Direct Data Placement
              Protocol (DDP) / Remote Direct Memory Access Protocol
              (RDMAP) Security", RFC 5042, DOI 10.17487/RFC5042, October
              2007, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5042>.

   [RFC5056]  Williams, N., "On the Use of Channel Bindings to Secure
              Channels", RFC 5056, DOI 10.17487/RFC5056, November 2007,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5056>.

   [RFC5403]  Eisler, M., "RPCSEC_GSS Version 2", RFC 5403, DOI
              10.17487/RFC5403, February 2009,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5403>.

   [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>.

   [RFC5660]  Williams, N., "IPsec Channels: Connection Latching", RFC
              5660, DOI 10.17487/RFC5660, October 2009,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5660>.

   [RFC5665]  Eisler, M., "IANA Considerations for Remote Procedure Call
              (RPC) Network Identifiers and Universal Address Formats",
              RFC 5665, DOI 10.17487/RFC5665, January 2010,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5665>.

   [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>.








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14.2.  Informative References

   [IB]       InfiniBand Trade Association, "InfiniBand Architecture
              Specifications", <http://www.infinibandta.org>.

   [IBPORT]   InfiniBand Trade Association, "IP Addressing Annex",
              <http://www.infinibandta.org>.

   [RFC0793]  Postel, J., "Transmission Control Protocol", STD 7, RFC
              793, DOI 10.17487/RFC0793, September 1981,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc793>.

   [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>.

   [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>.

   [RFC5532]  Talpey, T. and C. Juszczak, "Network File System (NFS)
              Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) Problem Statement", RFC
              5532, DOI 10.17487/RFC5532, May 2009,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5532>.

   [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>.

   [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>.

   [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>.



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Authors' Addresses

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

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


   Tom Talpey
   Microsoft Corp.
   One Microsoft Way
   Redmond, WA  98052
   USA

   Phone: +1 425 704-9945
   Email: ttalpey@microsoft.com































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