Network File System Version 4 (nfsv4)

Last Modified: 2009-03-18

Additional information is available at tools.ietf.org/wg/nfsv4

Chair(s):

  • Brian Pawlowski <beepy@netapp.com>

  • Spencer Shepler <shepler@storspeed.com>

    Transport Area Director(s):

  • Magnus Westerlund <magnus.westerlund@ericsson.com>
  • Lars Eggert <lars.eggert@nokia.com>

    Transport Area Advisor:

  • Lars Eggert <lars.eggert@nokia.com>

    Technical Advisor(s):

  • Leif Johansson <leifj@it.su.se>

    Mailing Lists:

    General Discussion: nfsv4@ietf.org
    To Subscribe: https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/nfsv4
    Archive: http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/nfsv4/current/maillist.html

    Description of Working Group:

    NFS Version 4 is the IETF standard for file sharing. To maintain NFS
    Version 4's utility and currency, the working group is chartered to (1)
    maintain the existing NFSv4, NFSv4.1 and related specifications, such
    as RPC and XDR, (2) progress these specifications along the standards
    track, (3) develop a protocol to create a federated namespace using
    NFSv4's existing referral mechanisms.

    (1) NFS version 4.0 maintenance

    Under this charter item, the WG correct errors and ambiguities in the
    protocol currently specified in RFC 3530 and advances it along the
    standards track. Extensions of any other kind are out of scope under
    this charter item.

    (2) NFS Version 4.1 Maintenance

    As with NFSv4.0, the WG will address errors or ambiguities in the
    NFSv4.1 protocol and related specifications in support of progressing
    implementations.

    (3) RPC and XDR protocol maintenance

    The NFSv4 protocol depends on two related specifications: ONC
    RPC and XDR. Similar to charter item (1), the WG may correct errors and
    ambiguities in the ONC RPC and XDR protocols currently specified by RFCs
    1831, 1833 and 2203. In conjunction with the advancement of the NFSv4
    specification along the standards track, the WG will also work on the
    advancements of its ONC RPC and XDR dependencies. The WG will also
    update the ONC RPC specification for compatibility with IPv6.
    Additionally, it will create an IANA registry for RPC program numbers
    and seed it with a registry Sun has been maintaining.

    (4) Federated Namespace

    The NFSv4 protocol provides a referral mechanism that allows a
    server to redirect a client to another server. The working group
    will produce documents describing a mechanism for creating a federated
    namespace (single global name space for a set of NFSv4 servers)
    using the NFSv4 protocol's referral capabilities. The file system
    federation protocol will enable file access and namespace traversal
    across collections of independently administered fileservers. No
    modifications will be made to the NFS client to server protocol.

    Goals and Milestones:

    Done  Issue strawman Internet-Draft for v4
    Done  Submit Initial Internet-Draft of requirements document
    Done  Submit Final Internet-Draft of requirements document
    Done  AD reassesses WG charter
    Done  Submit v4 Internet-Draft sufficient to begin prototype implementations
    Done  Begin Interoperability testing of prototype implementations
    Done  Submit NFS version 4 to IESG for consideration as a Proposed Standard.
    Done  Conduct final Interoperability tests
    Done  Conduct full Interoperability tests for all NFSv4 features
    Done  Update API advancement draft
    Done  Form core design team to work on NFS V4 migration/replication requirements and protocol
    Done  Submit revised NFS Version 4 specification (revision to RFC 3010) to IESG for consideration as a Proposed Standard
    Done  Strawman NFS V4 replication/migration protocol proposal submitted as an ID
    Done  WG Last Call for RPC and NFS RDMA drafts
    Done  WG Last Call for rfc1831bis (RPC version 2)
    Done  WG Last Call for NFSv4.1 Object-based layout
    Done  WG Last Call for NFSv4 minor version 1
    Done  WG Last Call for NFSv4.1 block/volume layout
    Done  Submit NFS Minor Version 1 to IESG for publication as a Proposed Standard
    Done  Submit Object-based pNFS Operations to IESG for publication as a Proposed Standard
    Done  Submit pNFS Block/Volume Layout to IESG for publication as a Proposed Standard
    May 2009  WG Last Call for Requirements for Federated File Systems draft-ietf-nfsv4-federated-fs-reqts-01
    Sep 2009  WG Last Call for rfc3530bis (NFS version 4)
    Oct 2009  WG Last Call for Administration Protocol for Federated Filesystems draft-ietf-nfsv4-federated-fs-admin-00.txt
    Oct 2009  WG Last Call for NSDB Protocol for Federated Filesystems draft-ietf-nfsv4-federated-fs-protocol-00.txt

    Internet-Drafts:

    Remote Direct Memory Access Transport for Remote Procedure Call (91854 bytes)
    NFS Direct Data Placement (26264 bytes)
    NFS Version 4 Minor Version 1 (1498512 bytes)
    pNFS Block/Volume Layout (71701 bytes)
    Object-based pNFS Operations (78802 bytes)
    NFSv4 Minor Version 1 XDR Description (127570 bytes)
    IANA Considerations for RPC Net Identifiers and Universal Address Formats (28620 bytes)
    Using DNS SRV to Specify a Global File Name Space with NFS version 4 (22705 bytes)
    Administration Protocol for Federated Filesystems (32250 bytes)
    Requirements for Federated File Systems (55003 bytes)
    NSDB Protocol for Federated Filesystems (60064 bytes)
    NFSv4.0 XDR Description (62582 bytes)
    Network File System (NFS) version 4 Protocol (538637 bytes)

    Request For Comments:

    NFS Version 2 and Version 3 Security Issues and the NFS Protocol's Use of RPCSEC_GSS and Kerberos V5 (RFC 2623) (42521 bytes)
    NFS Version 4 Design Considerations (RFC 2624) (52891 bytes)
    NFS version 4 (RFC 3010) (450434 bytes) obsoletes RFC 1813,RFC 1094/ obsoleted by RFC 3530
    Network File System (NFS) version 4 Protocol (RFC 3530) (600986 bytes) obsoletes RFC 3010
    XDR: External Data Representation Standard (RFC 4506) (55477 bytes)
    RPCSEC_GSS Version 2 (RFC 5403) (30812 bytes) updates RFC 2203
    RPC: Remote Procedure Call Protocol Specification Version 2 (RFC 5531) (161720 bytes) obsoletes RFC 1831
    Network File System (NFS) Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) Problem Statement (RFC 5532) (36746 bytes)
    IETF Secretariat - Please send questions, comments, and/or suggestions to ietf-web@ietf.org.

    Return to working group directory.

    Return to IETF home page.