NOTE: This charter is accurate as of the 30th IETF Meeting in Toronto. It may now be out-of-date. (Consider this a "snapshot" of the working group from that meeting.) Up-to-date charters for all active working groups can be found elsewhere in this Web server.

Trusted Network File Systems (TNFS) Charter

Chair(s)

Mailing List Information

Description of Working Group

The Trusted Network File System Working Group is chartered to define protocol extensions to the Network File System (NFS) Version 2 protocol which supports network file access in a Multilevel Secure (MLS) Internet environment. MLS functionality includes Mandatory Access Control (MAC), Discretionary Access Control (DAC), authentication, auditing, documentation, and other items as identified in the Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria (TCSEC) and Compartmented Mode Workstation (CMW) documents.

The primary objective of this working group is to specify extensions to the NFS V2 protocol which support network file access between MLS systems. It is intended that these extensions introduce only a minimal impact on the existing NFS V2 environment, and that unmodified NFS V2 clients and servers continue to be fully supported.

Transferring information between MLS systems requires exchanging additional security information along with the file data. The general approach to be used in extending the NFS V2 protocol is to transport additional user context in the form of an extended NFS UNIX style credential between a Trusted NFS (TNFS) client and server, and to map that context into the appropriate server security policies which address file access. In addition, file security attributes are to be returned with each TNFS procedure call. Otherwise, the NFS V2 protocol remains essentially unchanged.

The Trusted System Interoperability Group (TSIG) has already developed a specification which defines a set of MLS extensions for NFS V2, and has also planned for the future integration of Kerberos as the authentication mechanism. The TNFS Working Group should be able to use the TSIG Trusted NFS document as a foundation.

Goals and Milestones

Mar 1991
Verify the interoperability of TNFS implementations at the 1992 NFS Connectathon.
Done
Review and approve the TNFS Working Group Charter, review revised TSIG TNFS Specification, and publish a proposed standard following the July meeting.
Jul 1991
Review revised TSIG TNFS specification.
Oct 1991
Review outstanding comments/issues from mailing list.
Oct 1991
Make any final revisions to TNFS document based on comments, issues, and interoperability testing.
Nov 1991
Publish a Proposed Standard following the July meeting.
Mar 1992
Request IESG to make the revised document a Draft Standard.
NOTE: The Internet-Draft(s) listed below may have been deleted since they are only good for six months.

Internet-Drafts

RFCs