Subject: Protocol Action: 'pNFS block disk protection' to Proposed Standard (draft-ietf-nfsv4-pnfs-block-disk-protection-03.txt)

From: The IESG <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2012 07:19:31 -0700

The IESG has approved the following document:
- 'pNFS block disk protection'
  (draft-ietf-nfsv4-pnfs-block-disk-protection-03.txt) as Proposed
Standard

This document is the product of the Network File System Version 4 Working
Group.

The IESG contact persons are Martin Stiemerling and Wesley Eddy.

A URL of this Internet Draft is:
http://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-nfsv4-pnfs-block-disk-protection/

Technical Summary

The NFSv4.1 protocol allows for the location of file system data
to be expressed in the form of "layouts". The layout for a
particular file identifies location and access information such
that the NFSv4.1 client may "directly" access the data without
interaction with the primary or NFSv4.1 meta-data server.
In the instance of the pNFS block layout type (defined in RFC 5663)
the client accesses data via traditional block storage protocols.
The NFSv4.1 pNFS block enabled client, by definition, will have
read/write access to the block devices of the NFSv4.1 server.
This access presents a problem for the client operating environment
in that identification of these NFSv4.1 pNFS block devices is not
well defined. This I-D provides the needed identification by
defining and documenting a GPT GUID value for pNFS block devices.
By using this GPT GUID, the NFSv4.1 pNFS block server can now
label the block devices under its control and thus eliminating the 

Working Group Summary

The NFSv4.1 working group had immediate consensus for the need
of the definition/documentation of an identifying mechanism for
the pNFS block layout. 

Document Quality

GPT GUID usage is well understood and implemented. This I-D
provides a documentation/definition point. A central
registration mechanism does not exist for GPT GUIDs. Given the
use case of NFSv4.1 pNFS block devices, the documentation of
the pNFS GPT GUID in an IETF RFC best suites the need of the
community.

Personnel

Spencer Shepler ([email-masked]) is the document shepherd
Martin Stiemerling ([email-masked]) is the Responsible Area Director.