using ceph as a backend for an NFSv4.1 pNFS server

[dteske at FreeBSD.org]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rick Macklem [mailto:rmacklem at uoguelph.ca]
> Sent: Saturday, April 26, 2014 12:48 PM
> To: FreeBSD Filesystems
> Subject: RFC: using ceph as a backend for an NFSv4.1 pNFS server
> 
> Hi,
> 
> The non-pNFS v4.1 server in the projects area is just about ready for
head, I
> think. However, without pNFS, NFSv4.1 isn't all that interesting. The
problem
> is that doing a pNFS server is a non-trivial exercise. I am now somewhat
> familiar with pNFS (from doing the client side), but have no expertise
w.r.t.
> cluster file systems, etc.
> 
> For those not familiar with pNFS, the basic idea is that the NFSv4.1
server
> becomes a metadata server (MDS) and hands out what are called layouts and
> devinfo, so that the client can access data server(s) (DS) to read/write
the
> file. There are RFCs that define both block/volume (using iSCSI or
similar) and
> object (using something called ODS2).
> 
> Although I suspect there are many ways to do a pNFS server, I think that
> building it on top of a cluster file system may be the simplest.
> 
> So, this leads me to...
> At a glance (just the web pages, I haven't looked at the source), it
appears
> that ceph might be useful as a backend to a pNFS server.
> It has a POSIX interface (that could be used by the metadata server) as
well
> as both object (not ODS2 I suspect) and block interfaces.
> 
> The licensing appears to be LGPL, which isn't ideal, but I'd say better
than
> GPLv3 (which is what Glustre appears to be).
> 
> Does anyone have experience using ceph or some other cluster file system
> such that you might have some idea w.r.t. its usefulness for this?
> 

My spies @ Mozilla tell me it's all the rage there and they've been saying
this
for years.
-- 
Devin

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