Re: Linux On-Demand Network Access (LODNA)

[Vlad C.]

--- Peter Staubach <staubach@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Vlad C. wrote:
> 
> >--- Hans Reiser <reiser@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >  
> >
> >>Please treat at greater length how your proposal
> >>differs from NFS.
> >>    
> >>
> >
> >I think NFS is not flexible enough because:
> >
> >1) NFS requires synchronization of passwd files or
> >NIS/LDAP to authenticate users (which themselves
> >require root access on both server and client to
> >install)
> >2) NFS by definition understands only its own
> network
> >protocol.
> >3) NFS requires root privileges on the client to
> >mount. I'm not aware of a way to let normal users
> >mount an NFS partition other than listing it in the
> >client's fstab and adding the 'users' option... but
> >then changing fstab still requires root access.
> >4) Users have to contact their sysadmin every time
> >they want to mount a different partition, a
> different
> >subdirectory of the same partition, or if they want
> to
> >change the local mountpoint, all because the
> partition
> >and mountpoint are hard-coded in fstab.
> >
> >On the other hand, I envision the following:
> >
> 
> Please keep in mind that these are restrictions of
> the current NFS
> implementation and are not inherent in an NFS
> solution.
> 
> The implied need for flexibility is being addressed
> by NFSv4 and the
> ability to understand multiple versions of protocols
> and multiple
> protocols is already resident in the system.  We
> could do some work
> to make it more transparent if desired, but it
> already works.

I've used NFS but I'm by no means an expert on its
bleeding edge functionality, so my comments might have
been a bit outdated ;) From what I've seen, NFS
provides excellent network transparency, and I'm sure
version 4 is progressing nicely towards supporting
more protocols and reducing administrative overhead.

Best regards,
Vlad


		
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