--- Peter Staubach <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Vlad C. wrote: > > >--- Hans Reiser <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 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I've used NFS but I'm by no means an expert on its bleeding edge functionality, so my comments might have been a bit outdated ;) From what I've seen, NFS provides excellent network transparency, and I'm sure version 4 is progressing nicely towards supporting more protocols and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 ____________________________________________________ Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/