RFC 2624 (rfc2624) - Page 1 of 22
NFS Version 4 Design Considerations
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
Network Working Group S. Shepler
Request for Comments: 2624 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Category: Informational June 1999
NFS Version 4 Design Considerations
Status of this Memo
This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this
memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1999). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
The main task of the NFS version 4 working group is to create a
protocol definition for a distributed file system that focuses on the
following items: improved access and good performance on the
Internet, strong security with negotiation built into the protocol,
better cross-platform interoperability, and designed for protocol
extensions. NFS version 4 will owe its general design to the
previous versions of NFS. It is expected, however, that many
features will be quite different in NFS version 4 than previous
versions to facilitate the goals of the working group and to address
areas that NFS version 2 and 3 have not.
This design considerations document is meant to present more detail
than the working group charter. Specifically, it presents the areas
that the working group will investigate and consider while developing
a protocol specification for NFS version 4. Based on this
investigation the working group will decide the features of the new
protocol based on the cost and benefits within the specific feature
areas.
Key Words
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119.
Shepler Informational