Aliasing of exported paths in a storage system

Abstract

A request is received, by a storage server, to access a resource based on a filehandle for the resource. A determination is made of whether an entry of a plurality of entries in an exports table has a filehandle that matches the filehandle for the resource. The entry includes a physical path of the resource that is different than an advertised path of the resource, in response to the filehandle in the entry retrieved using the physical path. In response to determining that the filehandle in the entry matches the filehandle for the resource, a determination is made of whether a pathname in the entry matches a pathname for the resource. In response to determining that the pathname in the entry matches the pathname for the resource, a determination is made of whether the client has permission to access the resource. The request to access the resource is executed.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving, from a client by a storage server, a request to access a resource stored in the storage server based on a filehandle for the resource;   determining whether an entry of a plurality of entries in an exports table has a filehandle that matches the filehandle for the resource, wherein the entry comprises,
 a physical path of the resource that is different than an advertised path of the resource, in response to the filehandle in the entry retrieved using the physical path, 
   determining, in response to determining that the filehandle in the entry matches the filehandle for the resource, whether a pathname in the entry matches a pathname for the resource;   determining, in response to determining that the pathname in the entry matches the pathname for the resource, whether the client has permission to access the resource; and   executing, in response to determining that the client has permission to access the resource, the request to access the resource.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 hashing at least one of the filehandle or the pathname to produce a key; and   determining whether the entry of the plurality of entries in the exports table has the filehandle that matches the filehandle for the resource based on matching the key to the entry.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the entry of the exports table further includes access privileges for the resource. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein determining whether the client has permission to access the resource is based on the access privileges for the resource in the entry. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the request to access the resource comprises a Network File System (NFS) request. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 outputting an error to deny access the resource, in response to determining that the filehandle in the entry does not match the filehandle for the resource.   
     
     
         7 . A non-transitory machine readable medium having stored thereon instructions comprising machine executable code which when executed by at least one machine, causes the at least one machine to:
 receive, from a client, a request to access a resource stored in a storage server based on a filehandle for the resource;   determine whether an entry of a plurality of entries in an exports table has a filehandle that matches the filehandle for the resource, wherein the entry comprises,
 a physical path of the resource that is different than an advertised path of the resource, in response to the filehandle in the entry retrieved using the physical path, 
   determine, in response to a determination that the filehandle in the entry matches the filehandle for the resource, whether the client has permission to access the resource; and   execute, in response to a determination that the client has permission to access the resource, the request to access the resource.   
     
     
         8 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of  claim 7 , wherein the physical path of the resource is not different from the advertised path of the resource, in response to the filehandle in the entry retrieved based on the advertising path. 
     
     
         9 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of  claim 7 , wherein the instructions comprising machine executable code which when executed by the at least one machine, causes the at least one machine to:
 hash the filehandle to produce a key; and   determine whether the entry of the plurality of entries in the exports table has the filehandle that matches the filehandle for the resource based on a match of the key to the entry.   
     
     
         10 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of  claim 7 , wherein the entry of the exports table further includes access privileges for the resource. 
     
     
         11 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of  claim 10 , wherein the machine executable code which when executed by the at least one machine causes the at least one machine to determine whether the client has permission to access the resource is based on the access privileges for the resource in the entry. 
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of  claim 7 , wherein the request to access the resource comprises a Network File System (NFS) request. 
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of  claim 7 , wherein the instructions comprising machine executable code which when executed by the at least one machine, causes the at least one machine to:
 output an error to deny access the resource, in response to a determination that the filehandle in the entry does not match the filehandle for the resource.   
     
     
         14 . An apparatus comprising:
 a processor; and   a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to,
 receive, from a client, a request to access a resource based on a filehandle for the resource; 
 determine whether an entry of a plurality of entries in an exports table has a filehandle that matches the filehandle for the resource, wherein the entry comprises,
 a physical path of the resource that is different than an advertised path of the resource, in response to the filehandle in the entry retrieved using the physical path, 
 
 determine, in response to a determination that the filehandle in the entry matches the filehandle for the resource, whether the client has permission to access the resource; and 
 execute, in response to a determination that the client has permission to access the resource, the request to access the resource. 
   
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the physical path of the resource is not different from the advertised path of the resource, in response to the filehandle in the entry retrieved based on the advertising path. 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the program instructions executable by the processor comprise program instructions executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
 hash the filehandle to produce a key; and   determine whether the entry of the plurality of entries in the exports table has the filehandle that matches the filehandle for the resource based on a match of the key to the entry.   
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the entry of the exports table further includes access privileges for the resource. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein the program instructions executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to determine whether the client has permission to access the resource is based on the access privileges for the resource in the entry. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the request to access the resource comprises a Network File System (NFS) request. 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the program instructions executable by the processor comprise program instructions executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
 output an error to deny access the resource, in response to a determination that the filehandle in the entry does not match the filehandle for the resource.