HPE Data Fabric loopbacknfs POSIX Client

Explains the differences between the HPE Data Fabric POSIX client and the Linux native NFS client.

The HPE Data Fabric POSIX Client feature allows app servers, web servers, and other client nodes and apps to read and write directly to a HPE Data Fabric cluster. Starting with the 4.0.2 release, HPE Data Fabric provides single-user loopbacknfs licenses that give access to one or more clusters.

The table below summarizes the differences between the basic Linux OS NFS client and the HPE Data Fabric POSIX client:
Linux OS Client HPE Data Fabric POSIX Client
Client OS
  • Supported Linux distributions and desktop systems (Mac OS X and Windows)
  • Supported Linux distributions only
  • No version for Mac OS X
Installs On Node Type
  • Client node - not part of the HPE Data Fabric cluster
  • No mapr-fileserver or other Hadoop services
  • Client node
  • Cluster node
Access to Cluster
  • Must have direct network access to NFS Gateways.
  • Must have direct network access to all HPE Data Fabric cluster nodes
Supported Interfaces
  • POSIX-NFS
  • POSIX-NFS
Connection to File System
  • Point to point
  • Via an NFS gateway
  • Single point of failure
  • Proxied on host to regular HPE Data Fabric client traffic
  • Direct, no NFS gateway
  • No single point of failure
Security
  • Link to NFS gateway is insecure
  • Fully secured

The Linux OS NFS client must go through an NFS gateway, the link to the gateway is not secured, and transmitted data is not compressed.

The following diagram illustrates how the HPE Data Fabric POSIX client (mapr-loopbacknfs) works, in comparison with the Linux OS NFS client (left).

The instructions on this page are for the HPE Data Fabric POSIX client. For instructions on setting up NFS on a HPE Data Fabric cluster, see Managing the HPE Data Fabric NFS Service.

The table below summarizes the differences in the HPE Data Fabric POSIX client deployment behavior when installed with a HPE Data Fabric cluster where security is disabled or enabled:
Cluster Security Disabled Cluster Security Enabled
Client Node
  • HPE Data Fabric cluster looks exactly like network attached storage (NAS)
  • POSIX permissions are enforced
  • Single-user authentication
  • Write access is supported only for applications with UID matching authenticated user
Cluster Node
  • HPE Data Fabric cluster looks exactly like NAS
  • POSIX permissions are enforced
  • Secure cluster access is key
  • Best Practice: Use ticket from mapr user