SCI: NMI DEVELOPMENT GridNFS

Regents Of The University Of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

This proposal develops, prototypes, tests and deploys a system called GridNFS that extends distributed file system technology and flexible identity management techniques to grid environments. GridNFS is based NFS version 4, the IETF standard for distributed file systems. Security issues are with X.509 credentials and interfacing NFSv4 with the Globus Security Infrastructure (GSI). This allows GSI identity to be used in access control lists on files exported by GridNFS servers. The proposal also addresses the need to develop a consistent canonical way to name shared data. The proposal claims two main contributions to the community delivered by the work: transparent and secure data management integrated with existing authentication and authorization tools; and scalable and agile name space management for establishing and controlling identity in virtual organizations and specifying their data resources.