Creating an oranfstab File for Direct NFS Client

Direct NFS uses a configuration file, oranfstab, to determine the available mount points.

Create an oranfstab file with the following attributes for each NFS server that you want to access using Direct NFS Client:

  • server

    The NFS server name.

    For NFS setup with Kerberos authentication, the server attribute name must be the fully-qualified name of the NFS server. This server attribute name is used to create service principal for Ticket Granting Service (TGS) request from the Kerberos server. If you are configuring external storage snapshot cloning, then the NFS server name should be a valid host name. For all other scenarios, the NFS server name can be any unique name.

  • local

    Up to four paths on the database host, specified by IP address or by name, as displayed using the ipconfig command run on the database host.

  • path

    Up to four network paths to the NFS server, specified either by IP address, or by name, as displayed using the ipconfig command on the NFS server.

  • export

    The exported path from the NFS server. Use UNIX-style path.

  • mount

    The corresponding local mount point for the exported volume. Use WINDOWS-style path.

  • Dontroute

    Specifies that the outgoing messages must not be routed by the operating system, but sent using the IP address to which they are bound.

  • mnt_timeout

    Specifies (in seconds) the time Direct NFS Client should wait for a successful mount before timing out. This parameter is optional. The default timeout is 10 minutes (600).

  • uid (Optional)

    The UNIX user ID to be used by Direct NFS Client to access all NFS servers listed in oranfstab. The default value is uid:65534, which corresponds to user:nobody on the NFS server.

  • gid (Optional)

    The UNIX group ID to be used by Direct NFS Client to access all the NFS servers listed in oranfstab. The default value is gid:65534, which corresponds to group:nogroup on the NFS server.

  • nfs_version

    Specifies the NFS protocol version used by Direct NFS Client. Possible values are NFSv3, NFSv4, NFSv4.1, and pNFS. The default version is NFSv3. If you select NFSv4.x, then you must configure the value in oranfstab for nfs_version. Specify nfs_version as pNFS, if you want to use Direct NFS with Parallel NFS. Direct NFS supports only the default sys security authentication with Parallel NFS. Direct NFS does not support Parallel NFS when combined with any of the Kerberos authentication parameters.

  • security_default (Optional)

    Specifies the default security mode applicable for all the exported NFS server paths for a server entry. The default value is sys . See the description of the security parameter for the supported security levels for the security_default parameter.

  • security (Optional)

    Specifies the security level, to enable security using Kerberos authentication protocol with Direct NFS Client. Specify security per export-mount pair. The supported security levels for the security_default and security parameters are:

    • sys: UNIX level security AUTH_UNIX authentication based on user identifier (UID) and group identifier (GID) values. This is the default value for security parameters.
    • krb5: Direct NFS runs with plain Kerberos authentication. Server is authenticated as the real server which it claims to be.
    • krb5i: Direct NFS runs with Kerberos authentication and NFS integrity. Server is authenticated and each of the message transfers is checked for integrity.
    • krb5p: Direct NFS runs with Kerberos authentication and NFS privacy. Server is authenticated, and all data is completely encrypted.

    The security parameter, if specified, takes precedence over the security_default parameter. If neither of these parameters are specified, then sys is the default authentication.

    For NFS server Kerberos security setup, review the relevant NFS server documentation. For Kerberos client setup, review the relevant operating system documentation.

  • management

    Enables Direct NFS Client to use the management interface for SNMP queries. You can use this parameter if SNMP is running on separate management interfaces on the NFS server. The default value is the server parameter value.

  • community

    Specifies the community string for use in SNMP queries. Default value is public.

The following examples show three possible NFS server entries in oranfstab. A single oranfstab can have multiple NFS server entries.

Example 7-1 Using Local and Path NFS Server Entries

The following example uses both local and path. Because they are in different subnets, you do not have to specify dontroute.

server: MyDataServer1
local: 192.0.2.0
path: 192.0.2.1
local: 192.0.100.0
path: 192.0.100.1
export: /vol/oradata1 mount: C:\APP\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORCL

Example 7-2 Using Names in Place of IP Addresses, with Multiple Exports, management and community

server: MyDataServer2
local: LocalPath1
path: NfsPath1
local: LocalPath2
path: NfsPath2
local: LocalPath3
path: NfsPath3
local: LocalPath4
path: NfsPath4
nfs_version: nfsv3
dontroute
export: /vol/oradata2 mount: C:\APP\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORCL2
export: /vol/oradata3 mount: C:\APP\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORCL3
export: /vol/oradata4 mount: C:\APP\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORCL4
export: /vol/oradata5 mount: C:\APP\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORCL5
management: MgmtPath1
community: private

Example 7-3 Using Kerberos Authentication with Direct NFS Export

The security parameter overrides security_default:

server:  nfsserver
 local: 192.0.2.0
 path: 192.0.2.2
 local: 192.0.2.3
 path: 192.0.2.4
 export: /vol/oradata2 mount: C:\APP\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORCL2 security: krb5 
 export: /vol/oradata3 mount: C:\APP\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORCL3 security: krb5p 
 export: /vol/oradata3 mount: C:\APP\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORCL4 security: sys 
 export: /vol/oradata3 mount: C:\APP\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORCL5 
security_default: krb5i