From: Brian Warner Date: Sun, 21 Jun 2009 19:12:04 +0000 (-0700) Subject: add docs/proposed/GridID.txt (cleaning out some of my old branches) X-Git-Url: https://git.rkrishnan.org/frontends/webapi.rst?a=commitdiff_plain;h=2c0f418cc09200f34a07df3e2b093ad3ab1cb7cb;p=tahoe-lafs%2Ftahoe-lafs.git add docs/proposed/GridID.txt (cleaning out some of my old branches) --- diff --git a/docs/proposed/GridID.txt b/docs/proposed/GridID.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..9a6d2c2d --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/proposed/GridID.txt @@ -0,0 +1,227 @@ += Grid Identifiers = + +What makes up a Tahoe "grid"? The rough answer is a fairly-stable set of +Storage Servers. + +The read- and write- caps that point to files and directories are scoped to a +particular set of servers. The Tahoe peer-selection and erasure-coding +algorithms provide high availability as long as there is significant overlap +between the servers that were used for upload and the servers that are +available for subsequent download. When new peers are added, the shares will +get spread out in the search space, so clients must work harder to download +their files. When peers are removed, shares are lost, and file health is +threatened. Repair bandwidth must be used to generate new shares, so cost +increases with the rate of server departure. If servers leave the grid too +quickly, repair may not be able to keep up, and files will be lost. + +So to get long-term stability, we need that peer set to remain fairly stable. +A peer which joins the grid needs to stick around for a while. + +== Multiple Grids == + +The current Tahoe read-cap format doesn't admit the existence of multiple +grids. In fact, the "URI:" prefix implies that these cap strings are +universal: it suggests that this string (plus some protocol definition) is +completely sufficient to recover the file. + +However, there are a variety of reasons why we may want to have more than one +Tahoe grid in the world: + + * scaling: there are a variety of problems that are likely to be encountered + as we attempt to grow a Tahoe grid from a few dozen servers to a few + thousand, some of which are easier to deal with than others. Maintaining + connections to servers and keeping up-to-date on the locations of servers + is one issue. There are design improvements that can work around these, + but they will take time, and we may not want to wait for that work to be + done. Begin able to deploy multiple grids may be the best way to get a + large number of clients using tahoe at once. + + * managing quality of storage, storage allocation: the members of a + friendnet may want to restrict access to storage space to just each other, + and may want to run their grid without involving any external coordination + + * commercial goals: a company using Tahoe may want to restrict access to + storage space to just their customers + + * protocol upgrades, development: new and experimental versions of the tahoe + software may need to be deployed and analyzed in isolation from the grid + that clients are using for active storage + +So if we define a grid to be a set of storage servers, then two distinct +grids will have two distinct sets of storage servers. Clients are free to use +whichever grid they like (and have permission to use), however each time they +upload a file, they must choose a specific grid to put it in. Clients can +upload the same file to multiple grids in two separate upload operations. + +== Grid IDs in URIs == + +Each URI needs to be scoped to a specific grid, to avoid confusion ("I looked +for URI123 and it said File Not Found.. oh, which grid did you upload that +into?"). To accomplish this, the URI will contain a "grid identifier" that +references a specific Tahoe grid. The grid ID is shorthand for a relatively +stable set of storage servers. + +To make the URIs actually Universal, there must be a way to get from the grid +ID to the actual grid. This document defines a protocol by which a client +that wants to download a file from a previously-unknown grid will be able to +locate and connect to that grid. + +== Grid ID specification == + +The Grid ID is a string, using a fairly limited character set, alphanumerics +plus possibly a few others. It can be very short: a gridid of just "0" can be +used. The gridID will be copied into the cap string for every file that is +uploaded to that grid, so there is pressure to keep them short. + +The cap format needs to be able to distinguish the gridID from the rest of +the cap. This could be expressed in DNS-style dot notation, for example the +directory write-cap with a write-key of "0ZrD.." that lives on gridID "foo" +could be expressed as "D0ZrDNAHuxs0XhYJNmkdicBUFxsgiHzMdm.foo" . + + * design goals: non-word-breaking, double-click-pasteable, maybe + human-readable (do humans need to know which grid is being used? probably + not). + * does not need to be Secure (i.e. long and unguessable), but we must + analyze the sorts of DoS attack that can result if it is not (and even + if it is) + * does not need to be human-memorable, although that may assist debugging + and discussion ("my file is on grid 4, where is yours?) + * *does* need to be unique, but the total number of grids is fairly small + (counted in the hundreds or thousands rather than millions or billions) + and we can afford to coordinate the use of short names. Folks who don't + like coordination can pick a largeish random string. + +Each announcement that a Storage Server publishes (to introducers) will +include its grid id. If a server participates in multiple grids, it will make +multiple announcements, each with a single grid id. Clients will be able to +ask an introducer for information about all storage servers that participate +in a specific grid. + +Clients are likely to have a default grid id, to which they upload files. If +a client is adding a file to a directory that lives in a different grid, they +may upload the file to that other grid instead of their default. + +== Getting from a Grid ID to a grid == + +When a client decides to download a file, it starts by unpacking the cap and +extracting the grid ID. + +Then it attempts to connect to at least one introducer for that grid, by +leveraging DNS: + + hash $GRIDID id (with some tag) to get a long base32-encoded string: $HASH + + GET http://tahoe-$HASH.com/introducer/gridid/$GRIDID + + the results should be a JSON-encoded list of introducer FURLs + + for extra redundancy, if that query fails, perform the following additional + queries: + + GET http://tahoe-$HASH.net/introducer/gridid/$GRIDID + GET http://tahoe-$HASH.org/introducer/gridid/$GRIDID + GET http://tahoe-$HASH.tv/introducer/gridid/$GRIDID + GET http://tahoe-$HASH.info/introducer/gridid/$GRIDID + etc + GET http://tahoe-grids.allmydata.com/introducer/gridid/$GRIDID + + The first few introducers should be able to announce other introducers, via + the distributed gossip-based introduction scheme of #68. + +Properties: + + * claiming a grid ID is cheap: a single domain name registration (in an + uncontested namespace), and a simple web server. allmydata.com can publish + introducer FURLs for grids that don't want to register their own domain. + + * lookup is at least as robust as DNS. By using benevolent public services + like tahoe-grids.allmydata.com, reliability can be increased further. The + HTTP fetch can return a list of every known server node, all of which can + act as introducers. + + * not secure: anyone who can interfere with DNS lookups (or claims + tahoe-$HASH.com before you do) can cause clients to connect to their + servers instead of yours. This admits a moderate DoS attack against + download availability. Performing multiple queries (to .net, .org, etc) + and merging the results may mitigate this (you'll get their servers *and* + your servers; the download search will be slower but is still likely to + succeed). It may admit an upload DoS attack as well, or an upload + file-reliability attack (trick you into uploading to unreliable servers) + depending upon how the "server selection policy" (see below) is + implemented. + +Once the client is connected to an introducer, it will see if there is a +Helper who is willing to assist with the upload or download. (For download, +this might reduce the number of connections that the grid's storage servers +must deal with). If not, ask the introducers for storage servers, and connect +to them directly. + +== Controlling Access == + +The introducers are not used to enforce access control. Instead, a system of +public keys are used. + +There are a few kinds of access control that we might want to implement: + + * protect storage space: only let authorized clients upload/consume storage + * protect download bandwidth: only give shares to authorized clients + * protect share reliability: only upload shares to "good" servers + +The first two are implemented by the server, to protect their resources. The +last is implemented by the client, to avoid uploading shares to unreliable +servers (specifically, to maximize the utility of the client's limited upload +bandwidth: there's no problem with putting shares on unreliable peers per se, +but it is a problem if doing so means the client won't put a share on a more +reliable peer). + +The first limitation (protect storage space) will be implemented by public +keys and signed "storage authority" certificates. The client will present +some credentials to the storage server to convince it that the client +deserves the space. When storage servers are in this mode, they will have a +certificate that names a public key, and any credentials that can demonstrate +a path from that key will be accepted. This scheme is described in +docs/accounts-pubkey.txt . + +The second limitation is unexplored. The read-cap does not currently contain +any notion of who must pay for the bandwidth incurred. + +The third limitation (only upload to "good" servers), when enabled, is +implemented by a "server selection policy" on the client side, which defines +which server credentials will be accepted. This is just like the first +limitation in reverse. Before clients consider including a server in their +peer selection algorithm, they check the credentials, and ignore any that do +not meet them. + +This means that a client may not wish to upload anything to "foreign grids", +because they have no promise of reliability. The reasons that a client might +want to upload to a foreign grid need to be examined: reliability may not be +important, or it might be good enough to upload the file to the client's +"home grid" instead. + +The server selection policy is intended to be fairly open-ended: we can +imagine a policy that says "upload to any server that has a good reputation +among group X", or more complicated schemes that require less and less +centralized management. One important and simple scheme is to simply have a +list of acceptable keys: a friendnet with 5 members would include 5 such keys +in each policy, enabling every member to use the services of the others, +without having a single central manager with unilateral control over the +definition of the group. + +== Closed Grids == + +To implement these access controls, each client needs to be configured with +three things: + + * home grid ID (used to find introducers, helpers, storage servers) + * storage authority (certificate to enable uploads) + * server selection policy (identify good/reliable servers) + +If the server selection policy indicates centralized control (i.e. there is +some single key X which is used to sign the credentials for all "good" +servers), then this could be built in to the grid ID. By using the base32 +hash of the pubkey as the grid ID, clients would only need to be configured +with two things: the grid ID, and their storage authority. In this case, the +introducer would provide the pubkey, and the client would compare the hashes +to make sure they match. This is analogous to how a TubID is used in a FURL. + +Such grids would have significantly larger grid IDs, 24 characters or more.