Ceph as a distributed filesystem and kerberos integration
Dear all, I am experimenting with Ceph as a replacement for the AndrewFileSystem (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_File_System). In my current setup, I am using AFS as a distributed filesystem for approximately 1000 users to store personal data and let them access their home directories and other shared data from multiple locations across different buildings. The authentication is managed by Kerberos (+ LDAP server). My goal is to replace AFS with CephFS but keep the current Kerberos database. Right now I've managed to set up a testing Ceph cluster with 6 nodes and 11 osds and I can mount CephFS using the kernel driver + CephX. However, from the Ceph docs, I can't understand if this might be a correct use-case for Ceph since the default authentication method CephX doesn't have a standard username/password authentication protocol. As far as I understand it requires the creation of a keyring with a random password generated on-the-fly which can then be used to mount the filesystem using the CephFS kernel module (https://docs.ceph.com/en/latest/cephfs/mount-using-kernel-driver/#mounting-c...). As for the Kerberos integration, I found in the docs this page https://docs.ceph.com/en/latest/dev/ceph_krb_auth/ which is still a draft even if the last update was almost 2 years ago. From this page, I don't understand if the current version of Ceph supports full integration with GSSAPI/kerberos/LDAP. Since the docs only refer to keytab files, I was wondering if Kerberos can only be used as an authentication protocol between Ceph monitors/osds/metadata-servers and not for mounting the filesystem. Therefore I am asking - if anyone has tried Ceph for a similar use-case - what is the current status of Kerberos integration - if there are alternatives to CephX for mounting CephFS using kernel drivers which uses a username/password protocol Thank you and best regards, Alessandro Piazza
Hi, On 02.10.20 14:38, Alessandro Piazza wrote:
However, from the Ceph docs, I can't understand if this might be a correct use-case for Ceph since the default authentication method CephX doesn't have a standard username/password authentication protocol.
CephX is to authenticate the client process against the Ceph cluster, not the human user of the data. After mounting the CephFS you have user permissions including ACLs in the filesystem like in any other local filesystem. But: I would not recommend mounting CephFS to random user workstations as they can impersonate any User ID locally. The recommended way is to run a Samba cluster using CephFS as backend. Your users would then authenticate against Samba which would need to speak to your LDAP/Kerberos. Regards -- Robert Sander Heinlein Support GmbH Schwedter Str. 8/9b, 10119 Berlin https://www.heinlein-support.de Tel: 030 / 405051-43 Fax: 030 / 405051-19 Amtsgericht Berlin-Charlottenburg - HRB 93818 B Geschäftsführer: Peer Heinlein - Sitz: Berlin
Hi, I have the same use-case. Is there some alternative to Samba in order to export CephFS to the end user? I am somewhat concerned with its potential vulnerabilities, which appear to be quite frequent. Specifically, I need server-side enforced permissions and possibly Kerberos authentication and server-side enforced quotas. Thank you, Marco
Hi, I have the same use-case. Is there some alternative to Samba in order to export CephFS to the end user? I am somewhat concerned with its potential security vulnerabilities, which appear to be quite frequent. Specifically, I need server-side enforced permissions and possibly Kerberos authentication and server-side enforced quotas. Thank you, Marco
NFS also works. I recommend NFS 4.1+ for performance reasons. On Sat, Nov 7, 2020 at 4:51 AM Marco Venuti <afm.itunev@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi, I have the same use-case. Is there some alternative to Samba in order to export CephFS to the end user? I am somewhat concerned with its potential security vulnerabilities, which appear to be quite frequent. Specifically, I need server-side enforced permissions and possibly Kerberos authentication and server-side enforced quotas.
Thank you, Marco _______________________________________________ ceph-users mailing list -- ceph-users@ceph.io To unsubscribe send an email to ceph-users-leave@ceph.io
participants (4)
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Alessandro Piazza
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Marco Venuti
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Nathan Fish
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Robert Sander