Fpolicy

Fpolicy

Fpolicy is an interface based on DCE/RPC, that was developed at Network Appliance as a means of performing off-filer file blocking and policy-based management. A number of storage management vendors have used this interface to implement HSM, policy-based file blocking and so on.

The fpolicy interface is not at present included in the SDK, but it is freely available to members of the Advantage Developer program who need it for their products. Please contact the Developer Advantage program (details here) by sending email to AdvantageDeveloper@netapp.com if you have file policy requirements and need access to this interface.

Fpolicy is a simple RPC-based mechanism. The sequence of operations looks like this:

(1) Fpolicy server registers with filer

(2) Filer sends RPC with path and file info to fpolicy server upon client file requests

(3) Server checks path and other info against internal policies

(4) Server rewrites/deletes file if desired.

(5) Server returns success or failure

(6) Filer denies access on failed return, allows access on success