vfs_ceph_new - Man Page

Utilize features provided by libcephfs low-level APIs

Synopsis

vfs objects = ceph_new

Description

This VFS module is part of the samba(8) suite.

The vfs_ceph_new VFS module exposes CephFS specific features for use by Samba.

Ceph is a distributed network file system designed to provide excellent performance, reliability, and scalability. This is a shared library allowing applications to access a Ceph distributed file system via a POSIX-like interface.

This module can be combined with other modules, but it should be the last module in the vfs objects list. Modules added to this list to the right of the ceph entry may not have any effect at all.

vfs_ceph_new performs mapping between Windows and POSIX Access Control Lists (ACLs). To ensure correct processing and enforcement of POSIX ACLs, the following Ceph configuration parameters are automatically applied:

		client acl type = posix_acl
		fuse default permissions = false

NOTE: This is a second implementation of a ceph module which uses libcephfs low-level APIs (compared to the original vfs_ceph(8) module which uses path-based APIs). Using the low-level API allows more optimized and fine-grained access to the Ceph storage layer.

Configuration

vfs_ceph_new requires that the underlying share path is a Ceph filesystem.

		[share]
		vfs objects = ceph_new
		path = /non-mounted/cephfs/path
		kernel share modes = no

Since vfs_ceph_new does not require a filesystem mount, the share path is treated differently: it is interpreted as an absolute path within the Ceph filesystem on the attached Ceph cluster. In a ctdb cluster environment where ctdb manages Samba, CTDB_SAMBA_SKIP_SHARE_CHECK=yes must be configured to disable local share path checks, otherwise ctdb will not reach a healthy state.

Note that currently kernel share modes have to be disabled in a share running with the CephFS vfs module for file serving to work properly.

Options

ceph_new:config_file = path

Allows one to define a ceph configfile to use. Empty by default.

Example: ceph_new:config_file = /etc/ceph/ceph.conf

ceph_new:user_id = name

Allows one to explicitly set the client ID used for the CephFS mount handle. Empty by default (use the libcephfs client default).

Example: ceph_new:user_id = samba

ceph_new:filesystem = fs_name

Allows one to explicitly select the CephFS file system to use when the Ceph cluster supports more than one file system. Empty by default (use the default file system of the Ceph cluster).

Example: ceph_new:filesystem = myfs2

ceph_new:proxy = [ yes | no | auto ]

Allows one to indicate use of the libcephfs proxy library for optimized resource utilization, allowing more simultaneous client connections. Prerequisites include the presence of libcephfs_proxy.so.X shared library file under loadable locations for dynamic linker and an active(running) libcephfsd daemon.

  • no (default) - Do not use the proxy library but regular connection through libcephfs.so.X.
  • yes - Always use the proxy library and fail the client connection request if prerequisites are unmet.
  • auto - Attempt to use the proxy library but fall back to the regular cephfs connection if prerequisites are unmet.
ceph_new:fscrypt = [ disabled | none | keybridge ]

Configures the CephFS client to enable FSCrypt-style encrypted (sub-)volume support. If enabled, encryption is applied automatically to empty shares and future connections to said share will require FSCrypt with the same key material.

  • disabled (default) - FSCrypt support is disabled.
  • none - An alias for disabled.
  • keybridge - Enable CephFS FSCrypt support using the keybridge RPC API for fetching key material. Setting this option requires that the options ceph_new:keybridge socket, ceph_new:keybridge scope, and ceph_new:keybridge name be specified.
ceph_new:keybridge socket = type:path

Configures the CephFS FSCrypt support to communicate with a KeyBridge server listening to the provided socket. The KeyBridge server uses the varlink KeyBridge protocol to fetch key material from one or more key distribution services, such as KMIP for example.

The only permitted type is unix. The path value is a path to a unix domain socket for a keybridge server. For example: unix:/run/keybridge/keybridge.sock

If specified, this option requires the options ceph_new:keybridge scope and ceph_new:keybridge name to be specified.

ceph_new:keybridge scope = scope

Set the scope value for KeyBridge API requests. The scope identifies a context for keys, typically mapping to a particular backend. The available scope values depend on the configuration of the KeyBridge server. For example: "kmip.testing".

If specified, this option requires the options ceph_new:keybridge socket and ceph_new:keybridge name to be specified.

ceph_new:keybridge name = name

Set the name value for KeyBridge API requests. The name or identifier for a key, within a scope, that the KeyBridge server will be use to "unlock" the encryption for this share. For example: "volume1".

If specified, this option requires the options ceph_new:keybridge socket and ceph_new:keybridge scope to be specified.

ceph_new:keybridge kind = [ B64 | VALUE ]

Set the kind of the data field for KeyBridge API requests. A KeyBridge server is capable of data exchange using either Base64 encoded strings (B64) or plain text (VALUE). Depending on the scope, a server may be able to fetch key material in one form or the other. Use this option to manually select the data kind.

If unspecified, B64 will be used.

Version

This man page is part of version 4.24.0rc1 of the Samba suite.

Author

The original Samba software and related utilities were created by Andrew Tridgell. Samba is now developed by the Samba Team as an Open Source project similar to the way the Linux kernel is developed.

Info

01/22/2026 Samba 4.24.0rc1 System Administration tools