dacs.vfs(5) [linux man page]
DACS.VFS(5) DACS Formats Manual DACS.VFS(5) NAME
dacs.vfs - the DACS virtual filestore DESCRIPTION
These files are part of the DACS suite. The virtual filestore provides flexible ways for DACS and software built on top of DACS to obtain information regardless of how or where the information is stored. The DACS core accesses (almost) all configuration information through the virtual filestore layer, allowing information to be more easily shared and maintained, secured, or organized for better performance. Sometimes it is easiest to store information in a regular file initially, where it can be modified using an ordinary text editor, but after some growth a database might improve performance. In some situations, accessing the information remotely, via HTTP, makes administration more convenient or is more secure. A goal of the virtual filestore is to make it simple to make configuration choices appropriate to a particular DACS environment, and to change them as required. Consult dacsvfs(1)[1] for additional information. For example, the account file used by dacspasswd(1)[2] and other components is accessed from within DACS through the name passwds (a string called an item type). The DACS configuration in effect determines how this is mapped to an object that contains the account information, how an individual account name is looked up, and where the object is located. Each virtual filestore instance maps to either an uninterpreted sequence of bytes (e.g., a Unix file or the output of a program) or an object that contains zero or more items, each of which is associated with a key (i.e., the name of an item relative in its virtual filestore context) and has an uninterpreted sequence of bytes as its value (e.g., a database file, a Unix file containing lines having a particular keyword/value structure, or a directory containing regular files). The VFS[3] directive is used to specify where and how information is stored. Some commands and functions take a VFS specification as an argument to provide a default or override a default. For maximum portability, a key should be composed of characters from the Portable Filename Character Set[4]: any alphanumeric character, period, hyphen, or underscore. The true limitation on the character set depends on the underlying storage scheme and URI syntax constraints. There is no a priori limit on naming context or key length. SEE ALSO
dacsvfs(1)[1], dacs.conf(5)[5], dacs.install(7)[6], dacs_vfs(8)[7] BUGS
AUTHOR
Distributed Systems Software (www.dss.ca[8]) COPYING
Copyright2003-2012 Distributed Systems Software. See the LICENSE[9] file that accompanies the distribution for licensing information. NOTES
1. dacsvfs(1) http://dacs.dss.ca/man/dacsvfs.1.html 2. dacspasswd(1) http://dacs.dss.ca/man/dacspasswd.1.html 3. VFS http://dacs.dss.ca/man/dacs.conf.5.html#VFS 4. Portable Filename Character Set http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/basedefs/xbd_chap03.html#tag_03_276 5. dacs.conf(5) http://dacs.dss.ca/man/dacs.conf.5.html 6. dacs.install(7) http://dacs.dss.ca/man/dacs.install.7.html 7. dacs_vfs(8) http://dacs.dss.ca/man/dacs_vfs.8.html 8. www.dss.ca http://www.dss.ca 9. LICENSE http://dacs.dss.ca/man/../misc/LICENSE DACS 1.4.27b 10/22/2012 DACS.VFS(5)
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DACS_VFS(8) DACS Web Services Manual DACS_VFS(8) NAME
dacs_vfs - access objects through the DACS virtual filestore SYNOPSIS
dacs_vfs [dacsoptions[1]] DESCRIPTION
This program is part of the DACS suite. The dacs_vfs web service is an interface to the DACS virtual filestore. It provides a way to examine, change, and delete items independently of how and where they are stored. This program is also available as a DACS utility, dacsvfs(1)[2]. Security Only the DACS administrator should be able to successfully run this program; therefore, access to it is totally denied by the default rules as a security precaution. OPTIONS
Web Service Arguments In addition to the standard CGI arguments[3], dacs_vfs requires the following CGI arguments: ITEM_TYPE This is the DACS item type, as configured in dacs.conf (dacs.conf(5)[4]), to which the request is to be applied. As a special case, if the value of this argument is the word "enabled", a list of enabled storage methods is displayed. REQUEST The value of this argument is the name of an operation followed by zero or more arguments. The syntax is identical to that of dacsvfs(1)[2], except that the edit, update, and help operations are unavailable. For the put operation, the value to store is taken from the VALUE argument. VALUE The object to use for the put and load operations. FIELD_SEP The field separator character to use for the load and dump operations. EXAMPLES
The following examples assume that the web service requests are granted. This request will return the revocation list: https://example.com/cgi-bin/dacs/dacs_vfs?REQUEST=get&ITEM_TYPE=revocations Assuming the jurisdiction is configured appropriately, the following request will return the roles associated with DEMO::EXAMPLE:jones: https://demo.example.com/cgi-bin/dacs/dacs_vfs?REQUEST=get+jones&ITEM_TYPE=roles If the jurisdiction is configured with the directives: LOG_FILE "${Conf::DACS_HOME}/logs/dacs_log-" . strftime("%d-%b-%y") VFS "[logfile]dacs-fs:${Conf::DACS_HOME}/logs/dacs_log-" . strftime("%d-%b-%y") then the following request will return the contents of the jurisdiction's DACS log file: https://demo.example.com/cgi-bin/dacs/dacs_vfs?REQUEST=get&ITEM_TYPE=logfile Security The logfile item type is not something predefined by DACS; new (not predefined) item types can be created at will and that is what was done for this example. Since logfiles can potentially include sensitive information, as can other resources used by DACS, it should be obvious why access to this web service should be very carefully managed. DIAGNOSTICS
The program exits 0 if everything was fine, 1 if an error occurred. If an error occurs during processing, this web service will return an HTTP Status of 400, followed by a blank line which is optionally followed by a descriptive error message. BUGS
Only the text/plain output format is implemented. SEE ALSO
dacsvfs(1)[2], dacs.conf(5)[5] AUTHOR
Distributed Systems Software (www.dss.ca[6]) COPYING
Copyright2003-2012 Distributed Systems Software. See the LICENSE[7] file that accompanies the distribution for licensing information. NOTES
1. dacsoptions http://dacs.dss.ca/man/dacs.1.html#dacsoptions 2. dacsvfs(1) http://dacs.dss.ca/man/dacsvfs.1.html 3. standard CGI arguments http://dacs.dss.ca/man/dacs.services.8.html#standard_cgi_args 4. dacs.conf(5) http://dacs.dss.ca/man/dacs.conf.5.html#VFS 5. dacs.conf(5) http://dacs.dss.ca/man/dacs.conf.5.html 6. www.dss.ca http://www.dss.ca 7. LICENSE http://dacs.dss.ca/man/../misc/LICENSE DACS 1.4.27b 10/22/2012 DACS_VFS(8)