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How FPolicy services work across SVM namespaces

Contributors netapp-aherbin
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ONTAP provides a unified storage virtual machine (SVM) namespace. Volumes across the cluster are joined together by junctions to provide a single, logical file system. The FPolicy server is aware of the namespace topology and provides FPolicy services across the namespace.

The namespace is specific to and contained within the SVM; therefore, you can see the namespace only from the SVM context. Namespaces have the following characteristics:

  • A single namespace exists in each SVM, with the root of the namespace being the root volume, represented in the namespace as slash (/).

  • All other volumes have junction points below the root (/).

  • Volume junctions are transparent to clients.

  • A single NFS export can provide access to the complete namespace; otherwise, export policies can export specific volumes.

  • SMB shares can be created on the volume or on qtrees within the volume, or on any directory within the namespace.

  • The namespace architecture is flexible.

    Examples of typical namespace architectures are as follows:

    • A namespace with a single branch off of the root

    • A namespace with multiple branches off of the root

    • A namespace with multiple unbranched volumes off of the root