Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Thu, 29 May 2014 06:09:03 -0500
From:      CyberLeo Kitsana <cyberleo@cyberleo.net>
To:        Guillermo Marcus <guillermo.marcus@gmail.com>,  freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org
Subject:   Re: Mounting a ZFS snapshot by another user
Message-ID:  <5387154F.5040502@cyberleo.net>
In-Reply-To: <80D52646-2377-447F-BBC4-BEF642585391@gmail.com>
References:  <80D52646-2377-447F-BBC4-BEF642585391@gmail.com>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On 05/28/2014 03:17 PM, Guillermo Marcus wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I am using ZFS in a FreeBSD 10.0-RELEASE (10.0-RELEASE FreeBSD 10.0-RELEASE #0 r260789). I setup some scripts to create snapshots of my ZFS pool at regular intervals, and then another script to mount the latest snapshot of each dataset in the pool to a specific location, recreating a snapshot of my pool for backup. The goal is to use Bacula to always backup the snapshot, to avoid data being in an inconsistent state. The mount script is then executed by the bacula user at the beginning of the backup job. The scripts work fine, but I have an issue with the script being executed by the backup user and not the pool owner.

<snip>

> Here is the thing: it works only partially. Apparently, it requires that the mount point of the dataset be owned by the bacula user and not dataowner, even when the user bacula has full access. Example:

<snip>

> Can anyone explain what I am missing?

If I remember correctly, one of the security consolations inherent in
vfs.usermount is that the user have sufficient access to both the source
node and the target directory; to prevent, say, a mortal user mounting
something over /bin or whatever.

You may get a more consistent behaviour if you abstract the snapshot
manipulation into a separate process which runs setuid root (through a
setuid C binary, sudo, et cetera) and performs the necessary validation.
That way, for example, the only thing with which your backup script
would have to concern itself is in asking that a particular snapshot be
mounted, and being handed back a fully populated directory upon which to
operate.

I'm sure there are other ways it can be handled, but that is the one
that springs immediately to mind.

-- 
Fuzzy love,
-CyberLeo
Technical Administrator
CyberLeo.Net Webhosting
http://www.CyberLeo.Net
<CyberLeo@CyberLeo.Net>

Furry Peace! - http://www.fur.com/peace/



Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?5387154F.5040502>