Re: [Sidrops] trying to limit RP processing variability

[Robert Kisteleki <[e-mail]>]

Hi,

>>> I probably should have said that an RP views an object as "missing" if
>>> the the object is not present in the RP's cache and cannot be retrieved
>>> from the relevant PP. Because RPs retrieve objects only if the objects
>>> have changed (newly added or updated), an RP would not be aware that an
>>> object is not present at a PP if the object is present in the RP's
>>> cache. I recall a famous quote about whether an object that has not been
>>> updated makes any noise when it is deleted from a PP, or something like
>>> that :-)
>> rsync has a flag (--delete) where it literally syncs, ie. not only
>> fetches new/updated objects but also removes the local ones that no
>> longer exist remotely. (Either this, or some other processes have to do
>> cleanup, otherwise the local copy accumulates objects eternally.)
> 
> I forgot about the --delete flag. But, if one chooses to make use of the
> flag, it requires caution. if an attacker deleted files and an RP
> removed instances of those files from the local cache, this is an easy
> DoS attack. One would have to see if there is a current manifest and if
> it lists files that have been deleted from the PP. Only if there is a
> current manifest, and the deleted files are also not present in the
> manifest, would it be safe to delete those files.

I agree. However, that's not the practice today. Which is why I latched
on to your proposal and I'm trying to highlight that we should cover this.

Cheers,
Robert