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MUP Changes in Microsoft Windows Vista

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Windows Vista implements a number of changes to the multiple UNC provider (MUP) that can affect network redirectors.

MUP and the Distributed File System (DFS) client are in separate binary files. The MUP component is in mup.sys and the DFS client is in dfsc.sys. On Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000, the MUP kernel component, mup.sys, also contained the DFS client.

A new redirector model is defined on Windows Vista:

  • MUP registers as a file system with the I/O manager by calling IoRegisterFileSystem.

  • A network redirector registers with MUP using FsRtlRegisterUncProviderEx , a new routine introduced in Windows Vista.

  • A network redirector passes an unnamed device object to FsRtlRegisterUncProviderEx.

  • A network redirector passes a device name to FsRtlRegisterUncProviderEx.

  • A network redirector does not register as a file system with the I/O manager (does not call IoRegisterFileSystem).

  • All calls from MUP to a network redirector, including prefix resolution, IOCTLs, and FSCTLs, are made with APCs enabled. All calls from other components to MUP are expected to be made with APCs enabled. When calls are used with FsRtlCancellableWaitForSingleObject or FsRtlCancellableWaitForMultipleObjects, new routines introduced in Windows Vista, this will ensure that long waits can be aborted if a thread that issued an I/O request is terminated.

  • Prefix resolution is performed using IOCTL_REDIR_QUERY_PATH_EX, a new IOCTL introduced in Windows Vista.

  • A network redirector device name registered with MUP becomes a symbolic link to the MUP device object.

For a network redirector conforming to the Windows Vista redirector model, MUP creates a symbolic link in the object manager namespace with the device name specified by the network redirector in the call to FsRtlRegisterUncProviderEx. The target of this symbolic link is the MUP device object (\Device\Mup).

The advantage of registering MUP as a file system and the device name of the network redirector being a symbolic link to the MUP device object is that all remote file system I/O operations, and not just name-based operations, go through MUP. So file system filter drivers that need to be on the remote file system stack can simply attach to the MUP device object. It is not necessary for file system filter drivers to hardcode provider device object names (\Device\LanmanRedirector, for example) into their driver anymore. In this way, file system filter drivers can monitor all I/O operations issued to all network redirectors by a single attachment. This also eliminates duplicate I/O operations seen by file system filter drivers prior to Windows Vista, which attached separately to DFS (mup.sys) and individual network redirectors (\Device\LanmanRedirector, for example) in order to monitor I/O operations to both.

A file system filter driver that is attached to the MUP device object can selectively filter the traffic that is sent to specific network redirectors. In this situation, the filter driver maps the device names of the network redirectors of interest to provider identifiers by calling the FsRtlMupGetProviderIdFromName routine. The filter driver can then determine whether it should filter the traffic for a particular file object by comparing the provider identifier that is obtained by calling the FsRtlMupGetProviderInfoFromFileObject routine with the provider identifiers of the network directors of interest.

For a network redirector conforming to the Windows Vista redirector model:

  • All file objects on the remote file system stack resolve to MUP. Hence, IoGetDeviceAttachmentBaseRef returns the device object for MUP, not the network redirector that owns the file object. However, the content of the file object is still owned by the network redirector.

  • An IRP_MJ_CREATE issued to the device name of a network redirector (\Device\LanmanRedirector\server\share, for example) will be targeted to that network redirector without going through MUP prefix resolution, exactly as it was on Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000.

Network redirectors that are not based on the Windows Vista RDBSS (linking dynamically or statically) are termed "legacy redirectors". These legacy network redirectors include:

  • Network redirectors written for Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000 that register directly with MUP using FsRtlRegisterUncProvider.

  • Network mini-redirectors written for Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000 that statically link with the rdbsslib.lib library for Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, or Windows 2000.

  • Network redirectors written for Windows Vista that register directly with MUP using FsRtlRegisterUncProviderEx.

Network mini-redirectors that dynamically link against the Windows Vista RDBSS (rdbss.sys) automatically conform to the Windows Vista redirector model because RDBSS registers with MUP using FsRtlRegisterUncProviderEx. Network mini-redirectors that statically link against the Windows Vista RDBSS (rdbsslib.lib) also automatically conform to the Windows Vista redirector model because RDBSS registers with MUP using FsRtlRegisterUncProviderEx.

A legacy network redirector written for Windows Vista that registers directly with MUP must comply with the Windows Vista redirector model.

Network redirectors written for Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000 that register with MUP directly using the FsRtlRegisterUncProvider continue to work exactly the same way as they did on Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000. Network mini-redirectors written for Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000 that statically link with the rdbsslib.lib library for Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000 continue to work exactly the same way as they did on Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000. These legacy network redirectors and mini-redirectors exhibit the following behavior:

  • They will be visible to file system filter drivers that monitor file system registration.

  • Their device objects are named. The device names are not symbolic links and do not point to \Device\MUP.

  • File objects resolve to the named device object of the network redirector.

  • MUP is involved only in the prefix resolution operation. Once the network provider has been identified, MUP "gets out of the way" by returning STATUS_REPARSE. All subsequent operations will not pass through MUP.

This behavior has been retained to prevent double filtering that would otherwise happen if the provider device name were a symbolic link to \Device\MUP. This double filtering would occur for the following reasons:

  • The file system filter driver is already attached to \Device\MUP.

  • The file system filter driver attaches to any registering file system. Since network redirectors that use named device objects register themselves as file systems, a file system filter driver would end up filtering the same I/O twice.

Calls to and from MUP on Windows Vista are made with APCs enabled, which has the following impacts:

  • It is important to protect, if required, code paths that get called from MUP against thread suspension by appropriate means, especially IOCTL_REDIR_QUERY_PATH handlers. Note that a thread suspend is a potentially "unbounded wait" operation that can last a long time.

  • It is important to ensure that any "wait for I/O" operation involving user-mode threads (as opposed to system threads) always uses "cancellable waits". See the FsRtlCancellableWaitForSingleObject and FsRtlCancellableWaitForMultipleObjects routines for details.

  • Deadlocks might occur when a thread gets suspended holding some important lock. It is important to run tests in the presence of user-mode threads getting suspended arbitrarily to check for deadlock conditions.

  • It is important to run tests to verify whether "wait for I/O operations" are really cancellable and that a user-mode application can terminate a thread quickly enough so that the application does not appear to be in a "non-responding" state when attempting to terminate said thread.

The prefix cache size and timeout used by MUP on Windows Vista are now controlled by the following registry values:

  • PrefixCacheSizeInKB

  • PrefixCacheTimeoutInSeconds.

These registry values can be changed dynamically without a reboot. These registry values are under the following registry key:

HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Mup\Parameters.

The ProviderOrder registry value that determines the order in which MUP issues prefix resolution requests to individual redirectors can be changed dynamically without rebooting the system. This registry value is located under the following registry key:

HKLM\CurrentControlSet\Control\NetworkProvider\Order

On Windows Vista, MUP performs prefix resolution differently depending on whether the network redirector registered with MUP by calling FsRtlRegisterUncProvider or FsRtlRegisterUncProviderEx. Legacy network redirectors that register with MUP by calling FsRtlRegisterUncProvider will receive an IOCTL_REDIR_QUERY_PATH request for prefix resolution. This is the same method that is used on Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000.

Network redirectors that conform to the Windows Vista redirector model and register with MUP by calling FsRtlRegisterUncProviderEx will receive an IOCTL_REDIR_QUERY_PATH_EX request for prefix resolution. Note that on Windows Vista, network mini-redirectors statically linked with rdbsslib.lib or dynamically linked with rdbss.sys will call FsRtlRegisterUncProviderEx indirectly through RDBSS.

The input and output buffers for IOCTL_REDIR_QUERY_PATH_EX are as follows:

Parameter available at Data structure format

Input buffer

IrpSp-> Parameters.DeviceIoControl.Type3InputBuffer

QUERY_PATH_REQUEST_EX

Output buffer

IRP->UserBuffer

QUERY_PATH_RESPONSE

The IOCTL and the data structures are defined in ntifs.h. The buffers are allocated from non-paged pool.

Network redirectors should only honor kernel-mode senders of this IOCTL, by verifying that Irp->RequestorMode is KernelMode.

MUP uses the QUERY_PATH_REQUEST_EX data structure for the request information.

typedef struct _QUERY_PATH_REQUEST_EX {
  PIO_SECURITY_CONTEXT  pSecurityContext;
 ULONG  EaLength;
 PVOID  pEaBuffer;
  UNICODE_STRING  PathName;
} QUERY_PATH_REQUEST_EX, *PQUERY_PATH_REQUEST_EX;
Structure member Description

pSecurityContext

A pointer to the security context.

EaLength

The length, in bytes, of the extended attributes buffer.

pEaBuffer

Pointer to the extended attributes buffer.

PathName

A non-NULL terminated Unicode string of the form <server><share><path>.

UNC providers should use the QUERY_PATH_RESPONSE data structure for the response information.

typedef struct _QUERY_PATH_RESPONSE {
 ULONG  LengthAccepted;
} QUERY_PATH_RESPONSE, *PQUERY_PATH_RESPONSE;
Structure member Description

LengthAccepted

The length, in bytes, of the prefix claimed by the provider from the Unicode string path specified in the PathName member of the QUERY_PATH_REQUEST_EX structure.

Note that IOCTL_REDIR_QUERY_PATH_EX is a METHOD_NEITHER IOCTL. This means that the input and output buffers might not be at the same address. A common mistake by UNC providers is to assume that the input buffer and the output buffer are the same and use the input buffer pointer to provide the response.

When a UNC provider receives an IOCTL_REDIR_QUERY_PATH_EX request, it has to determine whether it can handle the UNC path specified in the PathName member of the QUERY_PATH_REQUEST_EX structure. If so, the UNC provider has to update the LengthAccepted member of the QUERY_PATH_RESPONSE structure with the length, in bytes, of the prefix it has claimed and complete the IRP with STATUS_SUCCESS. If the provider cannot handle the UNC path specified, it must fail the IOCTL_REDIR_QUERY_PATH_EX request with an appropriate NTSTATUS error code and must not update the LengthAccepted member of the QUERY_PATH_RESPONSE structure. Providers must not modify any of the other members or the PathName string under any condition.

On Windows Vista, a network mini-redirector based on using RDBSS that indicates support as a UNC provider will receive this prefix claim as if it were a regular tree connect create, similar to a user-mode Createfile call with FILE_CREATE_TREE_CONNECTION flag set. RDBSS will send an MRxCreateSrvCall request to the network mini-redirector followed by a call to MRxSrvCallWinnerNotify and MRxCreateVNetRoot. This prefix claim will not be received as a call to MRxLowIOSubmit[LOWIO_OP_IOCTL]. When a network mini-redirector registers with RDBSS, the driver dispatch table for the network mini-redirector will be copied over by RDBSS to point to internal RDBSS entry points. RDBSS then receives this IOCTL_REDIR_QUERY_PATH_EX internally for the network mini-redirector and calls MRxCreateSrvCall, MRxSrvCallWinnerNotify, and MRxCreateVNetRoot. The original IOCTL_REDIR_QUERY_PATH_EX IRP will be contained in the RX_CONTEXT passed to the MRxCreateSrvCall routine. In addition, the following members in the RX_CONTEXT passed to MRxCreateSrvCall will be modified:

The MajorFunction member is set to IRP_MJ_CREATE even though the original IRP was IRP_MJ_DEVICE_CONTROL.

The PrefixClaim.SuppliedPathName.Buffer member is set to the PathName.Buffer member of the QUERY_PATH_REQUEST_EX structure.

The PrefixClaim.SuppliedPathName.Length member is set to the PathName.Length member of the QUERY_PATH_REQUEST_EX structure.

The Create.ThisIsATreeConnectOpen member is set to the TRUE.

The Create.ThisIsAPrefixClaim member is set to the TRUE.

The Create.NtCreateParameters.SecurityContext member is set to the SecurityContext member of the QUERY_PATH_REQUEST_EX structure.

The Create.EaBuffer member is set to the pEaBuffer member of the QUERY_PATH_REQUEST_EX structure.

The Create.EaLength member is set to the EaLength member of the QUERY_PATH_REQUEST_EX structure.

The Create.Flags member will have the RX_CONTEXT_CREATE_FLAG_UNC_NAME bit set.

If the network mini-redirector wants to see details of the prefix claim, it can read these members in the RX_CONTEXT structure that is passed to MRxCreateSrvCall. Otherwise, it can just attempt to connect to the server share and return STATUS_SUCCESS if the MRxCreateSrvCall call was successful. RDBSS will make the prefix claim on behalf of the network mini-redirector.