Dell Hybrid Client version 2403 Administrator's Guide

User data encryption using ZFS file system

Dell Hybrid Client is designed to protect a domain user's data such as user files, user database, and user application details. Dell Hybrid Client uses the ZFS file system to encrypt the user home directory. Each user home directory is encrypted with an autogenerated passphrase. When a user logs in to the device, the user home directory of the user is automatically mounted by ZFS. When the user logs out of the device, the user home directory is unmounted by ZFS.

ZFS uses a storage pool that is called Zpool for storing data on a single device. A user quota is defined to limit the amount of disk space that is available to a file system or home directory of a particular user.

• User quota and Zpool dynamic expansion—The size of the storage pool and user quota are increased automatically as more user files or directories are added. For example, When a user copies files larger than the allocated user quota, first the size of the user quota is dynamically increased to accommodate the data. A notification is displayed on the Dell Hybrid Client screen to indicate that the user quota has increased. If the user quota expansion reaches the threshold limit of the entire storage pool, the Zpool is dynamically increased to accommodate the user quota expansion. A notification is displayed on the Dell Hybrid Client screen to indicate that the zpool has increased.
• User quota dynamic contraction—The size of the user quota is decreased automatically as more user files are removed. For example, When a user deletes large amount of files, the size of the user quota is dynamically decreased to free up the disk space. A notification is displayed on the Dell Hybrid Client screen to indicate that the user quota has decreased.

For more information about the ZFS file system, see the Ubuntu documentation at ubuntu.com.