Data Domain: BoostFS Cannot Modify atime with touch -a Due to FUSE Client Behavior

Files accessed through BoostFS do not update atime when using touch -a.
The command completes without error, but ls -lu shows no change to the access time.
The issue occurs on BoostFS clients using FUSE-based mounts.
NFS clients on the same MTree can successfully modify atime using touch -a.
Observed with and without Retention Lock enabled.
Creating files with future timestamps works, but modifying only atime does not.

The issue is caused by client-side FUSE library behavior rather than Data Domain, BoostFS, Retention Lock, or DDOS. Certain FUSE versions, including fusermount 2.9.9 observed during testing, do not properly pass standalone atime modification requests generated by touch -a.

However, when both atime and mtime are modified together using touch -am, the required system call is passed through the FUSE layer, allowing the timestamp update to succeed.

Use touch -am instead of touch -a when modifying file access times through BoostFS.

Example: 

touch -am -t <timestamp> <filename>

This updates both the access time (atime) and modification time (mtime), which causes the client OS and FUSE layer to forward the request correctly. The tradeoff is that mtime is also changed to the specified timestamp. No fix or updated FUSE version has been identified at this time, and Dell Development has investigated the behavior as a dependency on the client-side FUSE implementation.

Data Domain: Retention Lock Frequently Asked Questions