The Network File System (NFS) protocols enable internet clients to access remote files that reside on NFS servers. The TCP/IP Services implementation of the Network File System (NFS) includes the following software: o NFS server o NFS client o NFS file system o PC-NFS print services
1 – Server
The NFS server software lets you set up file systems on your local system for export to users on remote NFS client hosts. These files and directories, even though they physically reside on the local system, appear to the remote user to be on the remote host. Configuring and managing the NFS server on your OpenVMS host involves the following tasks: o Configuring the NFS server using TCPIP$CONFIG o Configuring the PC-NFS daemon using TCPIP$CONFIG (if you plan to export file systems to PC-NFS client hosts) o Modifying NFS and PC-NFS configuration using management commands o Selecting a file system: OpenVMS or container (UNIX style) o Modifying server and container file system characteristics by defining logical names o Registering users and hosts in the proxy database file o Backing up the file system o Setting up and exporting the file system o Maintaining and examining a container file system o Setting up NFS security features o Improving NFS server performance
2 – Client
The NFS client software enables client users to access file systems made available by an NFS server. These files and directories physically reside on the remote (server) host but appear to the client as if they were on the local system. For example, any files accessed by an OpenVMS client - even a UNIX file - appear to be OpenVMS files and have typical OpenVMS file names. Configuring and managing the NFS client on your OpenVMS host involves the following tasks: o Configuring the NFS client using TCPIP$CONFIG o Registering users in the proxy database o Mounting (attaching) remote files and directories exported by the NFS server
3 – File System
The NFS file system on OpenVMS includes a hierarchy of devices, directories, and files stored on a File-11 On-Disk Structure (ODS-2) formatted disk. You can set up and export two different kinds of file systems: o Traditional OpenVMS file system o UNIX (container) file system built on top of an OpenVMS file system. To set up and maintain these file systems, you issue management commands.
4 – PC-NFS
The TCP/IP Services implementation of PC-NFS provides the following print services to personal computers (PCs) running NFS Client software: o Authentication A PC that wants to request access to an NFS Server must first get its user identification / group identification (UID/GID) pair from a remote authentication server running TCP/IP Services. o Printing You set up the PC-NFS daemon software using TCPIP$CONFIG, and you manage the software by issuing management commands.