Variations of servers and clients in the Network File System

 

There are three major possibilities for client/server connections that can affect how the Network File System (NFS) will function and what its characteristics will be.

The possibilities are:

• The user mounts a file system from a System i™ platform on a client.

• The user mounts a file system from a UNIX^® platform on a client.

• The user mounts a file system on a client from a system that is neither a System i platform nor a UNIX platform.

In the first scenario, the mounted file system behaves on the client similarly to how it behaves on the System i platform. However, both the characteristics of the Network File System and the file system being served need to be taken into account. For example, if you mount the QDLS file system from the server to the client, it has the characteristics and limitations of the QDLS file system. For instance, in the QDLS file system, path name components are limited to 8 characters plus a 3-character extension. However, the mounted file system also has NFS characteristics and limitations. For example, you cannot use the CHGAUD command to change the auditing value of an NFS object.

In the second scenario, it is important to realize that any file system mounted from a UNIX server behaves most similarly to the i5/OS^® QOpenSys file system.

In the third scenario, you will need to review the documentation for the file system associated with the operating system.

 

Parent topic:

Network File System (NFS)

 

Related reference

Open systems file system (QOpenSys)