The NFS Distributed File System

The NFS environment contains the following components:

• NFS server – A system that contains the file resources to be shared with other systems on the network.
• NFS client – A system that mounts the file resources shared over the network and presents the file resources as if they were local.

Configuring the NFS File Server

To set up an NFS server, complete the following steps:

1. Edit the /etc/dfs/dfstab file and add those file resources to be

       automatically shared whenever the system enters run level 3. For example:

       # share -F nfs /usr/share/man

2. Start the NFS server daemons by invoking the following:

       # /etc/init.d/nfs.server start

       This shares the contents of the /etc/dfs/dfstab file.

The NFS Client Setup

1.  Use the /usr/sbin/dfshares command to display a server’s available resources.

     # dfshares host1

2. Use the /usr/sbin/mount command to access the remote file resource.

    # mount host1:/usr/share/man /usr/share/man

3. To unmount the remote file resources from the client by using the /usr/sbin/umount command.

    # umount /usr/share/man