15. Network File System Client (NFS-Client)

This chapter describes how to configure and use the NFS-Client program supplied with WinaXe Plus.

NFS-Client is a program running under the MS Windows operating system in order to mount one or more shared network resources from one or more NFS servers and to share access to files and directories with other PCs and UNIX users across the network.

A shared network resource is any folder that the administrator makes available to be mounted and its subdirectories. The process of making such resources available is called exporting a shared network resource. On the NFS client side, a shared network resource is seen as a logical disk drive.

NFS-Client does not turn your PC into a fully qualified file server. Instead, it allows simple access to folders and files for a limited number of systems on the network.

NFS-Client has a multi-threaded code developed for the Win32 environment and is designed to work with the built-in MS Windows TCP/IP-32 protocol stack. NFS-Client can operate in multi-home environment (i.e. with non-single IP address) with no limitations.

NFS-Client can be installed under one of the MS Windows operating systems (9x/ME/NT4/2K/2K3/XP/Vista) to enable you to benefit from network NFS server services. With the help of NFS-Client you can mount disks and folders from network, no matter under which operating system they reside, and make them as part of your familiar local desktop environment.

NFS-Client for MS Windows NT4/2K/2K3/XP/Vista can perform NFS operations either by direct insecure access to a remote host or through one of the established SSH2 protocol connections as well. You can access resources you need from behind your corporate firewalls.

The PingNFS and NFSprobe Utilities

The PingNFS and NFSprobe utilities are designed for getting some useful information about computers (running NFS servers) available across your TCP/IP-based network.

PingNFS allows you to check available connections to those computers and to view their exported resources. PingNFS is described in Appendix D.

NFSprobe allows you to check availability of exported resources on those systems you might mount to your PC. NFSprobe is described in Appendix E.

You can use PingNFS and NFSprobe to recognize your network environment for solving particular NFS tasks or network troubles.