NFS-Client Settings under MS Windows 9x/ME

All NFS-Client configuration parameters are set up by making selections in property pages. These property pages are accessed through the Microsoft Network applet in Control Panel.

To make the NFS-Client settings:

1. On the DESKTOP, choose My Computer, then Control Panel, and then the Network applet
   
   
2. Select XWPNFS32 Client for NFS Networks from within the list of network components installed, and click Properties.

The XWPNFS32 Client for NFS Networks Properties dialog box will appear with the following five tabs: Authentication, FileNames, Network, Servers, and About.

Removing NFS-Client

To remove NFS-Client from MS Windows, select XWPNFS32 Client for NFS Networks from within the list of network components installed, and click Remove.

The Authentication Tab

Query the (PC)NFS authentication server

If this check box is disabled, then this box allows you to specify UserID and GroupID for mounting to UNIX systems. If the user exists in several groups, they can be specified in the Other Group ID field with the space or comma characters as separators.

If this check box is enabled, the NFS Client Logon dialog box will appear at start of MS Windows.

When you enter your User Name and Password, and the authentication server entered in the Server field successfully authenticates you, then it gives you your UserID and GroupID that you must use in the Unix Authentication group box for the MS Windows session (after pressing OK). If authentication failed (the server does not respond, permission is denied, or you pressed Cancel), then this dialog box will appear later when you want to access your network resources (for mounting).

Save Logon Password

If you enable this check box, then you will not be prompted to specify the password next time you will connect to the NFS server specified.

Browsing Network for NFS Servers

Network Neighbourhood is used to browse your network for NFS file servers and to check for the available resources on these servers. Every time you access an NFS server, either to browse its exported resources or to mount a shared network folder, the server requires you to authenticate yourself so that it can verify your identity.

In an NFS network, once the user is authenticated, that user's access to network file resources is further defined by the permissions granted for certain files and folders. When browsing you will be able to see all the exported folders, however, viewing the contents of the folders as well as opening and editing files will depend on whether you have the correct permissions. (See section Mounting an NFS File System under MS Windows 9x/ME below.)

The FileNames Tab

When you click on the Default settings button, these parameters will be initialized to their default values.

Unix-to-Windows File Name Converting

The Unix => Win95 File Name Convert Mode group box allows you to specify file name conversion rules from the UNIX format to the MS Windows format.

Use suffix for equal file names

If you enable this check box, then the UNIX file names that only differ by cases will be concatenated with a two-character suffix. The second character will be changed by incrementing its code by 1. You can specify an initial value for the suffix in the Suffix for equal file names field.

Show files with '.' at 1st position of name

If you disable this check box, then you can see all file names but those beginning with a period. For the file names beginning with a period, it is desirable to substitute the first period character in the file name with another character. You can specify the character in the Use this symbol instead of '.' at 1st position of name field.

Windows-to-Unix File Name Converting

The New Win95 Name => Unix Name Convert Mode group box allows you to specify file name conversion rules from the MS Windows format to the UNIX format.

New names for files and directories created or renamed under MS Windows on NFS servers will be converted to upper/lower case or unchanged depending on the mode you choose: Convert to upper case, Convert to lower case, or Preserve the case of name symbols.

The Network Tab

Ignore File Lock/Unlock Requests

If you enable this check box, then NFS-Client will be able to correctly use locked files (e.g., running executables or opened files).

Default settings

When you click on this button, these parameters will be initialized to their default values.

The Network Settings Box

The Network Settings group box allows you to specify:

• Broadcast Timeout - when watching network for hosts supporting the NFS and MOUNT protocols, specifies the number of seconds that NFS-Client will wait before re-transmitting a request.
  
  
• Retry Count - when sending requests to a server, is a number of times not replying during the timeout specified before a timeout error occurs due to no response from the server.
  
  
• Timeout Period - when sending requests of the MOUNT and NFS protocols, is the absolute time in milliseconds that NFS-Client will wait for the server's response before returning a timeout error.

These parameters may need to be fine tuned to ensure that your NFS-Client is not sending requests faster than the server is able to reply resulting in further unnecessary network traffic.

The Cache Settings Box

The Cache Settings group box allows you to specify the following 'Life Time' values for time-driven renovating of file/directory attributes stored in the NFS-Client's internal cache:

• Folder Attributes Life Time
• File Attributes Life Time
• Read Cache Life Time

NFS-Client will preserve the original attributes for existing folders and files and will create new folders and files with the default attribute values. These are the standard UNIX file attributes.

The Servers Tab

This tab allows you to choose a mode for requesting NFS servers. You can also manage an NFS Server List for specific hosts.

Use Broadcast Requests

If the Use Broadcast Requests check box is enabled, then, to locate all available remote NFS servers in LAN, broadcast messages will be sent (in LAN only).

Use NFS Server List

If the Use NFS Server List check box is enabled, then remote NFS servers specified in the list will only be requested (no matter in LAN or WAN).

You can enter an IP address or a host name for the NFS server you want to request into the edit field, and then Add the server to the current list. To remove an NFS server from the list, highlight it and use the Delete button.

If both the check boxes are disabled, then, when you want to mount an exported file system, the prompt dialog will appear for you to enter the IP address or host name to check accessibility of the NFS server (that will become the first item in the list).

If both the check boxes are enabled, then broadcast requests are first sent, followed by the NFS Server List requests (resulting in Network Neighbourhood items).

Show only IP addresses of NFS servers

If this check box is disabled, then IP addresses of NFS servers are displayed with corresponding host names. This feature helps prevent you from timeouts because of possible DNS accessibility problems.

The About Tab

This tab contains reference information about the NFS-Client release, protocols and versions supported.

At present, NFS-Client supports the following protocols:

• NFS protocol, version 2
• MOUNT protocol, version 1
• PORTMAP protocol, version 2
• TCP/IP (as well as UDP) protocol at the transport level.