Post 29 - Network Services 2

03 Jan 2023

Understanding NFS

NFS - Network File System allows sharing directories and files with others over a network. Allows access almost as if local files by mounting all or a portion of a file system on a server. User priviledges can be assigned. Further nitty gritty reading: https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19683-01/816-4882/6mb2ipq7l/index.html

Basic flow:

  1. Client requests to mount directory
  2. Mount service acts to connect releveant mount daemon using RPC
  3. Server checks if user has permission to mount requested directory
  4. Server returns file handle that uniquely IDs each file and directory on server

When someone accesses a file through NFS, RPC is placed to NFSD (NFS daemon) on server. Call takes parameters like:

These are for determining access rights.

NFS can transfer between Windows, Linux, MacOS, Unix. Server and client OS can be mixed.

References

https://www.datto.com/library/what-is-nfs-file-share
http://nfs.sourceforge.net/
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NFS

All for tonight.