NFS

Quick Notes

Not much I can say here (that's good). Basics: Never use NFSv2, alwaysuse v3. There are a few exceptions to that rule, but if you need to know them, you're too advanced for this class. In Linux, there's a little kernel option you have to check (if you roll your own... prebuilt kernels (almost) always have NFSv3), one for NFS, and one for v3.

Troubleshooting Tips

Make sure your firewall isn't blocking NFS or RPC traffic.
Make sure to start portmap BEFORE starting nfs (I've made this one a hundred times
Don't put NFS mounts in fstab. They might hang if there's trouble on the network (or what about *gasp* if your machine isn't on the network all the time?). If you need them at boot, write a script to run it in the background, so it doesn't hang the machine.

NFS vs. Samba

NFS is a unix protocol. Windows does not appear to support it... if you don't look carefully. There is an option (at least, the last time I checked was Win98, but I know it's in 2K and XP) for Unix Filesystems in networking... but I don't know how well it works. If anyone knows, please email me. Samba is an Open Source implementation of the SMB protocol, which is now known as CIFS. This is the Microsoft protocol used by such classics as Mr. Rogers' Network Neighborhood. Which is technically superior is an interesting question... benchmarks tend to suggest neither is all that hot, but if you think about what's involved in a network file system (syncronization, robust crash reliability), you realize there's a lot of overhead.

Automounting

This is a fun one (inasmuch as anything dealing with file access can be fun). This is how your home directories get mounted when you log in remotely, but don't have to be maintained all the time. Not much to say... why am I wasting my time writing this? If recitation shows problems, I'll write more, otherwise, ciao.

[TA Homepage | Course Homepage | Email Me | Contact Info]