Variations of servers and clients in the Network File System

There are three major possibilities for client/server connections that can affect how the Network File System (NFS) will function and what its characteristics will be.

The three possibilities are:

  1. The user mounts a file system from an iSeries™ server on a client.
  2. The user mounts a file system from a UNIX® server on a client.
  3. The user mounts a file system on a client from a server that is neither an iSeries server nor a UNIX server.

In the first scenario, the mounted file system will behave on the client similarly to how it behaves on the iSeries server. However, both the characteristics of the Network File System and the file system being served need to be taken into account. For example, if you mount the QDLS file system from the server to the client, it will have the characteristics and limitations of the QDLS file system. For example, in the QDLS file system, path name components are limited to 8 characters plus a 3 character extension. However, the mounted file system will also have NFS characteristics and limitations. For example, you cannot use the CHGAUD command to change the auditing value of an NFS object.

In the second scenario, it is important to realize that any file system mounted from a UNIX server will behave most similar to the iSeries server QOpenSys file system.

In the third scenario, you will need to review the documentation for the file system associated with the server's operating system.

Related reference
Open systems file system (QOpenSys)