Access using iSeries NetServer

iSeries™ Support for Windows^® Network Neighborhood (iSeries NetServer™) is an i5/OS™ function that enables Windows clients to access i5/OS shared directory paths and shared output queues. iSeries NetServer allows PCs that run Windows software to seamlessly access data and printers that are managed by your iSeries.

PC clients on a network use the file and print sharing functions that are included in their operating systems. This means that you do not need to install any additional software on your PC to use iSeries NetServer.

Linux^® clients with the Samba client software installed can also seamlessly access data and printers through iSeries NetServer. Shared iSeries NetServer directories can be mounted on Linux clients as Samba file systems (smbfs) in a similar manner to mounting NFS file systems that have been exported from iSeries.

An iSeries NetServer file share is a directory path that iSeries NetServer shares with clients on the iSeries network. A file share can consist of any integrated file system directory on iSeries. Before you can work with file sharing using iSeries NetServer, you must create a iSeries NetServer file share, and, if necessary, change a iSeries NetServer file share using iSeries Navigator.

To access integrated file system file shares using iSeries NetServer:

Right-click Start, and select Explore to open Windows Explorer on your Windows PC.
Open the Tools menu, and select Map network drive.
Select a letter of a free drive for the file share (such as the I:\ drive).
Enter the name of an iSeries NetServer file share. For example, you can enter the following syntax: \\QSYSTEM1\Sharename
Note: QSYSTEM1 is the system name of iSeries NetServer, and Sharename is the name of the file share you want to use.
Click OK.

Note: When connecting using iSeries NetServer, the server name may be different than the name used by iSeries Access Family. For example the iSeries NetServer name may be QAS400X, and the path to work with files may be \\QAS400X\QDLS\MYFOLDER.FLR\MYFILE.DOC. However, the iSeries Access Family name may be AS400X, and the path to work with files may be \\AS400X\QDLS\MYFOLDER.FLR\MYFILE.DOC.

You choose which directories to share with the network using iSeries NetServer. Those directories appear as the first level under the server name. For example, if you share the /home/fred directory with the name fredsdir, a user would be able to access that directory from the PC with the name \\QAS400X\FREDSDIR, or from a LINUX client with the name //qas400x/fredsdir.

The "root" (/) file system provides much better performance for PC file serving than other iSeries file systems. You may want to move files to the "root" (/) file system. See Move files or folders to another file system for more information