NFS Services Administrator's Guide

Configuring and Administering NFS
Configuring and Administering an NFS Client
Chapter 236
Configuring and Administering an NFS Client
An NFS client is a machine that “mounts” remote directories using
NFS. These mounted remote directories appear to users as if they are
part of the NFS client’s local file system. An NFS client can also be an
NFS server. Following are the tasks involved in configuring and
administering an NFS client. Only the first four tasks are required in
order to get your client up and running.
• Deciding Between Standard-Mounted Directories and Automounted
Directories
• To Mount a Remote Directory Using a Standard NFS Mount
• To Enable NFS Client Capability
• To Verify Your NFS Client Configuration
• To Change the Default Mount Options
• To Ensure Data Integrity Between the Client and Server
• To Remove (Unmount) a Mounted Directory
• To Disable NFS Client Capability
This section tells you how to perform these tasks, by editing files and
issuing HP-UX commands. However, Hewlett-Packard recommends that
you use SAM to configure and administer NFS. SAM (System
Administration Manager) is Hewlett-Packard’s windows-based user
interface for performing system administration tasks. To run SAM, type
sam at the HP-UX prompt. SAM has an extensive online help facility.
Deciding Between Automounter and AutoFS
Beginning with the HP-UX Extension Pack Release, August 1998 (for
HP-UX 11.0), a new automounting utility, AutoFS, is available in
addition to the pre-existing Automounter. You can configure your system
to use either Automounter or AutoFS. Automounter is the default on a
newly installed or updated system. However, you may choose to migrate
to AutoFS, since it has several advantages over Automounter:
• AutoFS can be used to mount any type of file system, including NFS
Protocol Version 3. (The pre-existing Automounter can be used only
for NFS PV2.)