NFS Services Administrator's Guide (762805-001, March 2014)

NOTE: Use the bdf command to determine whether your filesystems are on different disks
or logical volumes. Each entry in the bdf output represents a separate disk or volume that
requires its own entry in the /etc/dfs/dfstab file, if shared. For more information on the
bdf command, see bdf(1M).
• When you share a directory, the share options that restrict access to a shared directory are
applied, in addition to the regular HP-UX permissions on that directory.
For example, if only the owner of a file has write permission, others cannot write to the file
even if it is shared with read and write permissions.
• You can also specify the access permissions on the NFS client, when a directory is mounted.
If these permissions differ from the permissions for the shared directory on the NFS server, the
more restrictive permissions are used.
For example, consider an NFS client that mounts a directory with read and write permissions
while the directory is shared by the NFS server with read permission. Read permissions being
more restrictive, the NFS client only has read permission.
• Exercise caution when sharing a directory that contains a symbolic link, which refers to data
outside the NFS mounted directory.
Once the directory is mounted on an NFS client, the symbolic link is resolved locally on the
client.
Figure 2 depicts symbolic links in NFS mounts. The destination of the symbolic link exists on the
NFS server, but does not exist on the NFS client. This results in an error message.
Figure 2 Symbolic Links in NFS Mounts
Sharing a directory with NFS Clients
Before you share your filesystem or directory, determine whether you want the sharing to be
automatic or manual. To share a directory with NFS clients, select one of the following methods:
• Automatic Share
• Manual Share
Automatic Share
To share your directories automatically, follow these steps:
1. Add an entry to the /etc/dfs/dfstab file for each directory you want to share with the
NFS clients. Following is an example of an entry in the /etc/dfs/dfstab file for the netgroup
Developers. All the hosts that are part of the netgroup will now have read and write
permissions to the /home directory.
share -F nfs -o rw="Developers" -d "home dirs" /home
Where:
-F
Specifies the filesystem type
Configuring and administering an NFS server 23