NFS Services Administrator's Guide

Introduction
New Features in NFS
Chapter 124
—Volatile
Volatile file handles can be set to expire at a certain time. For
example, they can be set to expire during the filesystem
migration. This file handle type is useful for servers that cannot
implement persistent file handles. However, the volatile file
handles do not share the same longevity characteristics of a
persistent file handle, because these file handles can become
invalid or expire.
NOTE HP-UX supports only persistent file handles. The client must
know how to handle persistent and volatile file handles.
However, the server is not required to support both types.
• Namespace Changes
The namespace describes the set of available files that are arranged
in a hierarchy. When a server shares files, it typically shares only a
portion of its namespace. In NFSv4, the shared namespace of the
server forms a single hierarchy.
When a server shares separate filesystems as a disconnected portion
of its namespace, the server creates a pseudo filesystem to bridge the
unshared portions of the namespace. This enables a client, which has
been enabled to traverse remote filesystems without having to mount
them, to access the shared points from a single common root.
The NFSv4 specification does not require a client to traverse the
NFS server’s namespace. HP-UX does not support this feature for
this release.
For example, a server shares /opt/dce, /opt/hpsmh, and
/doc/archives directories. In this list, the shared list hierarchy is
not connected. The /doc/archives directory is neither a parent nor
a child directory of /opt.