NFS (Network File System) lets you associate a drive letter on your workstation with a file system on another computer. During an NFS session, you can copy, delete, and edit files across NFS.
Using NFS, you can copy files between drives just as you would with any other application. For example, in Windows 95, use the Windows Explorer to drag and drop files between drives. In Windows 3.x, use the File Manager.
To specify an NFS server:
The main activity window appears:
The Add Server dialog box appears:
Note
By entering the full domain name of a server, you prevent potential conflicts with other network services such as NetWare. If a NFS server is also a NetWare server, NetWare may intercept the connection before NFS. If this occurs, NetWare dialog boxes appear, such as a NetWare Guest login box, or a message can appear indicating that the host is not found. Consult your network administrator for more information
Double-click the NFS Servers and Printers workgroup icon to view the list of the NFS servers you specified in the NFS and Print Assistant.
If you want NFS and Print Assistant to store your password for the next time you log into this server, check Save Password. If you want to increase NFS performance, check Enable Fast Read.
You can set additional performance options by clicking the Options button. See "NFS Global Options" on page 68.
You can also view the filesystem from My Computer by double-clicking the icon for the NFS drive.
If your network administrator has told you to set other options, set them in Connect Options dialog box. Access this dialog box by clicking the Options button from the NFS Network Client Connect dialog box described in the last section in Step 10.
In addition, you can view and change some of the options in the Connection Options dialog box from the NFS Options tab when viewing the properties of one or more files or directories. See "NFS File Properties" on page 73.
The Connection Options dialog box is:
Clear the Persist After Network Failure check box to indicate that if the connection to the NFS server is lost, the NFS Assistant should time out after 30 seconds.
In either case, if the connection is lost, it appears in the Current Connections list on the Connections tab until you remove it.
Note
You can check or clear the Wide Area Network check box only when you first create a connection; it is not available in Modify Connection Options dialog box. If you need help in determining whether your system is on a wide-area network, contact your network administrator.
Note
This option affects how long it takes to access a directory. If you check this option, accessing a directory takes longer because NFS converts each text file to Stream-LF format. We recommend you use this option selectively.
The Windows 95 NFS and Print Assistant supports command- line access with the NET USE command from an MS-DOS Prompt. NET USE lets you quickly establish a connection by specifying your connection information in a single command string. For example, you can connect an NFS-networked filesystem to a drive letter with a command like:
net use m: \\oak;holmes;password\users
where: oak is a workstation running an NFS server, holmes is your user name on oak, password is your password on oak, and users is a directory on oak to which you have access.
Note
NFS command-line access only works on systems where user names, file names, and passwords are not case-sensitive. Windows 95 changes all NET USE commands to uppercase before sending them to the NFS server. In addition, any host you access with NET USE must be listed in a host table or else you must enter its IP address. You can create a host table entry with the Configuration Utility.
If the NFS server is also a NetWare server, NetWare may intercept the connection before NFS. If this occurs, NetWare dialog boxes appear, such as a NetWare Guest login box, or a message can appear indicating that the host is not found. You can prevent this occurrence by specifying the full domain name of the server; for example, oak.yoyodyne.com. Consult your network administrator for more information.
The format for NET USE for NFS is:
net use drive_letter: \\host;username;password;options\path
where:
You can replace the semicolon separator (;) with an exclamation point (!). Separate multiple options with semicolons (;).
Disconnect a connection with:
net use drive_letter: /d
You can view NFS file properties in the same way as you would with any other file in Windows 95:
This dialog box lists the location of the file or directory on the remote host, whether its a file or directory, the group ID (GID) identification number on the remote host, your owner ID (UID) identification number on the remote host, and who may access the file or directory.
If you view properties for more than one file or directory, only the location and File Protection attributes are available.
Grayed out options can only be set when you first start the connection to the remote host. Refer to "NFS Global Options" on page 68 for an explanation of the options.
HTML file generated May 15, 1996.