Lesson 3: Configuring Clients | MCSE Training Kit(c) Microsoft Windows 2000 Accelerated 2000

Historically, the division between the UNIX and Windows space has also made file sharing a difficult requirement to address. In the UNIX space, NFS is the most common (though not the only) means by which data is shared on UNIX networks. In the Windows space, SMB is the most common means to access Windows-based resources.

After this lesson, you will be able to

Determine how you want to configure file sharing
Configure the client for NFS
Use NFS to connect to a UNIX share.

Estimated lesson time: 10 minutes

Configuring File Sharing

In connecting Windows and UNIX systems for file access, you have two choices:

Make UNIX servers expose their resources to SMB-based clients.
Make SMB-based clients able to access NFS-based resources.

In practice, connecting Windows and Unix systems has required either modifying UNIX servers to support non-NFS clients or using third-party software for accessing NFS resources.

In most cases, a UNIX administrator does not have the time to load SMB on the staging server. This introduces greater complexity and security concerns to the server. To meet the requirement, you must make your Windows clients work with the UNIX server, not vice-versa.

SFU has a full NFS client available that integrates with Windows Explorer. Using SFU, Windows 2000 Professional users can access NFS resources just like they access Windows and Novell resources. In addition, users can map drive letters to NFS volumes and access NFS resources through My Network Places.

Configuring Client for NFS

Once SFU is installed, Client for NFS is installed and configured using the default options. For most basic installations, the default options should be sufficient. However, if you need to make changes to the configuration, use the MMC locally or from a management workstation.

Follow these steps to use MMC to configure Client for NFS:

Click Start, point to Programs, point to Windows Services For UNIX, and then click Services For UNIX Administration.
The MMC opens.
Through this interface, you can configure Client For NFS options. For information on the specific parameters that can be configured, see the Client For NFS Help.

Advanced Options

In addition to simple NFS connectivity, SFU provides options for enhanced interoperability with complex NFS/NIS environments. Although they are beyond the scope of this chapter, you may want to be aware of the following options:

Server for NFS. Allows UNIX clients to connect to Windows-based resources using their NFS client software.
Gateway for NFS. Allows non-NFS Windows clients to access NFS resources by connecting an NFS-enabled Windows Server to NFS resources, and then sharing those resources as standard Windows shares.
Server for PCNFS. Allows UNIX-style User IDs (UIDs) and Group IDs (GIDs) to be generated for Windows accounts.

Using Client for NFS

The NFS client is automatically enabled when you install SFU. Users can connect to a UNIX share through the Windows Explorer.

Follow these steps to connect using Windows Explorer:

Open Windows Explorer.
On the Tools menu, click Map Network Drive.
In the Drive list, click the drive letter to use.
To locate the NFS share, click Browse, or type the path to the share. You can specify the path using standard NFS syntax (server_name:/pathname) or standard UNC syntax (\\server_name\sharename).
If the users' UNIX username and/or password are different from Windows click Connect Using A Different User Name, type the user name and password, and then click OK.

Lesson Summary

In this lesson, you learned that you first determine how you want to configure file sharing. Since the default configuration is part of the SFU installation process, you may not have to change anything. To make any necessary changes use the MMC. Accessing shares is accomplished by using Windows Explorer.