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1992-05-16
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7
HP Network File System Services/9000 Technical Data
For HP Series 800/600/700/400/300 Systems
HP's Network File System NFS product allows HP 9000 systems to access
and share files in a multivendor network of machines and operating
systems. Machines running NFS and sharing files can range from
minicomputers and superminicomputers to high performance workstations
and personal computers. After mounting a file system using NFS, most
user commands (list,
[Figure 1 (HP Network File System) Caption: none]
remove, copy, etc) performed on a local file system will operate on the
remote file system, making the remote file system look local to the
user.
NFS, a de facto industry standard, permits workgroups to integrate
remote data or files into local applications. Those applications can run
on a variety of machines while accessing information on remote disks
because of XDR, External Data Representation, a feature in NFS. The XDR
creates a machine-independent data format facilitating multivendor file
sharing. In addition, users may access printers, plotters, and other
resources on servers through the use of spooling routines. Computers
running NFS may access remote databases containing drawings, schematics,
netlists, models, or source code. This eliminates the need to maintain
consistency between multiple copies of files and to store that
information locally, thereby reducing disk storage requirements on
individual systems. NFS facilitates the transition from timesharing to
distributed environments by migrating those general purpose
minicomputers into NFS servers. A server running the NIS Network
Information Service, formerly Yellow Pages, a component of the NFS
product, provides the convenience of centrally administering files. NIS
with NFS helps your systems administrator manage a distributed network
of NFS clients and NFS file servers. NFS provides high performance
because of its stateless nature, such that the system avoids the
overhead associated with the tracking of transactions. In addition,
application programs using NFS will take less time to port. File paths
in applications do not need adjusting as NFS allows the path to remain
unchanged from machine to machine. NFS gives programmers the ability to
create distributed routines that execute on remote machines with the ONC
RPC, Remote Procedure Call mechanism. NFS also provides transparent
access to compute servers using the REX Remote Execution facility.
Features and Benefits
o De facto Industry-Standard Networking
- Integrates multivendor systems, applications, and peripherals
- Lasting value in hardware and software; connects old with new
systems
- Facilitates evolution from timesharing to a distributed environment;
transforms general-purpose minicomputers to servers
o Network File Sharing
- Maintains consistent files among a work group, no longer need
multiple copies
- Reduces storage among multivendor and homogeneous systems, creating
cost reductions
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- Easier system administration by sharing OS-dependent files; updates
and backups only done once
o Stateless Server
- Automatic crash recovery
- Greater performance by reducing overhead of transaction tracking
o Network Information Service (NIS)
- Simplifies network administration
- Automounter
- Improves transparency by allowing automatic client file system and
directory access/mounting
o File Location Transparency
- Eases application portability, allowing paths (file location) to
remain consistent from machine to machine
- ONC Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
- Simplifies writing distributed application programs
o External Data Representation (XDR)
- Facilitates multivendor data sharing through a machine-independent
format
HP's versions of NFS/300/400, NFS/700, and NFS/800 contain all the
components of NFS Revision 3.2 and with HP/UX 9.0, the major features of
4.1:
o Capabilities to mount remote file systems and directories, to
transparently access files on remote machines and gracefully recover
from file server crashes.
o Capabilities for servers to export both file systems and directories
and export read-only files and root capability to specific clients
(NFS 4.1 feature as of HP/UX 9.0)
o Automounter allows the systems administrator to establish maps
specifying which directories can be mounted by clients. These
directories are then mounted automatically upon client access and
unmounted after a timeout.
o External Data Representation (XDR) specifies alignment and size of
data types in a machine-independent manner.
o Remote Procedure Call (RPC) allows programmers to execute routines on
remote machines and, upon completion, receive the results. RPC allows
network programmers to write customized networking applications.
o Lock Manager provides advisory file locking between systems over an
NFS network. With file locking implemented in an application, if two
different clients are accessing the same file on an NFS server, the
second user will be prevented from inadvertently overwriting the first
user's data. File locking using the Lock Manager is implemented using
the same system calls as local file locking in HP-UX.
o Network Information Service (NIS) gives the user a centrally
administered data look-up service (/etc/passwd, host), including
utilities for global system administration and the associated
user-level commands. NIS combined with Automounter allows the system
adminstrator to configure a dynamic and location transparent file
system for a group of workstations. All automounted file systems and
directories can be dynamically and transparently accessed by clients
and file system locations can be updated via NIS transparently to the
client user. In addition, HP provides the following features:
- The Virtual Home Environment (VHE) provides a means of configuring a
set of NFS nodes such that a user could log in to any node in a
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grouping and be put into the work environment that is associated
with the login on his home node
- A high performance asynchronous write option provides increased
throughputs
o Remote Procedure Call Generator (RPCGEN) allows application developers
to write C-language descriptions of networked applications and then
automatically produce the C-code for the server and client sides of
the applications. (See the Programming and Protocols for NFS Services
for more detailed information on RPCGEN.)
o Remote Execution Facility (REX) allows a user to execute a command on
another system and have it look as though it is executing in his home
environment. REX uses the on command to do this. When a user issues
the command on remote-host command, his working directory is mounted
to the remote system and all environmental variables are copied from
the client to the server. REX can execute both interactive and
non-interactive commands across the network.
The following ISO model template shows what levels the components of the
NFS product occupy.
NFS Commands
General User-Level Commands
domainname(1) - displays the current NIS domain name
ypcat(1) - prints the values in a specified NIS map
ypmatch(1) - prints the values associated with the key(s) in a NIS map
yppasswd(1) - allows users to change or install a password in a NIS
password map
ypwhich(1) - prints the host name of the NIS server on the host
administrative commands
________________________________________________________________________
HP NFS Services/9000
________________________________________________________________________
ISO 7 Application: NFS, NIS, Automounter
ISO 6 Presentation: XDR (External Data Representation)
ISO 5 Session: RPC (Remote Procedure Call)
ISO 4 Transport: UDP (User Datagram Protocol)
ISO 3 Network: IP (Internet Protocol)
ISO 2 Data Link: Ethernet
ISO 1 Physical: Ethernet/IEEE 802.3
________________________________________________________________________
rup(1) - lists host information, users logged in, and load average
rusers(1) - lists the host names and users for all remote nodes
on(1) - copies environmental variables from client to specified host,
mounts client's working directory on host, and executes the specified
command on the host Administrative Commands
10
mount(1M) - allows the superuser to attach a remote file system
umount(1M) - allows the superuser to detach a remote file system
rpcinfo(1M) - tells which remote programs are registered
showmount(1M) - lists all the clients that have remotely mounted a file
system
Product Requirements
HP NFS/300/400/600/700/800 requires the HP/UX 8.0 Runtime product.
HP LAN/LINK, with the appropriate LAN hardware, is also required. NFS is
not supported over a wide area network. We recommend reserving 400 to
500 Kbytes of RAM for NFS on the HP Series 300. In addition, we
recommend 4 Mbytes of internal system memory for acceptable performance,
and allocating 3 Mbytes of external disk space for NFS/300. We recommend
reserving 500 Kbytes of RAM for NFS on the HP Series 800. In addition,
at least 8 Mbytes of internal memory is recommended for acceptable
performance. 4.5 Mbytes of disk space should be allocated for the NFS
files. See the HP LAN/9000 Link data sheet for the necessary HP LAN/Link
hardware and software for the HP Series 800.
NFS is bundled with HP/UX 8.0 for all 300/400/600/700/800 systems. The
approprate HP/UX Product numbers for systems follow:
o B2438A: HP/UX 8.0 for 300/400/600/800
o B2459A: HP/UX 8.02 for 8x7 systems
o B2461A: HP/UX 8.06 for 8x7 MP systems
o B2352A: HP/UX 8.07 2-user license for series 700
o B2353A: HP/UX 8.07 8-user license for series 700
NFS is not ordered separately. It is bundled with the above HP-UX
operating systems.
Connectivity
HP certifies that its version of NFS will communicate with the following
systems and that we have tested these systems to ensure
interoperability. Communication between HP 9000 computers and DN Series
is also certified.
________________________________________________________________________
Product Computer OS Company
________________________________________________________________________
WIN/TCP 3.0 VAX VMS 4.7 The Wollongong
WIN/NFS 1.1 7xx-8xxx Group
PC NFS HP Vectra MS DOS(r) 3.x Sun Microsystems
1.0, 2.0, 3.5 IBM PC PC DOS 3.x Inc.
Sun NFS Sun 2/xxx, Sun OS Sun Microsystems
Sun 3/xxx, Rel. 4.0 Inc.
Sun 4/xxx
________________________________________________________________________
11
Ordering Information
There are no independent product numbers for NFS on the HP Series
300/400 600/700, or 800. For these systems, NFS is included with the
HP-UX Run Time product, as is the following documentation:
o B1013-90010 Programming and Protocols for NFS Services
o B1013-90009 Installing and Administering NFS Services
o B1012-90012 HP 9000 Computers Networking Overview
From HP Networking Communications Specification Guide,
5091-3821E, 9205, p 176
Associated files: la3821g6.plt, la3821g6.gal, la3821176.doc
HP Network File System Services/9000 Technical Data