Network File System: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:16, 15 November 2004

Revision as of 00:36, 18 November 2004

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'''Network File System''' ('''NFS''') is a protocol originally developed by [[Sun Microsystems]] in [[1984]] and defined in [[Request for Comments|RFC]]s 1094, 1813, (3010) and 3530, as a [[file system]] which allows a [[computer]] to access files over a [[network]] as easily as if they were on its local disks.

Version 2 of the protocol originally usedoperated theentirely over [[User Datagram Protocol|UDP]] (UDP) and was meant to keep the protocol [[stateless server|stateless]], with [[Lock (software engineering)|locking]] (for example) implemented outside of the core protocol. Version 3 introduced support for using the [[Transmission Control Protocol|TCP]] as transport. Several vendors also extended NFSv2 to support TCP as transport. Using TCP as transport made using NFS over a [Wide Area Network|WAN] more feasible (although not necessarily practical).

Version 3 introduced support for using [[Transmission Control Protocol|TCP]] as transport. Several vendors had already extended NFSv2 to support TCP as transport. Using TCP as transport made using NFS over a [[Wide Area Network|WAN]] more feasible (although not necessarily practical).

NFS Version 4 includes performance improvements and introduces a [[State (computer science)|stateful]] protocol.

NFS Version 4 includes performance improvements and introduces a [[State (computer science)|stateful]] protocol.

NFS is strongly associated with [[UNIX]] systems, though it can be used on any platform such as [[Apple Macintosh|Macintosh]] and [[Microsoft Windows]] [[operating systems]]. The [[server message block]] (SMB), a similar protocol, is the equivalent implementation of a network file system under Microsoft Windows.