Sharing files and printers with non-Windows clients
You can use Corel LINUX to set up a file server for a network of non-Windows computers, for example, Linux and UNIX computers that are not running Samba.
Corel LINUX uses the Network File System (NFS) server for file sharing between non-Windows computers that are not running Samba. Unlike Samba, setting up NFS requires the modification of configuration files using a text editor.
By default, printers that are connected to your Linux computer are automatically shared with UNIX computers on the network. By editing the printing configuration files you can configure many options to specify how printers are shared with network users.
Using NFS for file sharing
The Network File System (NFS) is used by UNIX computers to mount directories over a network. An NFS server is useful if you want to share files between UNIX or Linux computers that are not running Samba.
To access the files and directories on the NFS server, NFS clients mount directories from the server to their computer. To the NFS client, the mounted directory seems to exist on the client's computer, but is actually located on the NFS server. A Corel LINUX computer that has the NFS server components installed and configured can be an NFS file server for other Linux or UNIX computers.
The NFS server is installed when you install Corel LINUX with the server option. You can also install the NFS server using Corel Update. For information about installing Corel LINUX, see "Installing Corel LINUX" in the Corel LINUX User Guide. For information about installing the NFS server using Corel Update, see "Installing servers on Corel LINUX."
When you have a Windows network and an NFS network in the same domain, Corel File Manager displays two networks in the navigation window, one with Windows computers and Linux computers running Samba, and one with Linux and UNIX computers using NFS. The computers in the Windows network are listed by their hostnames and the computers in the NFS network are listed by their IP addresses. A Linux computer that is running Samba and NFS is listed in both networks.
When you share a directory using NFS, other computers on the network are given permission to access the file system on your computer. This can pose a security risk. You can configure the NFS configuration file, /etc/exports, to set read, write, and execute permissions for shared files and directories.
If you intend to perform significant network administration tasks using NFS, you should find out more about NFS configuration and how to properly secure your network. To find out more about NFS, visit the Resources page on the Corel LINUX Web site. The Corel LINUX Web site is located at http://linux.corel.com.
NFS server components
The NFS server consists of the following three components: the rpc.mountd, and rpc.nfsd, daemons, and the exports file.
The rpc.mountd daemon is the NFS mount program that waits for mount requests from NFS clients. When a client requests permission to mount a directory, rpc.mountd checks the /etc/exports file to verify that the client has access to the requested directory. If rpc.mountd can authenticate the client's request, it sets up the mount.
You can run the rpc.mountd daemon with different options. For information about the rpc.mountd daemon, see the rpc.mountd man page.
The rpc.nfsd daemon works with the rpc.mountd daemon to let authorized users mount file systems from the server. After the rpc.mountd daemon has authorized the client's request and set up the mounting process, the rpc.nfsd daemon lets the client access the requested file system. The rpc.nfsd service mounts the entire file system of the requested directory.
You can run the rpc.nfsd daemon with different options. For information about the rpc.nfsd daemon, see the rpc.nfsd man page.
The exports file specifies which directories can be mounted by NFS clients. The /etc/exports file also specifies the permissions for each file. For information about the exports file, see the exports man page.
This is a sample /etc/exports file:
#sample /etc/exports file
/ penguin (rw) lola (rw, no_root_squash)
/usr *.128.168 (ro)
/home/leah leah1 (rw, all_squash)
This /etc/exports file specifies the following export instructions.
The first line is a comment. It has no effect on the NFS configuration.
The second line specifies that the file system can be exported to the computers with the hostnames penguin and lola. The no_root_squash option means that the root user on lola has permissions equal to those of the root user on the server.
The third line specifies that all users in the domain 128.168 have read-only access to all files in the /usr/ directory.
The fourth line specifies that the host leah1 has read/write access to the /home/leah directory. The all_squash option means that the root user on leah1 is mapped to the anonymous user account on the server. For information about the squash directives, see "Setting up an NFS file server."