Network File System

The Network File System (NFS) is a mechanism for storing files on a network. It is a distributed file system that allows users to access files and directories located on remote computers and treat those files and directories as if they were local.

For example, users can use operating system commands to create, remove, read, write, and set file attributes for remote files and directories.

The NFS software package includes commands and daemons for NFS, Network Information Service (NIS), and other services. Although NFS and NIS are installed together as one package, each is independent and each is configured and administered individually.

AIX® 5.3 and later supports the NFS version 2, 3, and 4 protocols. NFS version 4 is the most recently-defined version of NFS, and it is described by RFC 3530. Additional details on AIX support of NFS version 4 will be discussed later in this section. NFS clients use the NFS version 3 protocol by default.