NFS support

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This topic only applies to BAW, and is located in the BAW repository. Last updated on 2025-03-13 12:15

In a distributed environment, the data of the production environment is distributed over several operating systems. Without special configuration, during run time, it is highly possible to get an inconsistent copy of the entire environment even when you use a snapshot. A consistent copy of the entire environment is required to ensure the proper behavior of the system. To ensure consistency, you can use a Network File System (NFS).

If a snapshot is performed at the operating system level, the snapshot for different operating systems might correspond to the state at different points in time.

When you use a Network File System (NFS), users on a client computer can access files over the network as if the files were on their local server. In this architecture, a file server is configured on one operating system, which functions as the central repository for all files. The NFS client operating system can connect with the file server and mount the specific directory to the file server. The NFS client operates transparently on the directory mapped on the file server.

When NFS is enabled, therefore, the configuration and installation data of the production environment can be configured on a centralized NFS file server. In combination with the snapshot support of the file server operating system, you can create a consistent backup of the entire production system.

Before you create a snapshot, you must set up your NFS server and clients.