Accessing using IBM i NetServer

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IBM i Support for Windows Network Neighborhood (IBM i NetServer) is a function that enables Windows clients to access IBM i shared directory paths and shared output queues. IBM i NetServer allows PCs that run Windows software to seamlessly access data and printers that are managed by your IBM i platform.

PC clients on a network use the file and print sharing functions that are included in their operating systems. This means that you do not need to install any additional software on your PC to use IBM i NetServer.

Linux® clients with the Samba client software installed can also seamlessly access data and printers through IBM i NetServer. Shared IBM i NetServer directories can be mounted on Linux clients as Samba file systems in a similar manner to mounting NFS file systems that have been exported from IBM i.

An IBM i NetServer file share is a directory path that IBM i NetServer shares with clients on the IBM i network. A file share can consist of any integrated file system directory on the system. Before you can work with file sharing using IBM i NetServer, you must create an IBM i NetServer file share, and, if necessary, change an IBM i NetServer file share using IBM Navigator for i.

To access integrated file system file shares using IBM i NetServer:

  1. Right-click Start, and select Explore to open Windows Explorer on your Windows PC.
  2. Open the Tools menu, and select Map network drive.
  3. Select a letter of a free drive for the file share (such as the I:\ drive).
  4. Enter the name of anIBM i NetServer file share.
    For example, you can enter the following syntax: \\QSYSTEM1\Sharename
    Note: QSYSTEM1 is the system name of IBM i NetServer, and Sharename is the name of the file share you want to use.
  5. Click OK.
Note: When connecting using IBM i NetServer, the system name might be different from the name used by the IBM i Access Family. For example the IBM i NetServer name might be QAS400X, and the path to work with files might be \\QAS400X\QDLS\MYFOLDER.FLR\MYFILE.DOC. However, the IBM i Access Family name might be AS400X, and the path to work with files might be \\AS400X\QDLS\MYFOLDER.FLR\MYFILE.DOC.

You choose which directories to share with the network using IBM i NetServer. Those directories appear as the first level under the system name. For example, if you share the /home/fred directory with the name fredsdir, a user can access that directory from the PC with the name \\QAS400X\FREDSDIR, or from a Linux client with the name //qas400x/fredsdir.

The "root" (/) file system provides much better performance for PC file serving than other IBM i file systems. You might want to move files to the "root" (/) file system. See Moving files or folders to another file system for more information.