The NFS server enables the client user remote access to z/OS UNIX files from a client workstation.

z/OS UNIX provides a hierarchical file system (HFS) for z/OS®. The HFS file system is similar to a UNIX file system. All z/OS UNIX files reside in a directory, which in turn is a file in a higher level directory. The highest level directory is called the root directory.

When client users mount files from your server system, you can use a common HFS prefix to distinguish z/OS UNIX files from z/OS conventional MVS™ data sets or you can use an implied prefix. You see z/OS UNIX files in a standard UNIX format on your workstation, but the files are stored on a z/OS host system.

Using the NFS, the client can mount all or part of the z/OS UNIX file system and make it appear as part of your local file system. From there the client user can create, delete, read, write, and treat the host-located files as part of the workstation's own file system. For more information about z/OS UNIX see z/OS UNIX System Services User's Guide.