Part IV Network storage #

This chapter describes how to set up an NVMe-oF host and target.

The Network File System (NFS) is a protocol that allows access to files on a server in a manner similar to accessing local files.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server installs NFS v4.2, which introduces support for sparse files, file pre-allocation, server-side clone and copy, application data block (ADB), and labeled NFS for mandatory access control (MAC) (requires MAC on both client and server).

Using Samba, a Unix machine can be configured as a file and print server for macOS, Windows, and OS/2 machines. Samba has developed into a fully fledged and rather complex product. Configure Samba with YaST, or by editing the configuration file manually.

autofs is a program that automatically mounts specified directories on an on-demand basis. It is based on a kernel module for high efficiency, and can manage both local directories and network shares. These automatic mount points are mounted only when they are accessed, and unmounted after a certain period of inactivity. This on-demand behavior saves bandwidth and results in better performance than static mounts managed by /etc/fstab. While autofs is a control script, automount is the command (daemon) that does the actual auto-mounting.