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# Mounting remote directories

You can mount remote disks which contain shared applications and data, and also which contain your own files if you have an account on a machine which can act as a file server. The former will save you disk space, the latter will save you the trouble of backing up your own data on your own machine. Remote mounting is also described in the "Network and system administration" booklet which comes with the NeXT. The steps are:

- Get the agreement of the system manager of the remote machine: he has to put the directory name (and normally your machine's name) into his /etc/exports file. He then has to run "exportfs -a" to update his running file server.
- Edit, or copy a friend's, /etc/fstab file. This has a list of the directories which you want to import. Make sure you do not delete the entries which define your local disk. I strongly recommend sticking to the convention that all remote directories are loaded with the "net" option under /Net. Here is an example which you can cut, paste, and massage to your own ends. The first file is the local disk.

    /dev/sd0a / 4.3 rw,noquota,noauto 0 1
    cernvax:/usera /Net nfs rw,bg,net 0 0
    cernvax:/userd /Net nfs rw,bg,net 0 0
    cernvax:/tmp /Net nfs rw,bg,net 0 0
    ecpnext02:/LocalApps /Net nfs rw,bg,net 0 0
    ecpnext02:/LocalData /Net nfs rw,bg,net 0 0
    ecpnext02:/LocalLibrary /Net nfs rw,bg,net 0 0
    nxoc01:/usr

/Net nfs rw,bg,net 0 0

- Load this iformation into the netinfo database with the command

    			niload fstab . </etc/fstab

- Power your machine on and off again (when you have saved everything). When it comes up, browse to the /Net directory where everything should be.

## Bugs

A few unsolved things involving NFS:

- Occasionally, on the uconext, the system boots without any NFS remote disks accessible. Rebooting generally cures the problem. Don't know why. Seems to be OK now.
- Another strange behaviour is that a program on a remotely mounted disk (/Net/nxoc01/usr/local/bin/tn3270 in fact) was not accessable after boot of the client, giving "No permission" or "File does not exist" errors. This continued until one cd'd to the imported directory (/Net/nxoc01), at which point everything started to work fine. This happens if the original access was to /private/Net/ instead of to /Net. This is because the auto-mount system only works in the /Net directory.

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