Overview of Services for Network File System

  • Article

Applies To: Windows Server 2008

Services for Network File System (NFS) provides a file sharing solution for enterprises that have a mixed Windows and UNIX environment. With Services for NFS, you can transfer files between computers running Windows Server 2008 and UNIX operating systems using the NFS protocol.

For more information about Services for NFS, see the Windows Server TechCenter (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=92798).

What functionality has been removed from Windows Server 2008?

To streamline and simplify Services for NFS, the following features were removed from this release:

  • Gateway for NFS

  • Server for PCNFS

  • All PCNFS components of Client for NFS

  • User Name Mapping

Note

User Name Mapping has changed—server functionality no longer exists, but client functionality is present. Services for NFS can still retrieve mappings from existing legacy User Name Mapping servers.

What new functionality is provided in Windows Server 2008?

Services for NFS includes the following improvements:

  • Active Directory Lookup. The Identity Management for UNIX Active Directory schema extension includes UNIX user identifier (UID) and group identifier (GID) fields. This enables Server for NFS and Client for NFS to look up Windows-to-UNIX user account mappings directly from Active Directory Domain Services. Identity Management for UNIX simplifies Windows-to-UNIX user account mapping management in Active Directory Domain Services.

  • 64-bit support. You can install Services for NFS components on all editions of Windows Server 2008, including 64-bit editions.

  • Enhanced server performance. Services for NFS includes a file filter driver, which significantly reduces common server file access latencies.

  • Unix special device support. Services for NFS supports UNIX special devices (mknod).

  • Enhanced Unix support. Services for NFS supports the following versions of UNIX: Sun Microsystems Solaris version 9, Red Hat Linux version 9, IBM AIX version 5L 5.2, and Hewlett Packard HP-UX version 11i.

Additional references