NAME

exportfs − network file server plumbing

SYNOPSIS

­exportfs [ ­-a ] [ ­-c ­ctlfile ]

DESCRIPTION

­Exportfs is a user level file server that allows Plan 9 compute servers, rather than file servers, to export portions of a name space across networks.  The service is started either by the cpu(1) command or by a network listener process. An initial protocol establishes a root directory for the exported name space. The connection to ­exportfs is then mounted.  ­Exportfs then acts as a relay file server: operations in the imported file tree are executed on the remote server and the results returned.  This gives the appearance of exporting a name space from a remote machine into a local file tree. 

The ­-a option instructs ­exportfs to authenticate the user, usually because it is being invoked from a remote machine. 

The ­-c options specifies a network control file onto which ­exportfs will push the ­fcall line discipline.  This option is intended for networks that do not preserve read/write boundaries. 

The ­cpu command uses ­exportfs to serve device files in the terminal.  The import(4) command calls ­exportfs on a remote machine, permitting users to access arbitrary pieces of name space on other systems. 

Plan 9  —  January 03, 1993