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- Challenges of File Sharing
- Different Protocols for Different Clients
- Planning File Services
- Using Apple Filing Protocol
- Configuring Apple File Service
- Monitoring AFP Activity
- Using Windows File Service
- Configuring Windows File Service
- Configuring Access and Starting Windows File Services
- Using NFS Share Point Access
- Configuring NFS
- Using FTP File Service
- Configuring FTP Service
- Network-Mounted Share Points
- Preparing for a Network Home Folder
- Configuring Network Mounts
- Controlling Access to Shared Folders
- Troubleshooting File Services
- What Youve Learned
- References
- Chapter Review
This chapter is from the book
Different Protocols for Different Clients
Mac OS X Server includes a number of ways to share files. The method you select depends largely on the clients you expect to serve (although security is another factor to consider). Mac OS X Server provides the following file-sharing services:
- Apple Filing Protocol (AFP): This protocol is useful mainly for sharing files with Mac clients, both older Mac OS 9 clients and the latest Mac OS X clients.
- File Transfer Protocol (FTP): This file-sharing protocol is lightweight in the sense that it is simple and does not have all the features available in the other file-sharing services in Mac OS X. FTP allows you to transfer files back and forth between client and server, but you cannot, for example, open a document over an FTP connection. The primary benefit of FTP is that it is ubiquitous: It is hard to find a Transfer Control Protocol (TCP)–capable computer that does not support FTP.
- Network File System (NFS): NFS is the traditional method of file sharing for UNIX-based computers. NFS has its heritage in research facilities and academia in the 1980s. While it can be very convenient and flexible, it can suffer from some security holes that do not affect the other protocols. The primary use for NFS is to provide files to UNIX or Linux computers. Although Mac OS X has a core based on UNIX, you should normally use AFP for Mac clients.
- Windows file service: This service uses the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol (version 1), also sometimes called the Common Internet File System (CIFS). SMB is the native file-sharing protocol for Windows but is also used widely in UNIX environments. Mac OS X Server can appear to be a Windows server, even showing up in the Windows Network Neighborhood just as a Windows server would.
You can share a folder over several different protocols simultaneously.