|
|
A machine that makes its local resource available for mounting by remote machines is called a server. A machine that mounts a resource shared by a remote machine is a client of that machine. Any machine with a disk can be a server, a client, or both at the same time.
A server can support a diskless client, a machine that has no local disk. A diskless client relies completely on the server for all its file storage. A diskless client can act only as a client -- never as a server.
Clients access files on the server by mounting the server's shared resources. When a client mounts a remote resource, it does not make a copy of the resource; rather, the mounting process uses a series of remote procedure calls that enable the client to access the resource transparently on the server's disk. The mount looks like a local mount, and users enter commands just as if the resources were local.