Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!apple!agate!ucbvax!TWG.COM!lefty
From: lefty@TWG.COM
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.appletalk
Subject: Re: MacNFS vs AppleShare
Message-ID: <9011131030.aa17348@Mercury.TWG.COM>
Date: 13 Nov 90 18:38:34 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 32

>  One thing concerns me about Macs using NFS -- regardless of the method --
>versus those using "true" AppleShare.  I understand that the NFS protocol
>does not support locking by either byte or record.  Is that true?  If so,
>it would seem to make life pretty difficult for applications which need
>that functionality, as for shared write/update access to data bases.

You are correct that NFS, per se, does not support record locking. 
However, Sun has thoughtfully provided a Lock Manager with recent versions
of NFS, which allows the inclusion of this functionality (assuming the
LOCKD program or something like it is running).  Our product will use LOCKD
if it is present.

However, as a part of the distribution for our Pathway Client NFS, we
include a custom daemon called NFSAD which supports the following
functions:

o   User authentication
o   File range locking
o   File access mode control (file sharing a la OpenDeny)
o   Name-to-number mapping for users and groups

While the use of this daemon is not a requirement for the product to run,
we do need it if you want to do things like range-locking, access-control
support, etc.

Hope this helps!

--
David N. Schlesinger (lefty@twg.com)
Sr. Software Engineer
The Wollongong Group
415/962-7100