Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3: System Administration Guide
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# Chapter 23. Network File System (NFS)

Network File System (NFS) is a way to share files between machines on a network as if the files were located on the client's local hard drive. Red Hat Enterprise Linux can be both an NFS server and an NFS client, which means that it can export file systems to other systems and mount file systems exported from other machines.

# 23.1. Why Use NFS?

NFS is useful for sharing directories of files between multiple users on the same network. For example, a group of users working on the same project can have access to the files for that project using a shared directory of the NFS file system (commonly known as an NFS share) mounted in the directory `/myproject`. To access the shared files, the user goes into the `/myproject` directory on his machine. There are no passwords to enter or special commands to remember. Users work as if the directory is on their local machines.

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Additional Resources | Up | Mounting NFS File Systems