File sharing between HP-UX and Mac OSX

[Bruno Bossier_1]

A very similar question was already raised 2 years ago on this forum, but I still will it as things might have changed over time.

What would be the best way enable file sharing between HP-UX 11i and Mac OSX or between Tru64 and Mac OSX ?

I thought about NFS or SMB. Which one of the 2 is the most performant and what are the advantages/disadvantages between those 2. Are there maybe any other solutions ?

Bruno

[Jorge Pons]

Hi

I prefer SMB, could be a little slower than NFS, but is more flexible, also the configuration could be more complicated.

Regards

Jorge

[Darren Prior · Accepted solution]

Hi,

As you've recently posted another question about running CIFS/9000 on HP-UX it'd probably be best to use that rather than NFS. Why run and maintain 2 file sharing applications when 1 will do?

Were you successful in connecting from your Mac to the CIFS share?

regards,

Darren.

PS: Please remember to assign points to responses that have helped you - it helps make it easier for people searching to find useful answers, it also rewards those that have spent time and effort helping you ;-)

[Bruno Bossier_1]

Hi Darren,

Just assigned you some points :-)

No, I didn't manage to open my HP-UX share on my Mac OSX machine. I'm totally unfamiliar with Mac so it's a bit hard to find out. I think that the Mac does not recognize the SMB protocol. I already searched the Internet on how to do that, but couldn't find anything yet. It's Mac OSX version 10.1. I thought that Samba was build in into the Mac OSX operating system. I also checked the official Samba webpage, but there are no binary downloads for Mac operating systems.

I do share your idea about using Samba in stead of NFS. Am I right when I say that Samba is more capable of handling the different file types than NFS ? I noticed that when NFS mounting a filesystem from HP-UX on the Mac and then copying some files into it, that for each file, there is hidden file also created. Does Samba do the same ?

Any help is eternally appreciated :-)

Cheers,
Bruno

[Darren Prior]

Hi Bruno,

Thanks for the points! My comments on point awarding are true of a great many people on the forum; I really feel it helps the community atmosphere that we have and of course it costs nothing to hand them out wisely. :)

I also know very little about the Mac, but... I would have expected it to be able to map shared drives from PCs - and they use the SMB protocol (same protocol as used by CIFS/9000.) Otherwise you may need to find a CIFS/SMB client for the Mac (not a server unless you are intending to export the Mac's filesystems too.) Maybe it's time to hunt around for some Mac forums, or Usenet groups?

Perhaps the hidden file copied to the Mac is something that holds info about the file? I'm kinda guessing based on stuff used on the Amiga! There would be no reason for NFS or CIFS to do this on a PC, so it sounds like some kind of Mac speciality.

regards,

Darren

[Bruno Bossier_1]

Yes, I think that the thing about the hidden files is indeed a Mac thing. I think it holds the information about the file type and a few other things. It's called (I think) the resource fork.

I think I have to dig into the Mac stuff or find help from people with Mac experience.

Thanks anyway for the help. Oh and bye the way, I used to sell my Amiga 4000 more than 10 years ago. I had such a great time with those Amiga's (first a 500, then a 2000 and finally a 4000).

Cheers,
Bruno

[Steven E. Protter]

I am a long time usr of NFS. Because I run HP-UX Servers and use Ignite for backups and Image/server replication, I have to run NFS. In the past two years, I introduced Samba, which is called CIFS/9000 on these same servers.

Samba is easier to administer, more robust, and quite easy to integrate into a wider Windows/Mac mixed environment.

To do the same job with NFS is hrader, and the product isn't as robust and easy to integrate.

So even in a situation when you HAVE to run two products, why put regular users connecting to NFS shares. Most OS' still require extra software on the client.

CIFS/9000 Samba is the way to go. We have some experience sharing with Mac users. If you have specific questions, post them, I'd love to help answer them.

SEP

[Bruno Bossier_1]

Aha, that is good news. Look at the remarks and problems I still have I mentioned in one of my previous answers. The main problem for the moment is being able to (via Connect to server menu option) to open a share from my HP-UX server onto the Mac. I looks like the Mac does not recognize the smb protocol. Is there anything special to do ?

Bruno

[Massimo Bianchi]

Hi,
if you can spend some money, there is a product that give hpux the ability to create mac shares.

I used it 4 years ago, but unfortunatly i don't remember the exact name.

Something like appshare..

Just for your knoledge.
Massimo

[Bruno Bossier_1]

Hmm ... I don't know if I need to ability to create Mac shares on a HP-UX. I just need to be able to correctly open files on a Mac OSX machine which are stored on a SAN attached to a Tru64 or HP-UX server. Currently, there is a software in use called Totalnet Advanced Server which manages this, but it does not support Mac OSX. Therefore I'm looking into another (temporary) solution until a HP-UX Itanium version of the new release is available. That's why I'm thinking about Samba. All Mac OSX servers would directly connect to the Unix server holding the data via smb shares.

Hope this clarifies ....

[Tom Hayward]

Hi Bruno,
There's some useful info at the following link:

http://www.opensource.apple.com/projects/documentation/howto/html/osxsmb.html

According to this "how-to", OS X 10.1 (and later) includes the SMB functionality. If you need access from a MAC client to the HP-UX server, then the section titled "Using SMB on OS X" provides some guidance. Hope this helps!