symlinking across file systems

[solidstate]

Hello,

I've been trying to figure this out for a long time, but I still haven't found the answer. I'm pretty sure that what I want to do is possible so I figured I'd let you lot have a go at it. Here's the low-down:

I want to create a symlink across servers and file systems. Basically I'm want it to look something like this:

Server A
----------
Folder1
Folder2
Folder3
Folder4 (Folder 1 on Server B)

Server B
-----------
Folder1 (Symlinked to Server A)
Folder2
etc...

If anyone knows how to do this and wouldn't mind sharing I'd be very appreciative.

thank you,

Chris

[edited by: DaveAtIFG at 1:12 pm (utc) on Aug. 23, 2004]
[edit reason] Abbreviated signature [/edit]

[mcavic]

What you need is a network filesystem (software package), like NFS. NFS is what has historically been used to share folders across servers that are on the same LAN.

I'm told that by today's standards, it's not very efficient, or secure. There are alternatives, though I'm not familiar with any.

[solidstate]

Thanks for the reply. I've heard that it's possible to do this using a symlink though. I was told it had something to do with the unix configurations on both machines, but I haven't been able to find anything else about it. Am I chasing a ghost or does anyone thing this is possible?

[bird]

Symlinks create cross references between files and directories of the file systems that are visible to each local host. To make the "foreign" directories visible locally, you still need something like NFS. In fact, if both of your unix boxes sit in the same local network, then NFS is the standard solution.

The nice thing about NFS is that you can just mount external directories to any place within your local file system. In other words, you can do with or without symlinks. The difference is mainly a matter of style. If your directory structure is static, mounting is fine. If it will change often, symlinks are probably more flexible to handle. In the latter case, you still need NFS to mount the parent directory of the remote directries somewhere on your local filesystem, so that you have a place for the symlinks to point to.

[solidstate]

Bird,

Thank you for the help! Could you possibly explain more about the NFS method you mentioned. I'd actually be better off mounting as my directory system won't be changing often, at least not the directories that are remotely mounted. I'll start researching NFS, but if you have any wisdom to impart, it would be helpful.

thank you,

Chris