Netexpertise

IBM i can communicate with all major operating systems to reach remote files: Windows, Linux and any Unix flavour, and other IBM i of course. It provides multiple filesystems that let you access remote shares. A diagram of these filesystems is available on IBM website.

Windows Shared Folders

IBM i communicates with Windows servers with the SMB protocol and mounts shares on /QNTC filesystem. Create a folder is all that needs to be done.

MKDIR '/QNTC/MY_WINDOWS_SERVER'

Walk into the mountpoint and you can then browse all shares available on the Windows server and their subdirectories:

WRKLNK '/QNTC/MY_WINDOWS_SERVER'

 
IP address can also be used in place of the server name:

mkdir '/QNTC/IPADDR'
wrklnk '/QNTC/IPADDR'

 
Note: Pay attention to Windows permissions. It doesn’t seem to be fully compatible.
Active Directory can also be a problem in some cases.
AS400 and the Windows machine are supposed to be in the same WORKGROUP but it seems to work fine if they’re not.
 

Linux / Unix NFS

AS400 appropriate filesystem for Linux and Unix in general is /QOpenSys.
Export the shared folder with NFS (Network FileSystem) from the AIX server (or any Unix system that supports NFS). It has to be mountable by root. Replace mountpoint by any directory name you like.

MKDIR '/mnt/mountpoint'
MOUNT TYPE(*NFS) MFS('SERVER_IP:/mydir') MNTOVRDIR('/mnt/mountpoint')
WRKLNK /mnt/mountpoint

AS400 / IBM i

Same story again with /QFileSrv.400 filesystem and the MKDIR command.

I couldn’t make it work with the IP address. I had to create a static entry, and the mountpoint next:

ADDTCPHTE INTNETADR('Remote_AS400_IP') HOSTNAME((AS400_hostname))

(Reachable from menu GO NETWORK -> TCP/IP Administration -> Configure TCP/IP -> Work with TCP/IP host table entries -> Add)

To make the mount point persistant through IPLs (reboots), add the mkdir command to the startup program (QSTRUP).

MKDIR '/QFileSvr.400/AS400_hostname'

 

Tags: AS400, IBM i, iSeries, NFS, unix, Windows

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