Qilan developers frequently have a "production" OS X server with their Qilan projects and one or several workstation OS X server cpu's for development. We have found using NFS to transfer files between machines a great time saver. There are some wrinkles with Apple's implementation of NFS. Tenon's iTools package helps overcome some of the wrinkles. We worked with Tenon at length to R&D how NFS works on OS X server. They have put together a great tech note that is very helpful.

NFS on OS X Server

In brief, you can have your workstation mount either portions of, or the entire hard drive of your server machine. The files will be available under the /Network/Servers/ directory and appear as if they are on your own workstation. Very handy for transferring database copies or Qilan.prj copies.

An additional caveat we have learned. NFS can't negotiate it's way reliably through routers that employ NAT (Network Address Translation) to link your Local Area network to the internet. Many folks are using low priced software or hardware routers to enable connectivity from their OS X server development machine to the internet. These machines generally use NAT. If your OS X server development machine isn't using a publicly routable IP number, NFS may connect but won't work reliably and can be counted on to hang the workspace manager as you access subdirectories.

Authored by: Phil McNamara