Creating file shares and mapping network drives

This document provides some basic information about setting up a file share on the i5/OS® server and mapping a workstation drive letter to the file share. File shares can be used as a method to transfer files from your workstation to your i5/OS. For example, you can use file shares to transfer the WAR or EAR files that are created when you export a WebFacing project from the workbench. Alternatively, files that you want to deploy can be transferred by using Remote System Explorer or FTP.

Generally, these are the steps that are followed:

  1. NetServer™ must be installed on your i5/OS server. Information about NetServer is available at iSeries® NetServer.
  2. NetServer is often installed by default on many systems, so you may not require an installation step. With NetServer installed, you will need to start it. NetServer can be started from an i5/OS server command line with the command: STRTCPSVR *NETSVR.
  3. A file share must be created in the i5/OS Integrated File System (IFS) so that a workstation drive letter can be mapped to this later. File shares can be created in the Client Access program Operations Navigator. More information about Client Access and Operations Navigator is available at the IBM® System i™ and i5/OS Information Center.

    In Operations Navigator, you could create a file share of the /QIBM directory. To do this, in Operations Navigator, drill down to the /QIBM directory in the IFS, right-click /QIBM and select Sharing > New Share.

  4. Map a workstation drive letter to the share. For example, if the drive letter Q:\ is available on your workstation, you could map that drive letter to the /QIBM directory in the IFS. That way, any WAS files that are in an IFS directory path like /QIBM/UserData/WebASAdv/<instance name>/hosts/default_host can be accessed through the network by your workstation's Q:\ drive letter with a path like: Q:\UserData\WebASAdv\<instance name>\hosts\default_host\

    After a share is created, there are several methods by which a drive letter can be mapped to it. A couple of methods are listed below. The NetServer and Client Access documentation can provide more details:
    • Select Search > Other search option > Computers from the Windows® Start menu and, in the computer name field, enter the name of your i5/OS server. When the server is found, double-click on it and supply a valid user name and password to access it. After this, you should be exploring the server's integrated file system which contains the WebSphere® Application Server /QIBM directory that you created a file share for. The share is listed by the name you gave for it in the New Share dialog. Right-click on the share and select Map Network Drive. Choose an available drive letter for the share, for example Q:
    • Through Windows Explorer, select the Tools menu and choose Map Network Drive. In the resulting dialog box, choose a drive letter to map to, enter \\<i5/OS server name>\<folder name> in the path field and then supply a valid user name and password. After you have successfully signed on, choose the file share that you created with Operations Navigator.
    • You can also use the Windows net use command from a Windows command prompt window to map file shares.

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