Multiprotocol file and block sharing

Several protocols allow you to access data on the storage system.

• NFS (Network File System)—used by UNIX systems
• (PC)NFS (Personal Computer NFS)—used by PCs to access NFS
• CIFS (Common Internet File System)—used by Windows clients
• FTP (File Transfer Protocol)—used for file access and retrieval
• HTTP (HyperText Transmission Protocol)—used by the World Wide Web and corporate intranets
• WebDAV (Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning)— used by HTTP clients for distributed web content authoring operations
• FCP (Fibre Channel Protocol)—used for block access in storage area networks
• iSCSI (Internet Small Computer System Interface)—used for block access in storage area networks

Files written using one protocol are accessible to clients of any protocol, provided that system licenses and permissions allow it. For example, an NFS client can access a file created by a CIFS client, and a CIFS client can access a file created by an NFS client. Blocks written using one protocol can also be accessed by clients using the other protocol.

For information about NAS file access protocols, see the Data ONTAP File Access and Protocols Management Guide.

For information about SAN block access protocols, see the Data ONTAP Block Access Management Guide for iSCSI and FCP.