Automating file xfer with NFS

All,



I've been asked to automate a file transfer that is currently being handled
manually via email and it seems that NFS would be a good solution. The
"Exploring NFS on AS400" redbook does a thorough job of explaining the
universe of possibilities but I'm having a bit of trouble narrowing them
down to what will address our particular issue. Is anyone aware of a
tutorial or 'how to' that might give me some pointers on configuring NFS for
the following scenario?



Currently, a customer service rep in our little department receives a daily
email which contains a link to a .txt file on a server at the corporate
office. The operator clicks the link which imports the file into notepad.
She then does a 'save as' into her /home directory on the IFS and launches
an edit/import process from a green-screen menu. The link is always the same
value and is in the form of \\some_share_name\folder_name\file_name.txt
<file:///\\some_share_name\folder_name\file_name.txt> . All the desktops are
on the "corporateoffice.com" domain and I'm assuming that the link back to
the actual .txt file is handled through the magic of Windows and SMB.



My idea of an improved process would be to use NFS to establish a link to
the .txt file on the corporate server and submit the update process to batch
at a predetermined time. Assuming that we can address any firewall blockages
and CCSID issues, am I correct in my assumption that using NFS would pretty
much be a drop-in replacement for the manual email step? The existing CL/RPG
retrieves the data from an IFS link anyway and I'm thinking that NFS should
handle the actual transfer. What I don't know is:

1) How is Windows resolving the SMB link and how do I translate that
to NFS lingo

2) Although this will happen inside the corporate firewall, I need to
be mindful of security. I'm assuming that some of the iSeries NFS servers
need to be started but I'm not clear on which ones are necessary to resolve
the link to the .txt file at the corporate office. It shouldn't be necessary
to expose any of the iSeries folders.

3) Or maybe I should use FTP instead?



Any pointers or war-stories will be greatly appreciated.

JK